My parents got separated when I was a teenager and things changed very quickly. I had to become a mother to my younger siblings so I took up new responsibilities. Even the people around now treated me differently. In addition to this, we had to deal with financial challenges, so all these issues made growing up very tough for me.
I lived in constant fear and anxiety and I couldn’t turn to anyone for help as they were busy pursuing their lives and fighting their own battles. The most painful part was that people we trusted turned around to take advantage of me instead of taking care of us. I cried a lot and I didn’t know how to get out of this situation. I had lost taste and enthusiasm for life. Everything seemed pointless, including education.
By my third year in University, it had become too much for me to bear and I decided to drop out. Before leaving, I made one good call. I decided to talk to someone so I cried my way to Dr. Charles Obot’s office. He is one lecturer who treated us like his children. Dr. Charles would scold us and still advise us. He made it clear that he wanted the best for us, so I knew I could share my decision to drop out with him.
He listened patiently as I shared all I had been through and how hopeless my world had become. When I was done, he shared his own childhood experience. He told me how he achieved his dreams through ‘tearful determination’. He had been through a lot and there he was; a lecturer, a father to his students, a family man and a doctor.
That meeting was the beginning of better things. I picked up the pieces of my life and little by little I crawled my way to the next level. Right now, the view from here is a lot better than where I started.