My educational goal is to design and program soft-wares that can aid the underprivileged communities in third world countries. While this goal might seem a little unusual for the average teenager, I can explain the motives behind this pursuit with my unique background. I am a missionary kid. I've been a part of an evangelical Christian missionary family for as long as I can remember. Growing up, I've noticed a number of different perspectives on how missionaries are perceived. People who do not understand our beliefs would stare at us with questioning eyes, possibly wondering how much someone has to be brainwashed by religion to waste his or her life in a poor, insignificant country. Others who share our beliefs might say that we are good people, someone willing to do what nobody else wanted to. In contrary to both of these views, for me, growing up as a "missionary kid" was something that was neither involuntary or radically religious; it was a process of learning that involved the practical application of getting to know and help the underprivileged communities.
I grew up in a small town located in the middle-eastern region of Mongolia. As an innocent child in a foreign country, I was oblivious to the world that spun madly around me. I remember pondering upon the questions of life that I had to face at an early age. Why were my friends always so afraid to talk about their father? Why did my best friend Ogna never go home for dinner after our playtime? Why were the village men so attracted to that bottle of clear liquid that they would so often consume? As a 9 year old boy, I was naĂŻve to the concept of alcohol. Many of the families in the secluded town of Oonderkhan were wrapped around the suffocating grips of alcoholism. What I only saw as a bottle of clear liquid was stripping the villagers bare of their practical means of life and leaving them with the devastating precipitates of poverty and addiction. As my life folded into adolescence, I was able to have a better understanding of the world I lived in. Tragedies upon tragedies continued to paint their ugly blotches of reality on my innocent picture of my town. In these troubling stages of my life, I also began to understand the persistent endeavors of my parents. As they would pour years after years of hard effort into the lives of the alcoholics and their families, I was able to see lives change. Immediately, and ultimately, I knew that that's what I wanted to do also. I wanted to change people's lives.
As a high-school graduate, I often find myself looking back on the times I've had in my hometown. The exotic smell of the crisp, countryside air, the cold but cozy Mongolian winters, and the picturesque scenes of the green grasslands are only some of the things I miss about the town of Oonderkhan. But most importantly, I am reminded of the thing that my town offered to me. The life changing memories and experiences I've had in this rather insignificant town in an unknown land has helped me find my true interests and desires in life. As a more mature student, I am now able to observe that helping the underprivileged can come in many different shapes and forms. With computer programming being one of my favorite subjects and hobbies, I was able to combine the two dominant interests in my life, computer and community service, to conspire my career goal of programming soft-wares that can aid the underprivileged communities in third world countries. As I wait for that one day when I can actually reach out to the needy people with the gift of technology and knowledge, I still repeat to myself the same question that lingered in my mind 9 years ago: what do I have to offer?
I grew up in a small town located in the middle-eastern region of Mongolia. As an innocent child in a foreign country, I was oblivious to the world that spun madly around me. I remember pondering upon the questions of life that I had to face at an early age. Why were my friends always so afraid to talk about their father? Why did my best friend Ogna never go home for dinner after our playtime? Why were the village men so attracted to that bottle of clear liquid that they would so often consume? As a 9 year old boy, I was naĂŻve to the concept of alcohol. Many of the families in the secluded town of Oonderkhan were wrapped around the suffocating grips of alcoholism. What I only saw as a bottle of clear liquid was stripping the villagers bare of their practical means of life and leaving them with the devastating precipitates of poverty and addiction. As my life folded into adolescence, I was able to have a better understanding of the world I lived in. Tragedies upon tragedies continued to paint their ugly blotches of reality on my innocent picture of my town. In these troubling stages of my life, I also began to understand the persistent endeavors of my parents. As they would pour years after years of hard effort into the lives of the alcoholics and their families, I was able to see lives change. Immediately, and ultimately, I knew that that's what I wanted to do also. I wanted to change people's lives.
As a high-school graduate, I often find myself looking back on the times I've had in my hometown. The exotic smell of the crisp, countryside air, the cold but cozy Mongolian winters, and the picturesque scenes of the green grasslands are only some of the things I miss about the town of Oonderkhan. But most importantly, I am reminded of the thing that my town offered to me. The life changing memories and experiences I've had in this rather insignificant town in an unknown land has helped me find my true interests and desires in life. As a more mature student, I am now able to observe that helping the underprivileged can come in many different shapes and forms. With computer programming being one of my favorite subjects and hobbies, I was able to combine the two dominant interests in my life, computer and community service, to conspire my career goal of programming soft-wares that can aid the underprivileged communities in third world countries. As I wait for that one day when I can actually reach out to the needy people with the gift of technology and knowledge, I still repeat to myself the same question that lingered in my mind 9 years ago: what do I have to offer?