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My name is Jibril Leigh and I am working on a career to become a civil engineer. I am an African origin. I came from Gambia, West Africa. I was born and lived in a small village founded by my great grandfather. He claimed the village from the wilds of a West African jungle. We were a poor farming village and everyone had to work. I remember my first job as a small boy was to carry the water kettle to the workers in the fields. I am one of the eighteen children fathered by my father, who had two wives and many children. It is the custom of our people for a man to have up to four wives and many children.

I worked hard to be where I am in life today. Nothing has ever come easy for me. I had lots of my friends asked me question like, why you work hard at what you do? Why do you come to America? Being born and raised in America it is very hard to under stand how lucky one is. Where I come from, as one grows up, there is not a single hope to make it big in life. There is no running water, electricity, good clinics and education. The basic element that helps sustain the necessities of life is just not available to the indigenous people. However, I was very fortunate to come from a large family who has given me every support at their disposal. My parents sold their cattle to support my education. It was not easy on them but their desire to see me educated overshadowed everything else.

During my early childhood life, I hated education and never wanted to go to school. What I wanted to do then was to go hunting and tree climbing. There were no cars, television, telephone and electricity, so I did not have anything to inspire me. The only things that inspired me then were heading out into the jungle for hunting. I remember a story that stands out very well in my life. My mother would set me out for school and many times on the way to school I would change out of my school uniform into regular clothes. I would then head to the jungle to hunt; accompanied by my dogs, say five to seven of them. I could chase down rabbits, wild pigs, antelopes, baboons, snakes or any animals I ran into with some exceptions. My adventure lived a shot life and the hunting excursion abruptly ended when I saw one of teacher visits my mother. I knew he would reveal my skipping of school and he did just that. From that point on, hunting became a history. My mother sent me to a town where she was sure I would attend classes and would not be able to climb trees or hunt. As time passed by, I learned to enjoy learning and in September 25, 1996 I graduated from high school. September of the following year, I came to America.

Now things are different, I am able to recapture those dreams of ambitions and aspiration that I never thought of as I was growing up in my village. I love America. It provides lots of opportunities for us all. It guarantees every one of us the right to pursue happiness. America is a great place to be. It provides the venue for every one of us our constitutional right to better our lives and the lives of others. I am very confident that one day I will sit back at my home country and say to myself “Thanks to America and her people and all my friends”. By that time, there will be running water, electricity, good clinics, school and good roads.

However, it’s been little under nine years since I entered this country. Due to the differences in environment, culture and tradition between the two countries, my hobbies and interests that I originally came with have faded and new once have emerged. Indeed, it was a very difficult transition. I used to like hunting, playing soccer, climbing trees and participating in cultural events, but now even though I still like them I don’t do those things anymore. My new hubbies among others are playing pool, bowling, participating in social activities and watching television. Nevertheless, one hubby has never change during my stay in this country and that is my attitude toward social change for the better. I like to see the disadvantage and the underrepresented people have a say in societal issues and have also have a better life in this world. I think it is fun and worthy goal to champion in this social endeavor.

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