BSW Personal Statement African Woman in China

A focused student engaged in research about the BSW program in America, taking notes while working on a laptop, surrounded by serene architecture.

Having been born and raised in Cameroon, and as an African woman residing in China, I have gained extensive experience with multicultural issues, particularly the stigma of racism and its adverse effects on the lives of Black individuals. Throughout my journey toward establishing a professional identity, I have realized the importance of continuously assessing my emotions, maintaining control over them, and striving to enhance my attitude and behavior to maximize my professional growth. Born into a marginalized ethnicity in Cameroon and having been a sickly child, my personal challenges, especially as a social worker and ESL teacher, have fostered my compassion and understanding of the pain associated with disempowerment, social marginalization, and injustice.

My greatest strengths are my curiosity, adaptability, and commitment to learning innovative ideas and integrating them into my identity to become more professional. I am a problem solver who embraces challenges and the opportunity to apply my critical thinking skills. English is my first language, and I am also fluent in reading and writing French. While I can speak Chinese, my reading and writing skills in the language are limited. Being multilingual has honed my communication abilities, allowing me to communicate effectively in all three languages, particularly English.

The experiences of sexism and racism I have encountered in China have deepened my understanding of Indigenous perspectives, the nature and source of power and oppression, and the necessity of striving for personal liberation through serving others. I am eager to pursue a long and highly productive career as a social worker, collaborating with clients to combat the effects of social marginalization and oppression.

Several factors motivate my desire to become a social worker, with faith being central. Raised in a Christian family and nurtured in a church environment, I was taught to prioritize helping others, caring for the poor, needy, sick, prisoners, and underprivileged, following the teachings of our Lord Jesus, who was a father to the fatherless. It is my duty to emulate him. My greatest joy lies in working for society's most vulnerable members. My experiences in social service make me a strong candidate for your program. I aspire to become an increasingly skilled counselor and caregiver, prepared to work with both children and the elderly.

My primary professional aspiration involves uniting children and the elderly for mutual benefit. Completing the BSW in your program will help me achieve my goal of becoming a community organizer, aiding the less fortunate members of my community, and fostering social sensitivity and responsibility among us all. Being an African woman married to a Chinese man and living with my in-laws in China has allowed me to overcome numerous challenges. My husband and mother-in-law are both social workers, with my husband working with orphans. I also wish to dedicate my professional life to supporting at-risk and needy children in their healthy development. I am interested in finding ways to make growing up less challenging, especially for high-risk children. I have been involved in teaching Sunday school and counseling children and teenagers at camps. I have undergone crisis counseling training at my church in China, a multinational congregation. I am particularly committed to studying how counseling has helped children identify as at-risk for suicide.

A pivotal experience that shaped my identity involved a woman who visited the orphanage where my husband worked and took a sick baby home to nurse back to health. Despite expectations, the baby survived. I have stayed in contact with this woman, visiting her and her child, who is not legally her son. The orphanage is severely understaffed, lacking adequate medical care and resources. This woman, my friend, saved the baby's life, and in many ways, the baby saved hers, providing emotional and spiritual fulfillment. This experience has captivated me with the idea of needy people finding and helping each other, facilitating the formation of new families. I hope to work with children, helping them find homes with older adults. Growing up, I cherished my relationships with the elderly in my Christian community, which profoundly influenced my development. I am committed to doing everything in my power to meet the basic human needs of all community members, especially the most vulnerable. I feel a spiritual and professional calling to help make people whole, empowering them to become happy, productive citizens. I have witnessed broken individuals become whole through community solidarity, which inspires me.

My volunteer work has been with handicapped children, where I discovered many suffer from malnutrition due to difficulties in chewing or swallowing and an unbalanced diet. The challenge has been to provide them with a balanced semi-liquid diet to meet their nutritional needs. It is vital to engage personally and professionally in pursuing progressive social change, particularly for oppressed individuals and minority ethnic groups. Compassion is my greatest strength.

Thank you for considering my application.

BSW Personal Statement African Woman in China