Make a difference by Ruth

Make a difference by Ruth - June 2017 Scholarship Essay

As a six-year-old growing up in Eastern Africa, all I knew was I wanted to change the world. I have lived by seeing things with my own two eyes that shook me to the ground and the experiences have taught me to give my life to the world and give service not aimed in any specific way. As I got older I learned to take the dream and apply it little by little as one person can’t change the whole world. Throughout different societies and educational systems, I came to realize that the specific ways I wanted to make that goal happen evolved ranging from leading politically to humanitarian work to psychiatry.


In Ethiopia, there are so many visible problems as it is a third world country. Instead of singing or acting, it is most children's dream as well as mine to only wish of making a difference. Weather it is finding the cure for HIV/AIDS which was killing so much of the population, fighting for a democratic nation or feeding the hungry, it urges even the infants to dream of working towards a greater world. At my earliest childhood I was brought up in a family that believed in the power of children vision despite how narrow the opportunities were in the country.I was led on the belief that everything including things not in existence were doable. I didn’t exactly know what I wanted to do other than the fact I knew I was going to put all the hard work that was required to change not only my country but the world directly. This dream was reduced little by little as I grew realizing I can’t really change everything and I had to focus on little portions.


My experience in learning new concepts and content on a daily basis led through so much change in my mindset. As my dream led on, while going to school in the Capital of Addis Abeba, education was a struggle for me as the system wasn’t designed for much opportunity. I started to fail short in hoping for something big. When I got enrolled in my first American school, I succeeded through the roof and I started realizing in this land, the future was as bright as one made it to be. At age 11, When seeing the stable position of being a physician, that's what I wanted to do to help the rural areas of the world with poor medical systems while donating portions of my high earning. At age 13, at a world cultures class, I started learning how injured the parts of the World we don't see are, which led me to consider a humanitarian career. At age fourteen, I went back to visit my homeland and I saw people who had lost their minds on the streets, with people walking around considering it all normal. That horrific vision led me to my present plan for the future as a traveling psychiatrist for developing areas that haven’t grasped the concept of mental illnesses.

Starting from a young age and seeing all kinds of bad things in Ethiopia, all I wished was a greater world that I was going to create. As I grew, I started to take the dream and put it in specific ways realizing a single person can’t do everything. Throughout my education and growth, I considered all kinds of careers that tied into the service of especially the developing world. In the present, by realizing mental sickness is a topic especially ignored in these places, I’ve come in terms of wanting to be a psychiatrist working in those areas. I might not end up going as far as changing the world but I can sure make a difference.