Ghanaian Aspires Med School In VA

My family and I hosted Rodney Aborigo as an exchange student with AFS. He is from Ghana, West Africa and lived with us in Tampa for his junior year in 2012/2013, where he excelled in school, cross-country and soccer. Rodney is a very special young man and very ambitious! He is smart, a fast learner, entertaining, humble and genuine. He has a strong desire to help others in many ways but especially wants to become a doctor where he feels he can use his talents and abilities to reach many people. Unfortunately, Rodney's family does not have the financial means to help him reach his dreams. He resides in the upper east side of Ghana where life is hard. There is no running water or the simple luxuries that we take for granted in the USA. Rodney has been accepted into Bridgewater College in Virginia and has been awarded a partial scholarship. However, he still needs $20,000 a year to cover what is not paid. Orientation is August 20th and the school cannot issue his I-20 form for his VISA until we can show proof of funds. Once here in the USA Rodney can apply for international student loans. But for now, we are at a cross roads as he eagerly awaits news that he can get his VISA. Any help would be greatly appreciated to help get Rodney on the road to becoming the Doctor he has so longed to become. Attached is also a glimpse of Rodney's life as described in his college essay. Thanks again for your help. God Bless! The Hoppers Steve, Karen, and Alex. “HERE LIES MY STORY” I lived most of my childhood years in my hometown; an obscure African village void of all the luxuries of modern society: kerosene lanterns and the moonlight provide our only source of light when the sun sets, rivers and streams our only source of water and millet farming our only spring of subsistence. “How can I survive” is the lone song that echoes in the mind of every villager. Education is rather an uncommon privilege than a right, and obtaining a proper education is a secondary matter reserved for the privileged.During those critical years, as I woke up to feed the chickens and the goats at the dawn of a new day, I wondered what the future held for me, or whether it held anything at all for me. Was I destined, like many of the children in my village, to become a common shepherd boy, or was I destined for great accomplishments? It was not until I progressed into Senior High School that I realized that a faint door of hope may have opened.In high school, I toiled and fought as hard as I could. As a result, the U.S-State Department selected me, among a few others, to represent Ghana in a youth exchange and study program in the United States of America. At such news, I was ecstatic and not even my imagination could foresee the joy that came to my family. The curtain of a new horizon had been rolled.This exchange program gave me the opportunity to tell “The African Story” to the American people I met. I achieved this through some presentations I made to my classmates in school, my neighbors at home and my little friends in the elementary school. It also gave me the chance to meet and interact with other exchange students from countries like Indonesia, Germany, Pakistan, Chile, South Africa and many others. During that year, we attended leadership conferences and workshops from which we learned public speaking, social skills and volunteerism. An eye-opener it was. Exactly three months after my return, the brass-ring of going back to the U.S to continue my studies came smiling at me. This renewed the joy in my family. Unfortunately, this blessing soon turned into an unforgettable sorrow that altered the course of my destiny.On that fateful and dark night, I heard a cry of despair in my parents’ bedroom. Trepidation weighed upon my heart as I moved gradually towards the door. When I opened it,I saw my mother on the floor with my dad paralyzed in her arms. As I raised my eyes towardsmy mother, tears rolled down her cheeks. The agony clogged my throat like a lump that I could neither swallow nor expel. We tried desperately to make him stand, but we could not. At last, we laid him on the bed and I went out that night to look for help. When it finally came, we conveyed him to the hospital. It was a massive stroke. He has since not returned to the classroom and only God knows when.As a consequence of this calamity, I could not go back to the United States to further my studies, and my future prospects lay bleak before my eyes. Soon afterwards, my family grappled with financial hardships and obtaining our daily bread was a constant struggle. “Do not cry mama” I told my mom one time because I knew there was still hope. I went back to school and completed the remaining years of high school. I aspire to become a good cardiologist and also to become a likeable person to the people I meet in life. With these ambitions in mind, even the sky will not be my limit.