My name is Joseph T Joseph from Karatu currently studying at Mbeya University of science and Technology (MUST) pursuing a bachelor degree in Laboratory science and technology (BLST). I took my O level education at GANAKO Secondary school and advanced level at KARATU high school. I joined the family of the world education fund (WEF) in 2020 when I started my advanced level education and it has been very helpful especially in supporting my academic journey since education requires a lot of supportive funds. At first, I was depending only my parents to fulfill my academic requirements but unfortunately sometimes it was difficult for them to provide all of the requirements timely because of our number of children in the family and also because we only depend on agriculture which is seasonal activity.
The most significant experience I have ever had in my early life is when I joined CCECC company in Zanzibar after completing my advanced level education as a store keeper. It was one of the hardest moments I had and it happened because I failed to join University at that time as I was not allocated with higher education loan and myself, I could not pay tuition fee thus I decided to stay for one year and involved in that activity, it was very tough activity but I had to do it to sustain the life in streets and also to have a starting money for university.
I learnt to be strong in every tough situation and moment so as to make life better in the coming days. I took time to learn a lot from the people in that company also I learnt different lifestyles in Zanzibar since they have most of different activities as well as foods compared to us in non-coastal regions.
The moment I felt especially proud of myself is when I applied for university later after staying one year and succeeded to be selected to join Mbeya university of science and technology MUST to undertake bachelor degree of Laboratory science, and later I was allocated with loan of almost ninety percent and I felt very proud of myself for that achievement, also after joining the University in October last year.
The most memorable moment of my life is joining the University of Mbeya(MUST) and I think this could be the thing I'll remember all days of my life because it was very difficult for me to join especially because of lack of enough money to fulfill university requirements at first like registration fee which costs almost 300k as well as insurance fee and students government fees, therefore I really felt happy when I did all those fees and being registered.
My dream is to become a laboratory scientist or technologist because I like dealing with chemicals and checking qualities of manufactured products which enter our channels of daily use. Currently I have completed first year studies and am ready to join second year in November and I think I am going to ensure that I complete my studies and start applying it for the society.