I know for sure by the time I finish this post, I’ll be receiving bombastic side eyes from all angles which is fine.
Two years ago, I was in my final year at the university pursuing my dream course: Environmental Science. I was passing through the valley of the shadow of death looking for data for my research. I just remembered my data collection days where I had to walk from the middle of nowhere to campus at night.
Just because I delayed at the communities where I went for data and they barely had means of transportation even in the day than to talk of during the night. This is definitely a story I can’t wait to tell my kids when they start complaining about university and of course I would have to exaggerate it and add how I had to fight some lions and cheetahs. Anyway it was all worth it because if you know me you’ll know how passionate I am about the environment.
My plan in final year was to become a Teaching Assistant not because I loved teaching or anything academia, school was my comfort zone. For so many years I thought I liked studying, it happened that I just hated being in the real world where you’d have to face life. After the Teaching assistantship,the next plan was to say Goodbye to Ghana and hello to America. At this point I want to shout out to God because I had made plans to stay in my comfort zone and He had plans of bringing me out.
The National Service Posting came and even though I had requested to be a Teaching Assistant, your girl was posted to the Environmental Protection Agency. Come and see me shivering(don’t laugh). I remember running to my supervisor to cry on her to alert the HOD so I get posted on campus because I didnt want anything to do with the real world outside school. This is where I give a shoutout to my supervisor(God bless her).She sat me down and listened to all that I had to say.
She looked at me and told me how she thinks I should work with the EPA because the world needs the Environmental passion I have. It was a little difficult to accept what she was saying but I did. I worked with the Environmental Protection Agency after school and it was definitely one of the best moments in my life. Getting to pour my passion on Environmental projects headed by world bank and Government of Ghana, being invited for international presentations and being able to actually put all these environmental thoughts in action.
I’ve come to realize with what I want to be, I would have to say a goodbye to my “goodbye Ghana and hello America”dream for now which is fine for me. Now, I get to actually channel my environmental passion into making Ghana a better place and I love it.
