I Wanted to Save the World. Somehow, I Found Pharmacy.

I have always wanted to save the world.

Since I was six years old, I had this vision of becoming a soldier. Well, let's just say the soldier dream was extinguished almost as quickly as it came. But the dream of saving the world, of being a saviour of some sort, remained.

I never knew I wanted to become a pharmacist in secondary school.

I actually envied people who already knew what they wanted to become. From JSS1, my plan, my vision, was to become a journalist. I loved reading, and I still do. I could write, and I loved putting my thoughts down, just like I am doing right now.

Then something happened that shook the world and changed my perspective.In 2020, I was at the end of my junior secondary school education, preparing for my BECE exams. I was in the middle of my mock examinations. I had three papers left when, one morning, our principal announced that the following day we would write two papers instead of one and go home that same day.

Imagine my joy.I had been practically locked away from the outside world, being in boarding school and all. And suddenly, I was going home.Two days later, the lockdown was announced.

I don't want to bore you with too much talk about the lockdown, but being stuck at home gave me something I hadn't really had before: time to think.

What do I want to become?

My mum thought I was going to become a doctor and wanted me to go to science class. I resisted.I was stubborn, and besides, I understood that while my mum wanted the best for me, it was my life, my choice and ultimately my career. I wasn't going to spend the rest of my life making someone else happy.

But eventually, I decided to go to science class.

And strangely enough, physics was the reason.During that very long holiday, I had the opportunity to use my immediate elder brother's science textbooks, and I became completely drawn to physics. I could spend hours solving physics problems.

The irony?

I hated mathematics with the same intensity with which I loved physics.I still don't know if it's possible to love physics and hate mathematics. 😂But physics drew me into science.

I knew, however, that I wasn't going to become an engineer. Maybe it was because my technical drawing in junior school was terrible. Maybe it was because I hated mathematics. Or maybe I simply knew it wasn't for me.So why pharmacy?

The truth is, I still didn't really know what I wanted to become when I entered science class.A lot of people expected me to become a doctor. But I knew I was never going to be one. Not even a nurse.

Then I remembered something.

One moment, the world was under lockdown, and the next, we were going back to school. I didn't understand much about what was happening in the world at the time, but I knew one thing:I wanted to be like the people who had helped get us through it.

I remembered the scientists and pharmaceutical researchers who worked on the COVID-19 vaccines, particularly the people behind the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.These were people who had contributed to fighting a global crisis.

People who helped save lives.People who, in my young mind, were saviours.During SS1 to SS3, the thought didn't really stick with me. I didn't think about it much.Then came the time to register for JAMB.

And I remembered.I wanted to be like those people.I wanted to be part of the people who develop medicines, understand them, and use them to help people.So I chose pharmacy.I called pharmacists saviours.And in my own little way, I wanted to become one.Maybe my childhood dream of becoming a soldier didn't really die after all.Maybe I just found another way to fight.

A different kind of battlefield.

That is how the little girl who wanted to save the world eventually found her way to pharmacy.

Happy World Pharmacists Week. 💊