Challenging a Life Belief/idea

My life as a 4th born in a poor family was nothing anyone would ever wish for, especially at a young age. My parents, both of whom never had the chance to attend elementary school, had the challenge of taking care of our family. Sustaining a meal for the entire family was something so hard, that sometimes we skipped meals, and there were other days where we went without any meal at all.

Shelter and clothing are things that are considered basic in most social classes. At times, we walked around with tattered clothes, while the house we lived in was a poorly-maintained shack. I remember us sharing a single bed, and sometimes there weren’t enough blankets for all of us in the house. One thing about my parents is that they always encouraged us with the mantra that “everything would be okay”, one day. Without a shred of doubt, I also believed that one day, there would be a turn of events where I would secure my family a decent and basic life, like ones accessible to the middle and upper social classes.

Education, especially for a girl like myself, in a Muslim dominated society, was something highly ridiculed. The place for a woman was traditionally set to be in the kitchen, farm, and taking care of children at home. Education was for men; the few who would win scholarships to go abroad and further their studies. Turns out that these were the few individuals who would later secure lucrative government positions for their levels of education. They, however, say that no situation in life is too permanent to change. This statement was amongst my guiding principles, and I vowed to, one day, change the course of such incidences.

The genesis of my success to where I am today was when I defied the odds and enrolled in school to get an education. Despite the discrimination and gender profiling, owing to the fact that I was a young girl, I earned good grades and was consistently among the top students in the class. Success comes to those who wait, but I believe that success comes to those who go a greater mile to get it.

I got the chance to get a scholarship for my high school education. This is a chance that I held so dearly, as I clearly understood what this meant and how important it was in shaping my life. I successfully completed high school, and now, I plan to enroll in college where I can pursue a degree in finance and investment analysis. This is a call to other marginalized girls and boys, who never had the chance to attend classes, that anything is possible with the proper willpower. My goal is to become an investment banker and/or financial analyst so that I can understand the nature of large corporations and become an impactful part of the future.

“The poverty that we languished in led me to seek a solution, which I relentlessly attained. Now, if I ever need to solve a problem, I have the experience and blueprint to make it happen. I am a go-getter, and therefore committed to breaking through the predicament I was born into, in order to build a better life for me and my close ones.