Why God Allows mothers to leave ? Mother has no limit, it's time without time, light that doesn't go out when the wind blows and rain falls, hidden velvet on wrinkled skin, pure water, clean air, pure thought. Death happened with what is brief and passes without leaving a trace. Mother, in her grace, it's eternity. Why does God remember - deep mystery - to take it out one day? Were a King of the World, a law was being written: Mother never dies, mother will always be with her son and he, old though, will be little like corn kernels.

Filling out my college applications and finally, being accepted has forced me to face head-on other realities of life. I grew up in Cape Verde, a small archipelago on the west coast of Africa. Looking back and describing my life, I see how I am disadvantaged due to my socioeconomic status. But I think it's important to note that I wasn't fully aware of any of it growing up. I knew that my parents couldn't buy me everything, but I also knew that they hardly ever said no. I was a very normal girl, asking for toys and going out looking at mom any time I was scared or unsure of something. As I've grown, I've learned to fight my own insecurities, but I now also battle the monsters of a world we are facing right now. Since I was five, my parents pushed me to value education because they were born in Cape Verde and had limited education. Growing up in Cape Verde, where the percentage of poverty is over 23%, is an unfortunate reality that I had to face my entire childhood. I lost my father at ten years old due to a mysterious disease, and since today I still don’t what took my father from me. And at ten years old, I face myself, helping my mother take care of 4 young children, working hard to get a proper education, and bringing food to the table. Aldoutgt facing all these problems, I face one hardship that changed my life forever. Never in my life, I thought about giving up my education. I always had one purpose in life; getting my family out of this poverty cycle running in my bloodline for a generation. Nineteen years ago, my father died; I felt depressed. I faced myself going on the streets selling vegetables during the day and on weekends to serve as a housemate for other people to bring an income to help feed my family. Besides all the difficulties I was facing, I never left my stop dreaming of going back to school and following my dream of becoming a doctor. I still remember my father's best advice; to never be ashamed of my financial situation; poverty doesn't make me less valuable. With that in mind, I always stayed true to myself, humbly treating others the possible way. I never left my stop dreaming of going back to school and followed my dream of becoming a doctor. One day I decided to continue my academic journey, but I decided to it on my own. Every day before going on the streets to work, I took one hour of my day to read books on different topics at the local library. And for a year, I read over 50 books on biology, chemistry history, physics, and English. And during that time, I was able to develop my English skills and implementing them in real life. Months have passed, and an opportunity to come back to school came in my way. Together with Red Cross Cape Verde, I developed a project to help other kids in the same situations as me to come back to school. My project was chosen, and because of my hard work, I came back to high school, and in 2019 I received the first high school diploma in my family. Life is full of surprises, and harmful situations can happen. When situations like this occur, it is important to keep alive the dreams and life goals. Today reflecting on those times, I'm confidently saying that I learned how to be a strong, confident, and determined woman. And to keep that energy, I always keep my father's words and image in my mind that whatever difficulties I encounter during my life always keep working hard until you reach your dreams.

Filling out my college applications and finally, being accepted has forced me to face head-on the realities. I grew up in Cape Verde, a small archipelago on the west coast of Africa. Looking back and describing my life, I see how I am disadvantaged due to my socioeconomic status. But I think it's important to note that I wasn't fully aware of any of it growing up. I knew that my parents couldn't buy me everything, but I also knew that they hardly ever said no. I was a very normal girl, asking for toys and going out looking at mom any time I was scared or unsure of something. As I've grown, I've learned to fight my own insecurities, but I now also battle the monsters of a world we are facing right now. Many are the disadvantage that tries to get out of the cycle of poverty. Growing up in Cape Verde, where the percentage of poverty is over 23%, is an unfortunate reality that I had to face my entire childhood. I lost my father at ten years old due to an unknown disease, and since today I still don’t know what the cause was. And at ten years old, I face myself, helping my mother taking care of 4 young children and my 85 years old grandmother, pursuing my education, and working to bring food to the table. Aldoutgt facing all these problems, one hardship in my life changed my life forever. At the age of 12, I face myself in a harmful situation. One day on my way home from school, my family and I became homeless; it happened when my house burned seven years ago due to vandalism. I saw everything that my father accomplished turn into ashes; my grandmother stayed six months in the hospital due to a complication on one of the lungs. The worst was seeing my mother crying every day, blaming herself for our previous situation. We stayed six months living in the streets, asking for food scraps to survive, and live with the fear of danger of living on the streets. I never was ashamed of my financial situation. I always stayed true to myself, treating others in a humble way possible way, and obviously, I never left my education behind and followed my dream of becoming a doctor. Every day, my mother and I worked day and night doing multiple jobs such as housekeeping, collecting materials for recycling that would be sold in exchange for a few coins so we could eat a decent meal. Even facing all these challenges in my life, an angel appeared in my life. A good old friend of my father emigrant in the United States, knowing about my family's situation, made a campaign and raised enough money helping us get a humble house and food supplies to have decent food every day. And knowing my goal to continue my education in the United States, he allowed me to be major in Biomedical Science. And today, I am a current freshman student at Saint Leo University in Florida. But my dreams do not stop here; after I graduate, my next step is to get into the MD/Ph.D. Program. I will continue fighting until I become a successful doctor and finally provide my family I live they deserve. I recognized that the journey to becoming a doctor is not easy, but after facing all these challenges in my life, I learned a precious lesson that I will play into my future goals. Life is hard; at any moment of your life, unexpected situations can happen. But it doesn't matter what happened; always stay true to yourself that things will get better. It doesn’t matter how harmful the situation is; continue fitting for your goals, never stop dreaming, because someday, someone will recognize your power, your strength. I know that I have a purpose in life that somehow I can change someone's life the way they changed mine, and eventually, I am planning to help more kids that are just like me a survive me to make their dream come true.