“This story I am about to share might sound juicy or unbelievable. Some of you might even think I was foolish. But me? I really thought I was never going to survive the hurt and pain I went through that period of my life.
I was in my first year of university, and as a self-sponsored student, my parents were the ones fully funding my education. I met my boyfriend in language class (padfak) the previous year, and from then on, our love blossomed. Or so I thought.
I should have just known it was yeye love sha. My parents usually sent my school fees and allowance through a money exchanger. And once it was close to resumption time, we would begin to monitor the exchange rate so they could send the money when it was favorable.
Unfortunately, during this particular period when I was supposed to receive the money, I was having some issues with my bank account, and the rates were too good to pass up.
My mum suggested they send the money anyway, and that I keep it in the account of a trusted friend. She also kept warning me to withdraw it and keep it in cash while I sorted out my bank issues.
By the way, I had just one account and couldn’t receive money anywhere else. I agreed and decided to use my then boyfriend’s account, since he was the closest person to me at the time. I didn’t even think twice about it. My parents did not know I had a boyfriend.
Funny enough, on the day they sent the money, I had a dream where I saw myself crying. I woke up and just brushed it aside. They sent the money through the exchanger, and my boyfriend received it. We lived in different hostels, and the agreement was that once he received the money, he would come over so we could go to the bank together to resolve my account issues, as we had planned earlier that day.
The first warning sign was that he couldn’t follow me to the bank as agreed. He said something urgent had come up, and he had to quickly attend to it. To be honest, no alarm bells went off in my head.
Long story short I didn’t see him until two days later. I was worried and angry, so I went to his hostel. I asked him where my money was and he tried to sweet-talk me into calming down. I was getting scared, and after pressing him and demanding my money, he finally confessed.
Apparently, my supposed boyfriend had poured half of my school fees into sports betting, and he didn’t make any gains as he had predicted. I saw red. I didn’t even want to know the details. I asked him to follow me to withdraw the rest of the money. He started begging and asked me to understand that he was really really broke. I wasn’t even listening.
I followed him to the bank, got the rest of my money, and headed straight to the police station. With my broken Ruski and hot tears, I explained my situation. They told me to write out a complaint, including my boyfriend’s name and address.
The next day, I went there again, and two policemen followed me to my ex’s hostel. They told him to write out a report and a clear plan on how he was going to pay me back. I paid half of my tuition that semester and asked my older brother for the rest later on.
In the first few months, my ex was consistent with giving me whatever money he made, but after a while, I stopped receiving anything from him. I was already tired of going to the police station and just left the matter to die. I never told my parents, and my brother who eventually paid most of the money only vaguely understands that I lost part of my school fees.
Since that experience, I’ve come to understand that money is a dangerous thing and it can separate people and bring out the worst in them. I still remain guarded to this day, and I find it really hard to trust people whenever money is involved. I don’t even lend money to anyone anymore.
This experience just taught me that, in all you do, you have to shine your eyes and use your brain. People can change when money is involved. May we not encounter those that would frustrate our lives.”