Growing Up in The Gambia: A Personal Journey

To begin my personal statement, I grew up in the West African nation of The Gambia. I am the youngest of thirteen children and I was adopted by my uncle and his wife at age 2. My adoption was very different than the American way where all sorts of contractual documents had to be signed. Although the end results are the same, mine was done without signing any documents because my parents were just giving me up to my uncle and his wife to raise me. At age 5, my uncle enrolled me at Primary School without the consent of my biological parents for fearing that they would object because most parents in the Gambia do not think girls have the same rights to education as boys. I grew up without a television, running water or electricity. I did not know that I lacked

I am enticed to choose nursing as my career by its varied and challenging nature within an educational setting. The responsibilities of the profession involves, but are not limited to, comforting, caring, testing and assessing, and behavioral intervention.
Although as a child I occasionally wished that my parents would buy all sorts of things for me so that I would be “just like everyone else,” I now appreciate their insight. Living away from home with peers who had all those amenities and watching television incessantly has intensified my consciousness of the value of time management and of my responsibility to myself and to others to spend it wisely and to fully utilize my abilities. I look forward to the challenge of nursing school and to the opportunities that it will bring to my future.
I hope that by sharing my personal statement, I have been able to give you an insight into the person I am and what I hope to achieve. I have included what I have felt to be the most significant influences on my career choice. I expect undergraduate school to continue to be a journey which I embark upon with great