My Social Networks.

I believe that in order for us to survive we need people around us. We need support structures to get us through life. I have several networks in my life and to simply put it if I were to describe my networks, I would compare them to an onion. Many layers, but each has a significant role. Starting from the core of the vegetable. I would consider this to be my kinship relationships, which are my “blood relationships”. They begin all the way from my mother to my little brother. Those would be the people that are closest to me. This includes my immediate and some of my extended family and friends. These are the people I consider to be my support system, the people that would not mind crossing bridges for me. As I have explained that every layer has a significant role, my family and friends also have different roles and I also have a certain role in their life, for example, my mother. She takes on the role of ensuring that I am well taken care of. She ensures that my fees for school are on par, I have all that I need for school, I am well fed and that I have toiletries. In that sense my mother provides emotional and financial support. My friends are also there to ensure that I am on the right track. I also have a significant role in their lives and that is to also provide emotional support.

 Outside the core is the next layer. This layer consists of my extended family. We don’t keep in touch as much, but we acknowledge one others presence in our lives. There is some form of financial and emotional support, however it is not as visible.

On the next layer you get my community, church mates, hockey teammates acquaintances and my roommate. These are the people that I have met on my journey of being a first-year student. I only know bits and pieces about them. I cannot really depend much on them, as we have only recently met, we do however play vital roles in one another’s lives.  For example, my acquaintances from school. We assist one another with school related things such as helping each other understand assignments, reminding one another of upcoming quizzes or tests and any other relevant information that should be known.

On the last layer of the onion are my lecturers, peer helpers and SIs. These are individuals I do not get to see on a daily basis but play an important role in my “Varsity life”. Most of the time I only get to see them only two times or sometimes once a week. They also have a significant role which is ensuring that I am educated, equipped with all the necessary tools to be able to do well in my respective modules and they prepare me for varsity life.

With all the layers of my onion that have been explained, I can attest to the fact that we do indeed social networks to get through life because I can’t begin to imagine how my life would’ve panned out if I didn’t have any kinship relationships, or lecturers to give me education. If anything, I feel like I would’ve been lost.