Wish to continue studying…

…I want to stay…

My name is Batyr Matyakubov, and I am an international student at Mercer University. I come from not a very known country Turkmenistan; specifically, from the city Dashoguz.

It has been a journey of two years to finally fulfill my dream of arriving to the United States to study. The journey seemed more of a test of my will, of my will to never give up. To arrive at Mercer University, I had to undergo a myriad of challenges that my country has imposed on its citizens. For instance, I may not have been in this situation had the country’s restrictions on the internet not been as severe as to block international university websites along with test taking websites. In my case, it was Duolingo that I needed to take.

I had been practicing for the SAT for around 12-14 hours a day to get my score to a range of 1500 to ultimately be told that the test was going to be cancelled due to the Covid pandemic. Therefore, my only choice was Duolingo. I had worked tirelessly with the international office of Mercer University to receive a waiver – Sweetest People – and once I did, on October 28th, I entered a pandemonium. I had taken the test 12 times to ultimately receive the score in December. But what strikes my heart is that I needed the score by November 1st to be able to apply for a full-ride scholarship offered by Mercer.

As time passed, I was awarded full tuition, a staggering amount, but even that was not enough to cover up for my life here. Helplessly, I was trying to find ways to make my dream come true after applying for 2 years with the same outcome. My brother offered to help me by selflessly offering most of his hard-earned money. And so, I received all the documents to arrive to the US, finally. My family sold a land and a gathered all the money they could to cover only my travels and to have some pocket money.

And finally, I arrived. This was the happiest moment of my life: to see the hours I had put in my dream to see it come alive. However, as I have grown to understand, not everything is full of shines and rainbows; it is mostly cloudy and rainy.

Currently, I am in between a rock and a hard place as I need to cover for my whole year a stunning 20 thousand dollars. The money my brother wanted to help me with has turned into half of what I need as the war that was taking place in Ukraine made my hopes ephemeral.

It happened because of the situation in the whole world: the war in Ukraine which resulted in Russia being sanctioned. Consequently, my sponsor became unable to help me financially due to the increased inflation and the restrictions from all over the world.

I have been mesmerized by the care I have been exposed to here, along with the immense opportunities, and no matter what, I do not want to lose that. At the moment, I urgently need 10,500 for this semester, and as for the next, it is 12 thousand. I am unable to register for the class and at the brink of losing my place here. I can’t return back to break the hearts of my parents – they are not even aware of the problem for I do not wish to be a bigger than I already am. If any of you could help me, I would be beyond grateful.