MITES+Essay+3

Can't remember what the official prompt for this was, but I've been using it for the typical "How has your cultural background/upbringing/community affected your aspirations and goals? " essay

Every year I go to Nigeria and take in the same sobering sights: unfinished construction, and a virtually nonexistent infrastructure. I see understaffed schools and frequent strikes that halt any academic progress for weeks on end. I see students who claim to be computer science majors, but yield blank stares after hearing the terms like “command-line” and “compiler”. I bear witness to this disarray, but amidst these deplorable conditions, I see a nation teeming with potential. I see a nation that, if given sufficient support, can break free of the shackles that government corruption has cast upon it.

My family and I arrive in Enugu, Nigeria, on December 23rd, 2012, and commence preparation for the distribution in a couple of hours. The widows, beaming so brightly that I can sense Apollo quiver in envy, welcome us with exuberance as we purposefully stride into the distribution venue. Everywhere I look, the widows and their progeny gaze upon me with deference, resembling the manner in which a royal subject gazes upon his prince; this treatment is the most unpleasant aspect of the event. I desperately yearn to tell them we are equals, we are all human beings, and we all should strive to assist other human beings if provided with the opportunity. Alas, my message falls on deaf ears, and this failure renders me incapable of doing anything but accepting their blessings with a sad smile as I ensure that they receive their nourishment.

I appreciate receiving the opportunity to participate in the annual meat and rice distribution for these past three years. I understand that it is the responsibility of the members of my generation, whether they reside in the United States or Nigeria, to capitalize on each and every opportunity resources, like the World Wide Web, yield to us. We are to be innovators, groundbreakers, problem-solvers because if we are not, if we fail, then more pain and suffering awaits our beloved homeland and other developing, third-world countries. Failure means inconsistent sources of running water, ineffective healthcare, unreliable power sources and other unmentionable woes.

I acknowledge the privilege to be able to search any given topic on Google or YouTube and learn it on-demand. I understand that it is a privilege to be able to collaborate with someone across the globe in Abuja, Nigeria, through a myriad of channels and abuse or frivolous use of my privileges is almost an insult to some students in Nigeria, who must beseech teachers, pleading, “Uncle, I know you are currently teaching a class, but could you teach us a little?” in hopes of improving their bleak existences. With this knowledge in mind, I strive to maintain intellectual humility and gratitude as I avidly engage in my education. The pursuit of knowledge, albeit arduous at times, is relatively pleasurable because any discomfort I may encounter is negligible next to the struggle of a child soldier in Uganda or a child laborer in China.