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| Beautiful State |
It's been a
long, long, arduous journey. Full of highs and lows. Positives and Negatives.
Tears and Joy. Rejections and Acceptances. Fiends and Friends. All of this
coupled with the struggle for identity. Struggle to discover who I really am
and who I really want to become. My life has not been easy but I sure know it's
been easier than a lot of people my age. And for this I thank God, Almighty.
There's a lot of people unemployed in this world at the moment and it thrills
me to know I am one of the employed few. Currently in America, 12.7 million
people are unemployed.
I was born
in a small town called Kasama, in the Northern province of Zambia. I grew up in
a family of five. Two brothers and two sisters. Both my parents went to college
and were lucky enough to have jobs. However, when my father died in 1996, it
became so hard for my mother to make ends meet for the five children. Life
became so difficult and all the credit goes to my mother for being so strong
and courageous. I remember one day walking into the living room, when I was
about nine, and mum was right there weeping. Apart from crying during the
funeral, I never saw my mother cry in public until this moment. Right away I
knew it was something serious. She had received an eviction notice from my
father's work place because the house we lived in belonged to the company. This
was the hardest situation for my mother to deal with and she was still grieving
my father's death. Becoming homeless was a daunting prospect but I knew very
well that my mother was strong enough to fight. So she took the case to court.
I don't know much about the details of this case other than it took years for
the lawyers and everyone involved to settle it. My mother won the case on the
premise that the company owed us a lot of benefits which they couldn't pay, and
so we kept the house but they took the car.
From then
on, my mother became the man of the house. She was the wife and the husband.
She did all the work that a man could do and she did it even better. She made
sure we got to school and we had all of our school fees paid. This was not easy
for her but miraculously she managed to send all of us to school. I graduated
from Mungwi Technical High School in 2004 and was ready for college but one
thing kept worrying me: the high fees that come with college/university. I was
not under any illusions that my mother will afford tuition fees for the
University of Zambia (that's the only school I seriously considered). And to
make things even more difficult, she had to pay for my twin brother too. Having
twins is expensive because you spend twice as much for everything.
About two
months post my high school graduation, I received a letter indicating that I
was chosen to attend interviews for an international scholarship to study the
International Baccalaureate (IB) in England, United Kingdom. I believe I was
given this opportunity because of my prior involvement with my high school's
science club called JETS and my grades were good enough (nothing spectacular
:p). From a pool of 500 students nationwide, 25 were selected to attend the
final selection in Lusaka. So I went to Lusaka and gave it a shot. When I
returned home, my mother told me to forget about this international scholarship
program and try something else. She knew very well that the selection was
competitive and she tried to prepare me for the worst. In the mean time,
instead of just staying at home waiting for the decision I decided to apply for
a job at Konkola Copper Mines Plc in Lusaka. Fortunately I got the job and went for
work. Deep down my heart, I knew that this was not a job for me but I had no option. The first month was all training. Safety precautions, underground mining, how to handle the unearthly darkness, what to do in case of an earth quake and you're 15-20 feet under and all that scary stuff. At the end of training everyone was required to go underground and observe the deepest darkness. I was so afraid to experience this event I tried everything to ensure that they gave me a non-underground job i.e. operating some other machines on the ground.
However, just as the training was approaching the end, I had a dream. This is probably the most vivid dream I ever had and most likely will ever have. I am not sure about this but some people would call it a 'prophetic dream'. Anyways, my dream was straight forward, maybe not, well at least the message was. I was sitting on a stool chatting with one of my high school friends (Joseph). The place seemed to be my grand parents farm/village. Joseph and I were talking about what we want to do now that we have finished high school. Then suddenly, someone in the dream (I am not sure who) told me that "Chris you have been chosen to go to England". I got so confused and just kept quiet. But Joseph was so interested about this he kept asking me what I am going to do when I go there. Suddenly, I awoke! It was seven something in the morning and about time for work. Normally when I have dreams like this I get so pissed off when I wake up because then I realize it was just a dream, but not this time. I got up full of energy and got ready for work. I was so sure and confident that this was about to become a reality. A few days later, I received a call from my aunt, saying that my mom has been hiding the news from me for about a week because she did not want to disturb my concentration. I was so mad at her but hey, she was right.
I gathered my belongings, said goodbye to the friends I just spent a month with and went home. Everybody was praying for me and they all wished me well. Even before I got selected, my very religious aunt (the one who called me) had a saying for me; "greater is He who lives in me than He who lives in others". This was the motto. And to everyone out there going through some very selective, competitive interview or whatever, just use this line and you will feel better. In a way, it's a very selfish line but hey you have to be selfish sometimes in order to succeed. 08/30/05 I had my first celestial experience when I boarded that British Airways heading for London. I was accompanied by Thomas Kasonde Mukonde, another student who was selected from the 25. My time in the UK was beyond awesome. I spent three wonderful years there and would not change those years for anything. On that note, S/O to Pestalozzi International Village.
08/16/08 I landed in America for another remarkable journey. I did not know much about America and was not sure what to expect. I knew, however, that if you work hard in America you can make it. They say America is the land of opportunities and a beacon of hope to all those that push themselves. I studied Physics at Berea College and graduated 05/06/12 with a Bachelors degree. This is the most difficult and challenging thing I have ever done to date. Physics is fun; Physics is hard and it can tear you apart. But I am glad and proud that I survived. S/O to Hodari-Sadiki James for successfully completing the degree as well. Hodari was my college buddy and with him around, Physics was not as dull as it could have been. Hodari is a truly smart Jamaican. His coolness rivals that of Usain Bolt (lol).
After college, I knew very well what I wanted to do. Work! I was so tired of being broke I almost became allergic to that. So I decided to just apply for work and consider graduate school later. But when my professors heard of this decision they weren't so comfortable with it and encouraged me to apply to a few graduate schools. I reluctantly applied to four schools; two PhD programs and two Masters. Got three rejections and one acceptance. I did not beat myself down because I am The Determinator! I pride myself on being determined. I keep knocking at the door until I get the answer. Most people say I am so lucky because I have seen Europe, I have seen America and I have experienced the world. This statement annoys me because it's an understatement and a fallacy. I am where I am not because I am smart but because I work hard and I am determined. I am determined to give myself the best life this world could afford. Barack Obama once said that every child deserves a decent shot at life. This is a profound sentence when you think of it. Underline "every child" and you will know what I am talking about. All men are created equal and we all deserve equal opportunities. S/O to Mr. President Barack Obama, the man I shook hands with in Ohio during his campaign.
This piece of writing is not an autobiography. It is intended to teach and hopefully inspire someone going through difficult times. I am not a professional writer(of course not, duh) but I love to write sometimes and this blog is a good way of sharing my experiences and views with everyone else. I recently relocated from Kentucky (where I attended college) to Massachusetts (where I currently work) hence the title of this blog, Boston My New Home.
PS: If you're into some classics, listen to these Boston/Massachusetts inspired songs!
--Amulay Sirch
