When I grow up?

Teacher: "Who do you want to be when you grow up?". My 14-year old me confidently replied, "I want to be a doctor". 10 years later, contrary to what my mother and friends wished I would become, my 24 years old me ended up being a builder and not a healer.

In the society where I grew up, only 3 careers were known: A teacher, a doctor, and an engineer. At some point, I wished to be a teacher, just because the teachers used to beat us so much even when we made silly mistakes like stone fighting with our peers and making them grow an extra head.

Who should care about that anyway? They were just kids' fights after all. Back to the main point, The main reason why I wished to be a teacher was that I could be able to revengeful beat the teachers' children if they get to be my students the same their fathers used to beat me.

On the other hand, I knew engineers existed and wished to be one of them because I often witnessed people fixing our roads or building high rising buildings who my dad claimed were engineers. I wished to be like them so that I will also be able to make building things that are bigger than myself and more importantly everyone would use and benefit from them.

At around age 12, the dreams of been a teacher or an engineer were all gone because the society around me, including my parents, had already defined my career. They said, because I look polite and humble and wish a soft face, I would make myself a good doctor. With everyone around me, including my parents, singing this "be a doctor" song I was kind of left without an option.

The idea slowly dwelt in my subconscious to the extent that I remember I said I want to be a doctor in my first class at secondary school when our English teacher asked us to stand up and introduce ourselves by saying our names and who we want to be when we grow up.

A few years later when the biology lab started getting intense I realized that I actually get woozy when I see blood which meant I was very unfit for becoming a doctor. Meanwhile, I also noticed that I had a great interest in math and innate things. I also performed exceptionally well in Physics and Mathematics.

It didn't take me long to learn that my hobby is to be a builder and not a healer. I decide to close my ears and ignore whatever society perceived of me and decided to chase my dream.

To summarize, for A-level, I chose Physics, Advanced Mathematics, and Chemistry and 4 years later I graduated college with a BSc. in Civil engineering and a minor in Interactive media. I am currently working as a software engineer at a consultancy company in Dar es Salaam.