Since one of my Ecochallenge tasks is to talk about a resilience story from my community, I wanted to share the resilience story of my great grandfather. My great grandfather was born into immense poverty. At the age of 4, he lost his mother. His father remarried, and the couple had 7 children, outside of the 2 siblings from his real mother. As one of the oldest siblings, he felt the burden of responsibility to support his family. The one thing he knew he needed to provide that support was an education. He lived with different relatives at various points in his life so that he could study in school and later in college. Because of this, he felt a lot of insecurity about never being able to live with his parents and having to rely on other relatives fund his education. He pushed himself to make his struggle worth it. Eventually, he became an income tax officer. Realizing how valuable education was for his success, when he had children of his own, he made sure that every one of them had the means to get educated and eventually be financially independent.
What I find most fascinating about this story is that whenever I met my great grandfather, he never brought up his struggles. In fact, I learned all of this about him just this past year from some of my other relatives. His humility and perseverance inspire me to never give up on my dreams, but also to appreciate what I have. He has taught me to work hard, stay grounded, and appreciate my family for all the ways in which they have supported me.