US military army
I was a Registered Medical Assistant and a Certified Nursing Assistant when I joined the US military army. I could not pursue a medical degree course because of a lack of school fees but was lucky to secure a position in the military due to my medical qualification. Joining the military was “a dream come true.” I had for years aspired to work in the military so that I could offer my services to needy people. I had read and heard about the medical and psychological needs of the military people and had wanted to be a part of the team that works closely with these loyal members of the society. However, I had to join the training camp to learn a few things about my duties and the tasks I was to be assigned. My joy did not last long as I encountered several challenges which almost made me quit.
The first challenge I encountered in the military was racism. The leaders in the training camp were racists and, in particular, did not like people from my race. They subjected recruits from the races they despised to terrible emotional torture. They used demeaning language and humiliated as at the slightest chance. I joined the army at an advanced age. Therefore these leaders were way young, and I found their actions immature. But I was determined to serve the community, and so I persevered the hard training and the racism I encountered at the time. I had never encountered discrimination and racism before, and this was the last place I expected to experience such. I therefore spent days under stress and many times felt discouraged. I completed training and was deployed in Afghanistan, where racism was also quite high. But I could not quit because of the great desire to serve my country I felt on the inside. I, therefore, developed strategies to overcome the obstacles.
One of the strategies was worshiping. I formed a choir with people from my race, and we began singing praise and worship songs. Soldiers from other races joined as the worship songs became the only source of power and encouragement. We encouraged and supported each other and became the voice to the voiceless. The other strategy that helped me overcome the ill-treatment is that I formed and headed a group of between 4 to 6 members. We made donuts and distributed to the less fortunate people in Afghanistan, which made me feel fulfilled because I was doing what I loved doing since a young age, improving the lives of the less fortunate. We also used shredded papers to warm the soldiers’ camps in winter. I also got an opportunity of helping the Afghanistan citizens and providing first aid to the wounded soldiers. I provided counseling to those among us who felt distressed and also to the soldiers who had gone through traumatic experiences. As a medical assistant, I took the blood pressure of the patients in Afghanistan and examined them. Such voluntary services, including interaction with the needy, motivated me to take up a career in social work.
Relevant Life Experience
I did not know that my dark past would trigger me to become of help to others. I am a product of rape. As a young 15 years teenage girl, my mother was raped by a familiar person who threatened her not to tell anybody or would be killed. She never said a word, but after a few months, everything was brought to light when her tinny stomach began protruding, announcing the presence of a baby. She was not only distressed but was thrown out of her home by her parents, who could not listen to her plea of innocence. My mom moved to different friends and finally to my aunt’s place where she gave birth to me. She later moved from her aunt’s home after she secured a low paying job in the factory. At that time, I was a few months old and had to pay a neighbor some money to take care of me as she went to work. Life was miserable, and more men took advantage of her misery. Eventually, she got two more children. Now without a husband and with three mouths to feed, life became harsh, and she turned to drugs. We depended on well-wishers to eat and provide clothes. Sometimes the landlord would throw us out because of staying months without paying rent, but even then, some well-wishers would pay rent for us. I was exposed to an immoral environment, and before I could hit 20 years, I already had three children. Life was very hard and had it not been for those people who provided food and clothes for us; we would have died a long time ago. I felt a deep debt to give back to society by helping the needy. A well-wisher helped me pay for my medical and nursing assistant course. I decided to take this course with the hope that someday I would get an opportunity to work in the military and help the sick, less fortunate, and the needy in the society.
The other experience that led me to desire to take a career in social work was from my small brother. My mother was ever violent towards us, and the neighbors resented us because of the situation we were in. My small brother was always angry with me and, for no reason, blamed me for the situation at home. He thought that had I not gotten the three children, life would be a little better. He spent his life angry and depressed. I knew he had no sense of belonging because of the poverty situation we were in could not allow anyone to want to associate with us. We lived a withdrawn life, and people in our community blamed us for all evils that were committed in the neighborhood, yet we could not defend ourselves. I desired to take a career in social worker so that I could be a voice to the voiceless. It would also give me an opportunity to become a friend to the lowly people who were sidelined by the society due to poverty. I also wanted to support such people and improve their lives just as someone had done to me. The other reason for taking social work was to reach out to the drug addicts and provide free counseling and, if possible, take them to a rehabilitation center. Had my mother been provided with such support, she would have stopped taking drugs and maybe led a more decent life.
Experience with Social and Economic Justice.
I have been working with Bridges To Life since 2014. It is a volunteer-led justice program that facilitates the meeting of victims and inmates who share their pain and experiences. The program is meant to let the inmates learn about the pain crime brings to families and the victims. Although none of the victims is an exact victim of the inmates, the victims who speak went through the experience of those the inmates made go through. The program takes 14 weeks, and it is meant to reduce recidivism. It enhances communication and builds bridges between the relationship between the inmates and the community. It also develops techniques that allow the victim to forgive the offender for allowing for the healing process and the redemption.
I also have been working with Stand Up For Kids, which is a volunteer program that empowers homeless kids and those youths at risk by helping them believe in themselves by counseling, mentoring, and providing them with life-skills training. We also offer the homeless with regional housing, education, and mentoring. We also help them create productive relationships with the community. We cooperate with different staff members to provide education programs that aim at removing the at-risk youths out of the streets. We also provide them with effective intervention strategies.
I plan to continue with this crucial social work by ensuring that the at-risk youths get some education and skills that will enable them to secure a well-paying job. I also want the homeless children to go back to school or college and acquire an education that will help them become productive citizens.
