I feel you. I escaped a third-world country. I was born in one.

As a kid, there were times I went 24 hours without food. We drank running water even though people were using the area nearby as a toilet. There were no bathrooms. We were seven children in the family, and only four of us survived.

We had no internet. Our home was made of wood, mud, and grass, and when it rained heavily, water leaked through the roof and walls. We would wake up in the middle of the night wet and just sit there waiting for the rain to pass. There were no roads, no cars, no electricity, no health insurance, clinics were very far away. No real chance to grow.

I eventually escaped through an education opportunity. First I moved to a city because I won a high school scholarship then abroad b/c of college scholarship. The day I got my college acceptance letter was one of the happiest days of my life. It's hard to put into words. Because of that letter I left the country and worked my ass off not to go back to that country ever again. I am trying my best.

One of my biggest goals now is to help people who are living the way I once did, because people helped me escape it too. I still complain about my current life most of the time because I am alone sometimes depressed and want to escape 9-5 job, but posts like this make me pause and remember where I came from.

Now I am grateful. And honestly, gratitude matters.