I was raised in Setswana traditional home with Christianity as the standard religion, there a numerous teachings that I had gained from both a religious and a cultural perspective. 

In my culture adults are adults and children are children. I have been taught from a very young age to respect each elder like they are my parents or grandparents, depending on their age. In my culture age and life experience is ranked higher than DNA. There is a common phrase that expresses that it take a village to raise a child. These teachings are extended to the community and even strangers. If for example you see your mother's peer, you would immediately attach her to your mother and therefore the way you treat her should resemble the way in which you would treat your mother. Being scolded by a neighbour is not taboo because you subconsciously categorise them as a parent. The teaching runs deep and far back into the culture and it is seen through the words we have in the language. In Setswana there are no translations for terms such as, great-aunt or great-uncle, which means that you would refer to your great aunts and uncles as "Koko" or "Ntatemogolo", which mean grandma and grandpa respectively. This means that your grandparents' siblings, cousins or even siblings in law are your grandparents too, there is no exclusivity. This forces one to treat them and award them the same respect as they would their immediate grandparents. This shaped my worldview and overall behaviour by making me respect adults. When I see black older women, I see my mom and behave accordingly. My relationships older black people, whether I know them or not, adopt the relationship dynamics that I have with my parents or grandparents. Even if a stranger is disrespectful, the mere fact that they are older hinders me from having a 'respect works both ways' attitude because that is not how it was in my household. Adults deserved respect just for being adults and I carry that mentality  with me everyday. Christianity further enforces this mentality because it teaches respect, and humility at all costs.

In Setswana culture it is also important that you get married before you procreate. If ever it happens that you have a child out of wedlock, that child is her or his mother's child. They will be named by the mother and take her surname. You as an unmarried man have no rights to the child. Getting married to the mother allows for both her and your child to use your surname. If you don't wish to pursue the mother any longer, but desire for your offspring to carry your surname you have to marry your child, in the sense that you pay dowry for your child. I have seen people go against this teaching and simply allow their boyfriends or "baby daddies' to name their children and it came to their own detriment because it enraged the child's maternal ancestors and resulted in problems that can only be solved by appeasing them with livestock and changing the child's name. Sex before a marriage being a sin according to Christianity further enforced this teaching. My worldview and behaviour were altered by this belief in the sense that I would not have a child out of wedlock, because it does not seem worth it to me. On top of wanting my children to have a stable home, wanting to have the same surname as my husband and children I want to please God as best as I can. I would never intentionally put myself in a situation where I have children without getting married first.

I have reciprocal relationships of different degrees with my family members. With relatives, certain benign relationship attributes are standard because unlike the other networks, it is impossible to break up or break things off. There's the knowledge that we will always be family. The type of network between my parents and I seemed one-sided at first because they began providing food and shelter at a point where I was too young to understand and give anything in return. As I grew and matured however, I discovered expectations from them. They continue to sponsor my lifestyle, by catering to all my financial needs, while offering love and support and I reciprocate by showing gratitude through my actions and making them proud by doing well in school, or doing chores. My brother and I's relationship is mostly emotional, he gives me advice and he often makes me feel better when I'm feeling sad. I offer him the same when he needs it.

The friendship networks that I'm involved in are healthy and reciprocal. We often buy one another birthday gifts of equal or similar sentimental value, depending on what we like. We also split costs on food. We take turns buying and making one another food. We also assist one another academically depending on our strong points. I offer friends emotionless support, by giving them the platform to express their thoughts and feelings, whenever they need it. The relationship is a little unfair when it comes to my own emotions though, but it is only because I find it impossible to open up. They do try to be there for me regardless, and I appreciate it.

There are a few professional relationships that I have been a part of with people such as doctors, lecturers and my agent. Although professional relationships are essentially money for a service they can exceed that. For example, I've had the same doctor for my whole life, therefore he is interested in my well-being and offers me emotional and physical support on top of the medical treatment that he gives me in exchange for a paycheque. My lectures offer me academic material by introducing new topics and providing clarity on the topics that I don't quite understand. I reciprocate by making their jobs as easy as possible, adhering to rules or completing my assignments on time, in the correct format so that they'll able to mark them with ease. My agent provides me with an accommodation and I complain about anything that is not to standard, she does what she has to fix and then I pay her at the end of every month.

I wake up early everyday, the latest I wake up is 7:00am, which is actually a rare occurrence. I normally start my day in prayer, to thank Jesus Christ for what I perceive as the gift of waking up, and ask for protection throughout the ensuing day. Immediately after praying I am encompassed by peace as I continue to bask in the warmth of my blankets. I take the next few minutes to indulge in my unhealthy habit of scrolling on social media. I enjoy the time that I have to myself because I don't particularly enjoy speaking in the morning.

Two and a half hours before my first class I get up and make my bed, open windows and sweep my room if I'm not feeling lazy. The ingress of the gentle breeze allows for the permeating of a crisp and fresh smell. I then leave my room to brush my teeth take a 45 minute long shower, playing music throughout. The embrace of the delicate touch of the droplets on my skin, my aromatic body wash and the elating sounds of the song in background join forces in ensuring that I leave the bathroom in an exceptional mood. When I return to my room, my roommate is normally awake. She's my friend and I adore her. I am always gleeful at the sight of her beeming smile as we acknowledge one another's presence. She's ready to talk as soon as her eyes are open (well even before, she talks in her sleep) so we'll engage in light conversation, while I get dressed.

No matter how early I wake up, I'm always too late to prepare and devour a filling meal, so I always settle for a light snack. This is where the other one that I adore, my other friend, who is also my housemate, interact for the first time. I'm always overjoyed when I see her. I notice during our embrace that she smells heavenly, and looks stunning. We have all the same classes, so then we'll be on our way. We walk to school and we'll often complain about tired, aching legs and the scorching sun in between laughter filled conversations. We're late to all our classes. We both despise it, and always have conversations about changing it but we always let ourselves and eachother down. The earliest we have been to a class is 5 minutes late.

When we finally arrive we have to take on the daunting task of walking through a full class. Eyes on us as everyone attempts to see the disruption causers. This is my biggest motivation to wanting to be early, however my friend doing it with me mitigates the anxiety that it brings. We'll then settle down and join the class. After our last class we make our way home. This is when we'll have something to eat with my roommate if she is home. This is my favourite part of the day. The aroma of the flavoursome food and the paraxism of laughter fill the air as I enjoy company of my friends. We'll then sit in each others's company each paying attention to our own things such as our phones or school work. 

Later on in the day, we'll all meet in the kitchen with 2 of out other housemates. It's when we cook and do dishes, it's not really planned and really it's out of convinience, but I love it. We'll talk about our day make a little fun of each other and sometimes even have deep conversations. Once that is done we'll go our separate ways. Once I'm my room I'll prepare for bed. I'll scroll on tiktok to tire myself out, then I'll say a prayer to thank Jesus for the day, and then I'll go to sleep.

I have stereotyped white people as having no structure or respect within their households. Growing up in an African household with Batswana parents, respect has been instilled in me. My parents are not really strict compared to what African parents are perceived as, however I always knew what lines never to cross. I always looked at white children as the type to tell their parents to 'Shut up.' From what I was exposed to, they would also be open about being in a relationship to their parents from a young age, because of my culture endorsing only introducing your spouse to your family when you're approaching getting married, it made me see them as disrespectful. However I learnt that respect is merely respecting boundaries, therefore if our boundaries are not the same, we can never be respectful in the same way. This stereotype is problematic because it makes them seem discourteous, and exacerbates rasicm and its results which creates othering. It creates a clear distinction between white and black people and makes white people seem unrelatable, and of a different species.

I stereotyped Xhosa people, women especially as irrational and crazy and Zulu people, men especially as violent. The way that Xhosa women are portrayed in media as irrational and 'wild' led to me believing it. The whole 'crazy Xhosa girlfriend' narrative and people's fixation on it led to me expecting all Xhosa girls to be that way. Similarly I expected all Zulu men to be violent due to their association to the taxi business and gun violence. These stereotypes led to me being closed off to people of the Nguni tribe and made me see them as uncivil. This resulted in othering people it further separated me from other black people and enforces tribalism making them seem different to me and as if I'm pure and their not, when there are actually a lot similarities between how people of different South African cultures carry themselves.