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At the ripe age of twenty-one, my thought processes on my future are different from many my age. As my collegiate career comes to a close, it is scary to witness many of my peers fail to understand their role and relationship to humanity. As I mature and develop, I know that my purpose is to serve communities locally and globally. The past four years, I have been blessed to travel and understand where it is my talents and passions are needed. Consequently, I envision using medicine as the foundation where health is seen through all aspects of life, giving my African community a chance to be able to build itself back up from the ground.
The field of Global Health is more than a career path; but a long journey of servitude to global communities. As one trains to become a public servant, they must learn to put others' needs first and look to make servitude a lifestyle. From Medicine to African Development, I look to lead my work with the will, conditions, and desires of the people I serve. However, serving without abandon is only apart of the journey that lies ahead of me.
Becoming a lifelong learner, hungry for what the world has to offer, is an aspect of my future that I hope to see throughout my life. As a lifelong learner, I hope to learn about everything and anything because the world has much to offer. Though I have seen and traveled more of the world than many my age, I understand that learning does not ever end. From cultures, languages, and narratives, I hope to lead my work with an understanding and open mind to the people I encounter and serve. I refuse to let my career be defined by the jobs or positions held, but by stories and the people affected by my work and efforts.
Though I enter this field with excitement and energy, I understand that coupled with every encounter, task, and thought is humility. For I am a mere vessel, carrying out a mission much more significant than myself. My story is amongst millions, living and contributing to the human narrative. Understanding that I am human, I pray that my downfalls are blanketed with humility, giving way for new ideas to be learned and reconciliation and peace to be what binds work and communities alike. Through humility, I want my work to manifest the idea that I was but a man looking to do all that he could with his time here on Earth.
Having lived through a pandemic, economic depression, and the modern-day civil rights movement, it is clear that the world will ever try to perpetuate hate, evil, and injustice. The burden of responsibility sits on the shoulders of those willing to sacrifice their comfort for the sake of those around them. I hope to serve those around me with spirit and love because, without both, humanity is lost in empty, vain tasks. I aspire to let passion and goodwill propel me into the work ahead. As I leave the University of Louisville, it is with gratitude and reflection that I thank those who allowed me to dream, preparing me for what is next. My life has been changed for the better, and with the tools I was given here, may the lives of others be changed as well.
Dennis Mashindi is a McConnell Scholar in the class of 2021. He is studying public health, political science, and biology at the University of Louisville.