How many first-years do you know that didn’t come straight from school? How many spent a year in the bush, patrolling in an anti-poaching unit? How many have lived in London, Italy or Thailand? Or how many have lived in a Zulu homestead, and taken people out onto the continental shelves of the warm Indian Ocean, instructing them on deep-sea reef-dives, and been responsible for their lives? Barry Sierra has seen some adventure.
The first thing you will notice upon introduction to this man is his immense difference from any other first year. He is older, sure, but with that age he carries a humble peace, so much so, that meeting his calm calculated gaze you become entwined in an overall stillness, delicately insured when he says: "No need for all the complexities of modern man, no need for stressing about the future, we’re here now, and that’s where we need to begin."
Barry matriculated in 2002, with wild ideas of studying further, having various options of university. This changed in that first December, when a timeless tragedy struck him and a loved one. This altered Barry’s life: "My faith in mankind had been shattered. I had space for only one thought, freedom!" he says. Unable to accept the comfort of a routine life at varsity, Barry set out to do some travelling across Europe. On return, a year later, Barry worked odd jobs until his sea-based passion led him to Sodwana Bay, on the east-coast of South Africa. Here he became a Master Diver. His life was lived in board-shorts on a little boat, "helping tourists familiarise the wondrous realm beneath the surface of the ocean", he says. He then pursued a chance to build onto his diving experience, and left South Africa to visit the distant shores of Thailand. However, this time did not yield any sort of peace. "Thailand only added fuel to the fire in my mind, I came back embittered and angry with everyone and everything around me," he explains.
Upon his return from the East, still affected by the injustice of man, Barry engaged in various bush-training courses on first-aid, survival and rifle shooting. The days in the bush were "times of reflection, in which, I tried to rediscover my vision in life and ultimately, my humanity." Barry spent a year in the African Bush, from Kololo to the Timbavati, Addo Park to Phinda. He lived in the wilderness of these wild, untamed places he called home.
Solitude is the best way to describe the six years of Barry’s life prior to these days at Rhodes. Our interview is at his house, a small bachelor flat lined with decorations of Eastern influence, and a sweet aroma of Indian incense. For Barry, solitude has "been the quiet space that allowed me to reconnect with myself and discover what my path in life needs to be. I realized I had to change myself before I could help anyone else. In solitude I found my peace and my centre again. My mission in life has become to help others and serve them selflessly."
Since the life of solitude ends quite abruptly on entrance to varsity life, Barry explains how he came to be a Rhodent: "In the words of Ghandi, I made up my mind to ‘become the change I wanted to see in the world’. I dedicated myself to others and the pursuit of peace and progress for those that had only known hardship." This is why he has decided to gain the knowledge that Rhodes and the JMS department has to offer. He has learned to fit in to the cogs of Grahamstown’s networks, and initiated a community development program for The Oppidan Press. On questioning Nicole, another first year and friend of Barry: "He was very mysterious at first, I couldn’t make him out." This is the common perception I expect. But when one is blessed with the engagement of an emotive conversation with Barry, one respects his mysterious virtue with an utmost understanding and appreciation.
0 comments:
Post a Comment