"Destined To Be Great," by Theresa Walelu

Even before I was born, my life was full of hardship. My father passed away when my mother was pregnant with me. Two months after my mother gave birth to me, she also passed away. Luckily, after my mother passed away, my aunt stepped up and took me in. She raised me as one of her own children. We lived in poverty: our house was made of grass and rain always entered. If it was raining at night, the house would be full of water. We had to stay up all night without sleeping. I remember going to bed hungry.  We first lived in Angola, the country I was born in, until war broke out. We moved to the Democratic Republic of Congo when I was four years old. My aunt and I barely escaped.

Changing residence because of war and poverty became a repeated occurence in my life. We lived in Congo for six years, and survived with the little we had until another war broke out causing us to relocate again. This time we moved to Zambia. Even though there was no war in Zambia, my family and I were still very traumatized from witnessing all the wars in Angola and Congo. We were traumatized to the point where we had no hope until we received the best news in 2016: we were coming to the United States of America!

Fast Forward to now: I’m a senior in high school, and my goal more than anything is to get a higher education and become a Physician Assistant (PA). My aunt had a habit of telling me about my parents, especially my dad. One thing I’ve kept dear to my heart is how my dad had always wanted to become a PA, but had to sacrifice that dream in order to provide a better life for his family. My aunt who parented me, an orphan, always believed in me and spoke positive words to me. She often told me “You look just like your parents, and you’re destined to be great.” My aunt believing in me helps me know that I can achieve goals, and become whoever I want to become. I believe I can become great by pursuing my dream of a PA. 

My past hardships and experience I have taught me to be resilient and have molded me and gave me a strong mindset. I have learned resilience. While in college and when I face difficulties in life, I will encourage myself by remembering what my aunt has often told me: “You’re destined to be great.” I can achieve anything I set my mind to do, I have family members that believe in me and come June 2020, I will be the first person in my family to graduate from high school!  I could not be happier about that because I have younger cousins that look up to me. I’m excited to set an example for them and give them that confidence they need after overcoming all the obstacles we faced growing up.