Tick- Tock
“First ask yourself what you would be and then do what you have to do”- Epic TetusThere should be an aim in life. A life without aim is useless. My mother is exceedingly strong and fearless, she is a model of hard work and dedication and thus I admire her as my hero to whom I believe blindly. Most people have some sort of story, something incredible, or life-changing. My story defined who I am, and taught me how to deal with tough situations. I have been told I am good at dealing with different situations. When my mom would leave to work, I would have to make dinner for myself and make sure I went to bed at the right time. I found it weird, she would be gone at night, but she would wake me up in the morning for school. But when I got home, she would be gone. It was like living two lives sometimes. It was always the same, go to school, deal with kids, come home, make food, and sleep. I had a routine and I knew what to do, and when to do it.
Everything changed in the summer of 2009, my mother took my brother and I back to Eritrea for a long awaited family reunion. Dozens of unrecognizable faces came running to me as we were coming off the plane that rainy and humid night. The dwelling we road a Toyota truck to was far from my expectations of where we were going to live. My uncle drove down unpaved roads and within an hour he said, “Home, sweet home.” I could feel my jaw hit the floor. We arrived to a makeshift home in a village not far from the capitol of Eritrea. To say I was terrified, is an understatement.
It took me a couple of weeks to get used to the village, I met lots of nice kids that were amazed by my American accent. I was just amazed that they lived without electricity! Soon enough, I had to learn how to tend to the chickens, cows, and goats my family owned. It was hard work doing physical labor, but I learned to enjoy it. I even played with the goats when I got bored. After a month, I ran out of new things to keep me occupied, so I started to spend time with my aunts who knew English. One of them, Eden, was eight months pregnant at the time, so she always stayed inside most of the day. I grew very acquainted with her as the days went on.
As time went by, I could see her getting weaker and weaker as her due date approached. I wondered if she was going to a hospital for the birth, but I was too shy to ask. One extremely hot day, I heard her yelling in pain, as I ran to go see what happened, my mother told me to run to the neighboring houses and tell the women that Eden was giving birth.
Time was of the essence. All of a sudden, I was an immediate track star, I ran so fast I felt like my legs were going to fall off. Within an hour, all the women in the village were at our home. I wanted to ask when the doctor was going to arrive, but everyone seemed to be busy trying to comfort Eden. I was so excited her Eden to deliver the baby, I decided I should just give the women their space. The goats and cows hadn't been fed that day due to all the events happening, so I took the liberty to get them water and food. I came back a couple of hours later to check on the progress of the labor.. To my dismay, I saw everyone crying, not tears of joy, but tears of sadness. I didn't understand what happened.
I saw the baby. It didn't move, or cry, or even blink. I looked even closer at the baby, it looked pale. I quickly looked up at my uncle. He knew the question I was begging to ask. He took me outside and told me the baby died soon after it was delivered because of lack of oxygen. I was speechless, I knew the baby's death was preventable, but there was nothing I could do because I wasn't a nurse or doctor.
This event inspired me to pursue a career in nursing, the fact that most women in developing countries don't have access to a midwife or nurse during child labor is astonishing. Here in America, we take a lot of things for granted, like federal aid and access to medicine. My passion for nursing doesn't come from the great salary, or the flexible schedules. I want to be apart of bringing someone back to life. I never had help with homework. I never had help learning how to do things. I never had to be instructed on simple life tasks. I feel that out of my hardship growing up I realized that I don’t need to be babysat with everything I did. To this day I have always scheduled my own appointments, made sure I ate, and did my own laundry. I learned that my parents are here to help me be who I want to be, and to mold my own personality. I learned that when tough times get even tougher, I can pull through it. No one can tell me I am not going to do something. Or that I am not going to be able to achieve something. My personality has changed since then as well. I know now, that I am in control of what I do with my life and that no one can bring me down to their level. Some people will never learn that, some learn it early. But, I know for a fact that without those once horrible memories, I wouldn’t be the person I am today.