Sally Amkoa, Second Place Winner

A little girl
sits in the dark
watching stars and planes.
Where they’ve been and
who they bring
make for her dreams at night.

***

I’m that person who gets excited when there’s a new copier at work. Change is my “thing”. I love going to new places, meeting new people, trying different types of foods; I like almost anything that can get me out of a routine. I grew up in Nairobi, Kenya in a small family. I shared a bedroom with two siblings, my nephew and often times a relative or two. My lack of personal space inspired me to dream. I was an avid reader who enjoyed learning about people and places around the world. I wondered how different life was in those places I couldn’t be, and wished every day that I would one day get a chance to experience it all. With time, I began to feel boxed-up within the borders of my country. I was extremely fortunate to get scholarship to study in the USA after high school. This, I hoped, would be the beginning of my travel adventures.

Working and learning abroad is a crucial part of my academic experience. In order to get a holistic understanding of my intended profession, I want to travel to the parts of the world where I can gain the exposure that I want. My dream is to become an economic development consultant for governments of developing countries. However, no classroom can prepare me fully for a career of this nature. This profession requires extensive international work experience, knowledge of key foreign languages, and excellent theoretical knowledge among others. I recently took an intensive Spanish language course in Costa Rica to complement my English and Swahili. I spent two more months living with a host family that only spoke Spanish. Though I am proud of my progress, I want to fully immerse myself in a Spanish speaking country through working and exploring in order to become fluent in the language.

A friend once told me that people think at their level of exposure. I did not realize how true that was until I discovered that I was a victim of limited thoughts: I used to think that to be successful in life I had to study specific fields like medicine or engineering, even though I wasn’t interested in them at all. In retrospect, I realize that that was the mindset I acquired from the environment where I was raised. But when I got to the USA, I learned that if I did what I absolutely loved, and did it well, that in itself was success. Now, I’m convinced that the numerous lessons that I need to learn are a reflection of the many places around the world that I need to visit. And just as this one lesson changed the course of my life, the next lesson I’ll learn on my next trip abroad might end up being one with implications of an even greater magnitude.