This essay is one of 35 selected by a panel of judges for “Ambitions Interrupted,” a series from The GroundTruth Project and YouthVoices, its storytelling platform.
Name: Francis Kessy
Age: 26
Dream Job: United Nations diplomat
City, Country: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Current job/school: General manager of Agripro Tanzania Limited
Challenge: Lack of networking connections
I work nonstop to achieve my dream of becoming a diplomat in the United Nations. I still remember my first day at the University of Dar es Salaam – I was new to the city and already worried about finding my first job after graduation.
My hard work always brought me opportunities down the line. In those few years, I never took a day off. I started interning for an NGO called Twaweza, which is focused on the positive development of education and technology in Africa. One year later, I joined a youth program and organized a campaign for tax justice. It was part of a course called “global change,” which I was invited to after spending time on a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Tanzania panel, where I started a project that informed secondary school students about HIV/AIDS.
At the beginning of my third year of university, I was busy traveling to the International Conference on Family Planning in Ethiopia on scholarship. My friends back at school started calling me and warning that this was the hardest year of university yet, but I was too busy campaigning – in fact, I missed the first three weeks of that school year. Just when I thought I was getting caught up, I received the rare opportunity to go to Rwanda for the Peace Building Institute in the middle of the semester – then I traveled to Kenya for leadership conventions. I was very busy, but I had a mission to fulfill.
I finished school in 2014 – a real success. But with success came a real challenge: after graduating, I started working for an agribusiness company focused on training farmers how to properly and safely use pesticides. My job was to bring them to Zambia. It was one of the worst experiences of my life.
The company fell apart while I was in Zambia and didn’t pay me for two months. No one picked up the phone. When I reached out to their partner company, they hardly cared – they only gave me bread and tea, and at the time, I felt fortunate because they gave me office keys so that I’d have some place to sleep. I started commuting to them everyday on an 8-kilometer walk, and sometimes I had to ask my friends for money. Their generosity is what kept me alive.
Despite all the hardship, I stayed with the company because I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to find another job. I am now a their general manager. Looking back at those dark days, I feel strong.
Through my job, I’m committed to sustainable development and the empowerment of women and youth. My greatest dream is still to work for the United Nations or be a diplomat – this is all that I want. I believe that day will come.
This story was originally submitted to YouthVoices, a platform powered by The GroundTruth Project that encourages young people to share stories about the issues affecting their generation. Submit your own essays and answer new questions here, or learn more about global youth unemployment with this interactive map.