Nowadays, there are a handful of people that when faced with news reports on the difficulties of the world are sensitized by these images and decide they want to pursue a dream of doing something urgent. But things are relatively complicated. Sometimes, especially in Latin America and some African nations it is not very easy to pursue your dreams. Even though it is a matter of will and hard work, there is a chance of being left out of the world conversation if one is not encouraged and supported by others.
In my struggle to pursue an international career, in which I would be able to travel worldwide and teach and inspire people from different cultures –and learn with them– I’m facing one big challenge: funding. I always dreamed of studying in an foreign university, maybe in the UK or in the US, but I would be glad of studying in Japan, Scandinavia, Canada, etc. while applying some of what I learn in different developing nations.
“But what about starting this career in Brazil?” some might ask. Well, I risk to say that something very important lacks in the way the average Brazilian leads his/her career: even though we consume international ideas, there is no reverse flow of inspiring others worldwide with our own ideas. Even though we see the world, the average citizen is not motivated into arguing global problems as a possible influence to their lives and neighborhoods. And this particular behavior is somewhat negative for the amount of individuals who want to take part in the conversations of the international community.
This behavior affects me. Affects many who want to live abroad and have a different education. Although the Brazilian government efforts in the Education field are growing, the country is still full of contradictions and the benefits enjoyed by wealthy groups are scarcely distributed to other parts of society. Ory Okolloh, the Harvard lawyer I share a video of at the end of this post had the opportunity to meet someone who believed in her. A person who did not doubt of her efforts and capacity. Harvard faculty members were able to see she had a potential and encouraged her to pursue her dreams. And I need to work on building a likewise opportunity to me!
Why does European and North American individuals have such a different life –a better life when it comes to job and education opportunities? Because their society believes in Education as a path to success. Because they are granted the money to do so, and because they do believe in inspiration. I have met some university students in Brazil –and I bet this not only happens here– that laugh at the way foreigners (especially North Americans) face life so positively. It might be naivety of me, but I do think this is a tool for keeping yourself motivated and to help you assert your goals and do what you need to do. We Brazilians spend too much time in useless details that will endlessly keep us in despair; and endlessly keep us average.
Anyway, in the past few days I’ve been thinking of how I want to shape my international carer. It must have something to do with Human Rights, Citizen Media and even Tourism. The latter is sometimes neglected in day life discussions because people do not see it as a real source for establishing peace and dignity. At least some of the people who work in this field and whom I had the opportunity to discuss with. Nevertheless, I have some regards to this, but that’s food for thought and for another post.
So this is a little briefing of the current status of my international career:
What do I want:
I want to build a career that will provide me the ability to travel worldwide and learn from different cultures. My interests are citizen media and human rights. I do not want to forget what I’ve learn in Tourism, I’d rather relate some of the topics I’m fond of it and adjust to my global interests.
How do I get it:
I need to put effort on my qualities and build a network of inspiring people around me. These people will eventually become a source of information and inspiration, as well as a bridge to try and make my ideas into projects and these projects into real stuff.
What do I have:
I had a decent education which allowed me to learn how to deal with difficult situations and provided me with the skills for writing, approach communities and reporting; I have an average command of English –still need to improve in this field; I have the ability to learn and engage with people really fast.
To finish this post, I would like to share two of my favorite TED Talks. These two talks particularly have taught me a lot and inspired me to keep pursuing my dreams despite the criticism. The first one is the talk of Ory Okolloh, a Kenyan lawyer who studied in Harvard. Ory is co-founder of Ushahidi, a crowdsourcing tool that I’m slowly enjoying exploring. She tells her story by comparing what Africans have to do to make Africa a better place to live.
And below you can watch the talk of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a prominent Nigerian author. I’ve just ordered one of her books called “Half of a Yellow Sun”. In this presentation, “The Danger of a Single Story”, she argues on the strength of stereotypes and how they influence the way we see others.
I think people are getting tired of hearing me saying “inspiration, inspiration, inspiration” every time. But I do think that this is of ultimate importance if someone wants not to spend a life in boring jobs just to pay the bills.
Note: You see, I studied in a private University funded by a government scholarship. My first option before being granted the scholarship was to study Journalism, but “unfortunately” I was only granted with the Tourism scholarship. I do not regret spending four years of my life studying Tourism. I have learned a lot during these four years. And looking back I think that if I were granted with the Journalism scholarship I might have not succeed in becoming a good journalist. Now I see I’m getting ready for facing the world. In my own pace.