When students reach the end of a course, they feel a deep sense of relief having completed all their assignments, and then await their results. One such former student is 29-year-old Ebenezer Baiden from Leeds, Yorkshire. Here is his story.
Ebenezer Baiden, Occupational Therapist
Ebenezer is multilingual having journeyed to the UK over a 13-year period From Takoradi, Western Ghana to Richmond Hill, Leeds via Venice, Italy.
He is fluent in Twi (One of many Ghanian languages), Italian (having spent 4 years of secondary education in Italy) and English.
Ebenezer enrolled on the OT BSc course in September 2020 at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. This meant that students did not get to engage in a typical classroom setting.
Ebenezer said:
Over three years I have gone through a journey of intense emotional adjustment by virtue of my arrival into a country where progress seems to be heavily contextually dependent.
Upon passing the course, occupational therapy student Ebenezer Baiden decided to take to social media to pay a compliment to one of his lecturers. It read as follows:
“…[Y]ou have inspired and driven me to achieve more than I actually think of myself. I believe I will thank you in person again just to tell you how much of an impact your actions have had in my life as a student and as a human being. You are the first lecturer or (dare I say) teacher to put up a fight for me. Your work is special - your enthusiasm and zeal for academia are evident. Your success thus far is motivation for me because I can relate to certain aspects of your life and I am encouraged to go the extra mile. I respect your resilience and your account of adversity through the years. Your help has taken me through my darkest periods and kept me afloat. You are a role model for me. You have taught me to exercise compassion to everyone as well. I appreciate your efforts, I could not thank you enough”.
Time for reflection: BSc Occupational Therapy course as social activism
I had a conversation via email with my lecturer in June at the end of the course I just completed. He asked if I had been to the Sports Campus before and I replied saying I had not. He picked me up from City Campus and took me on a tour to see the facility which is about 2 miles from the city. I saw parts of the university I never knew existed and this almost alludes to the fact that I have been part of a university and simply did not make time to enjoy these facilities. Nonetheless, there have been many a hicough in my journey to finishing this challenging but transformative degree with Upper Second Class Honours. I had spoken to mum and various members off my family to discuss my progress after a difficult journey. I never believed I would achieve this feat. It was a wild dream and a concept that I almost felt was far-fetched. I would describe this type of mentoring as something that has increased my sense of belonging. His advice changed my negative self-views.
Emotional adjustment
Even face to face friendships were really difficult. During the online classes you were restricted to a computer and having to see virtual friends on a computer screen. You see people for not who they actually are, so it was a bit hit and miss in terms of forming early friendships. There are paradoxes – you are in a virtual classroom with a group of colleagues and at the same time not part of authentic relationships.
The experience reminded Ebenezer of his first time arriving at school in Italy:
I was the only black guy in the class when I got there. Nearly everybody was looking at me suspiciously, perhaps wondering where does this tall, bearded guy come from. I began to wonder if there were feelings of fright or apprehension amongst my fellow students, some of whom had hardly come into contact with a black person.
Several years later in the UK the experience was again almost re-traumatising when covid 19 restrictions ended in year 2 of the course.
Here again I was the only black person in the classroom of nearly thirty students. I didn't feel that sense of belonging and acceptance in friendship circles or the cliques which naturally form in large groups. I began to feel that everybody else in the classroom looks at you differently – everybody sees you in a different light. I began to interpret this as follows: Here is a black guy, he's joining the class and we can't relate to him. It was really difficult having to acclimatise or adapt to different conditions and having to study in a way I was not used to was really difficult.
When I first began the course and realising that there was a lecturer, I thought to myself there's somebody I could look up to. I did not care where he came from, the fact that he was black made me realise there is somebody I could relate to especially concerning inequity within the system. I saw in him as somebody who gave me a flicker of hope. With his achievements I looked at him and I saw somebody who is indirectly telling me that if he had gone that far I could also do the same and potentially even greater than he has done. So, he was a beacon of hope and a glimmer of light to my journey. When I learned of his account of adversity through the years, I pondered that he must have gone through a lot. Especially with racial disparity and lack of access to opportunities, from the 1950s, 60s and 70s onwards.
My mentor is an encourager. He is a man who tells you things as they are, not to scare you, but psych you up and prepare you. I believe he is the prototype or the epitome of academic success that I looked up to. I found somebody I could relate to, somebody that may have shared the same experiences as me. That was enough to keep me going. At times it was hard, and I questioned myself as to whether I was going to get this degree, whether it was good for me, whether I was in the right place at the right time. I just remembered there is this black teacher who is also on the course and that should be the starting point of my motivation when I felt down.
I looked at him and I said to myself if he has gone through this then there's a high likelihood that I may face the same situation by virtue of our race. I said, whatever it takes, I'm going to get that degree and after three years of occasional advice from him and input from other lecturers here I am a qualified occupational therapist.
Reference:
Wicks, A., (2005) Understanding Occupational Potential, Journal of Occupational Science, 12:3, 130-139, Online. Available at DOI: 10.1080/14427591.2005.9686556.