This is the second in a multi-part series on "Winning Admissions Essays," a series sponsored by the Dartmouth Admissions office highlighting some of the most inspirational essays from the accepted students who comprise the Class of 2011.
Topic: Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.
How Disney's Animal Kingdom Taught Me About African Poverty
by Timothy McAffee
In a sophisticated voice deep with Ebonics, our tour guide pointed to our right where several gazelles were grazing next to two giraffes (or as my English teacher would say, a "pairagiraffes"). At first, images of world peace twirled through my head like the LSD highs I experienced until I went into rehab when I was 14. Then I realized how skinny the animals were. I wondered, why? Wouldn't Disney's Animal Kingdom provide these poor grassland animals an all-you-can-eat buffet? Could the animals not afford the $5 that Disney charges for bottled water? I saw a black man feeding the giraffe. He looked kind of hungry too, just like the black man in that play I read, A Craisin in the Sun. As I left "Kilimanjaro Safaris," I felt a certain sense of purpose as I ran straight for the "Pizzafari" restaurant, based on real Tanzanian dining. As I ordered, I saw that the host was from Uruguay, which I think is in Africa. I asked, "Are people from Africa poor? Are you hungry a lot?" to which he calmly replied, "Yes." This would be the beginning of my crusade for me to rid the planet of African poverty and Islam.
Later that month I saw an ad on TV for the Christian Children's Fund. I decided to set-up my own charity organization. I called it BLACK, shorthand for Bay Area Leaders for African Charity Klan. We held a bake sale that raised $56.30 for African relief. By my calculations, we saved 2,500 Africans that day.
My beliefs were tested again when I was offered an opportunity through my church to visit Kenya in Africa and see the living conditions firsthand. I was overjoyed! I longed to go on another safari ride, to ride another river rapids ride, to eat pizza prepared by real African-Americans, to meet a black Mickey Mouse! I left for Africa on a crystal September day. When I got there, I was disgusted. There were thousands of insects and parasitic worms. True story – I was offered prawn soup and to my extreme displeasure I found dozens of worms in the soup – Gross! I called my parents and they arranged for me to head back home after two days.
I continued with BLACK back at my high school. I held another fundraiser, this time selling candy (and weed) as a fundraiser. I raised $325. Since I learned that AIDS was a major problem in Africa I decided to give the money to the company Pfizer, so that they can develop a cure for AIDS. To think that my passion for the Dark Continent began in Disney's Animal Kingdom is proof that we will all discover issues near and dear to our hearts.
"This essay made me cry. We need more students who are determined to solve big problems." –Karl Furstenberg, Dean of Admissions Emeritus