I happened to be one of the unfortunate children raised by alcoholic parents. My father attempted suicide twice before finally succeeding the third time. He was the household earner; his mother was a housewife who used to wait for his husband to bring something to the table every day. My father's death left me very perplexed as to why he had to take his own life while leaving his children and wife to struggle with life. As I am writing this, I realize that the death of the father and the challenges that I went through when I was young influenced greatly my identity as well as my professional ambitions. The experiences in my life have played a bigger role in who I am today, and to what I will be in future.
I came from a small town where few people believed in the power of education. The main economic activity in the town was mining, most young people in this town did not graduate high school, and for most of them, college is just a name that was placed mistakenly in the dictionary. I had to cope with the pressure of dealing with people who did not see the importance of the education. My mother, who was my source of finance, did not support my education endeavor, in fact, she was among the many who used to criticize me for going to school while other men of my age were busy working and getting married. Even though my mother and most of my friends did not understand my ambitions, I realized I needed to make a difference and used their critics and doubts as my motivation to achieve what I wanted.
After graduating from high school, I applied for a green card to U.S. and my application was approved. In the U.S. I was employed as a supermarket attendant, my duty was to ensure the store was always clean, and also directing people to where certain goods were. The job was tiresome and required a lot of dedication. At the end of every month, I could only earn few bucks that were not even sustaining my basic needs. After working for some few months, I applied for an accountant job in the same store, with my high school grades and achievements in mathematics, I was given the job. Lucky for me my salary was raised, it was now able to sustain my needs and at the same time send some few dollars back at home. Since I still had some passion for mathematics, I decided to further my studies by enrolling for mathematics classes. Every week, I would attend to 6 hours classes, and this was supposed to go on for a whole semester.
Even though it was difficult to work and attend classes, I had to push myself as that was the only option I had at the moment. I used to motivate myself with the words I had been told by my mathematics teacher that after every struggle, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. I knew I would one day see that light and that kept me going. With the troubles and the struggles I was going through, I still managed to get a GPA of 3.41. This grade was as a result of the hard work I had put in my academics. With this, I knew I was able to do much better, and I only needed a better institution to make my dreams come true.
I believe that despite the struggles that one goes through in life, they still have a chance to make it in life. Despite the challenges that I was facing in the U.S. I still managed to work and finance my education, and more so managed to get a good GPA. The death of my father and other challenges that I faced while young have been my source of motivation in life. After completing my studies, I want to take back to the society I grew in. I am hoping that I will get back and educate my people on the importance of education, especially in the field of mathematics.
