A Goal in Life
Going up a rickety ride, surrounded by mud-like bricks, I was afraid. The floors looked abandoned; I had never seen anything so filthy. I was surprised that the elevator was working without a door. I walked out into the top floor and I saw people, many people, living in conditions that I would not expect someone who lives right across my street to live in. Everything had a noxious odor to it. My senses of adventure had led me into this apartment building. I saw the older buildings being taken down; this one was the run-down building to stand in my area. Where would these people go once the new buildings have been put in place? This was downtown Dubai. At age 9, I identified the conditions that extremely poor people faced as a problem. I wanted to solve it.
As I got older, I realized the complexity of the problem, the cycle of poverty. I made a goal, to help these people. When visiting Pakistan, the country of my birth, I realized that the cause of the cycle was a result of the education system. Private schools, the ones I attended there, were too expensive for the common people, and most people in public schools did not get post secondary school education. Without the ability to learn, they were unable to advance, they did do not have an opportunity. They also did not have access to basic health care. People perished with common illnesses such as the cold. In an unfair world, I was given the larger slice of the pie. Still trying to find a resolution I learned even if I planned on sharing my wealth, it would only reach a few people but it would still help some. There had to be a better way, I was sure of it. I came up with a plan. While continuing donations, I could help the people by providing them education and health care. Once I have more knowledge about medicine, mathematics, science, Urdu, English, and history I could teach them these things myself. This way they will be able to sustain themselves without me directly sharing my wealth,...