The Path to Achieving My Dreams
I’d lost both of my parents by the time I was nine years old. My mother passed away when I was very little, and my father passed away in 2014 during the Ebola pandemic in Liberia. After my father passed, I went to live with my aunty at the St. Paul Bridge community. My aunty worked hard, but life was not easy for us, and she couldn’t afford to send me to school.
Close to the house was a carpenter shop, which I loved visiting. One day my friend asked me why I loved spending so much time at the carpenter shop, and I told him that I would like to learn carpentry. He told me to consult my aunt and get her to ask the owner of the shop to teach me. When I got home that evening, I told my aunty and she burst out into laughter because she thought I was joking. She then asked me if I was being serious, and I told her that I was. The next day my aunty took two cups of rice and a bottle of oil to the owner of the shop, since she couldn’t afford to give him money, and asked if he would take me as an apprentice.
I began my apprenticeship the next day and I enjoyed working there. I learned basic carpentry skills, and how to make beautiful furniture and many beautiful woodworks. Although I love carpentry, it is my dream to become an engineer. I became interested in carpentry because it was the line of work my father did before he died, and being in the carpenter shop always reminded me of him.
I no longer work at the carpenter shop; now I am a ninth grader at a boarding school called Konola Christian Academy. Though I have had many challenges in my few years of existence, I believe I am on the path to achieving my dreams and becoming great.
Emmanuel L. Cooper is a 17-year-old student at the Konola Mission School in Liberia.