Describe two volunteer experience you've had, as well as what it taught you. by Amina

Describe two volunteer experience you've had, as well as what it taught you. by Amina - May 2018 Scholarship Essay

The most important thing to me is helping people. I believe it creates a stronger community when people build relationships with each other. My family came from Kenya and Somalia and didn’t receive much help. Girls didn’t have the freedom like people in America do such as the privilege of going to school, being able to read and write, and learning English. Since immigrating to the United States, I promised myself that I would assist kids that haven’t received help. Even more, I want to go back home one day to Africa and help the poor.
My community service commitment began two years ago when I started helping out at my school’s food pantry. Madison’s food pantry is a place where people from different cultures can come to get food when they don't have enough money or resources to feed their kids and families. There are multiple responsibilities, however, the main one involved shopping with our customers. They would wait in line until someone called their number. Sometimes there are customers who don’t speak English, so we need to guide them to the food in order to see what they want; on other occasions there are people that speak their language, and they interpret for us so that we can figure out their needs. As a result, I believe it’s important to give back to the community that helped my family and I get through our own hard times. From volunteering at the food pantry I realized how much I enjoy helping marginalized people and being able to care, love, and support others; This experience has reinforced my commitment, and it has informed my future career goals.
However, my volunteering did not end with Madison’s Food pantry. I wanted to continue to work with less fortunate people in my community, and I subsequently joined Strive. In this program youth can join to help make their community a better place to live in. The participants would go to different areas and identify people's’ needs, and figure out how we could to make their community a better place to live and keep children safe. There was a lot happening in these areas, and people living there didn't know how to speak up for themselves. For example, one thing we did in Strive was go to a homeless shelter and provide services. We made food, conversed, and listened to the people in the shelter before cleaning up for the night. It made me, and my peers, feel really good to see the smiles on their faces; this volunteering experience reminded me of how much I enjoyed to help people, so I went back to school and told my teachers that I would like to major in public health and help the poor.
I am looking forward to the next step of my life. I want to become a humanitarian because I enjoy helping those that need help. In order to do so, I want to attend college and study public health so that I can travel the world and assist impoverished people. At some point I also want to fund and distribute food, help build homes and schools, and provide medical assistance. I want to serve my community and family, both here and in Africa. I am dedicated to helping others. My grades may not always reflect this, but when I am really into things, I am relentless. I always fight for things that I love. My plan includes studying public health as undergraduate and participating in study abroad programs to broaden my education and foster my goal of becoming a humanitarian. I know that there are going to be many obstacles in college, but I am determined to overcome them. I have already overcome countless obstacles in my life, and this one is just a small, but critical, stepping stone compared to all of the others.