Personal Experience Essay Example

My childhood life was tremendously characterized by untold fear and pain. As a young child, I witnessed my father's cruel abuse to my mother and this situation greatly affected me, both mentally and psychologically. Despite the treatment that she was subjected to, my mother opted to remain with the family instead of running away. Due to my age, I was largely unable to provide any help that she would need especially in the situation where my father was subjecting her to abuse and mistreatment. Fear and pain characterized my childhood life. In this way, therefore, I has to spend 18 years of my life in a complete and continuous state of depression. This is based on the fact that the psychological shadow brought by my father greatly influenced my life, and hence affecting me physically. For instance, I began to stutter at the age of 10. At the age of 15, I decided to involve myself in the homosexual activities. Undeniably, being a stutter and a homosexual person emerged as greater challenges in my life because I felt highly enslaved. As part of my efforts to get a true meaning of life, I decided that I would get rid of these activities from my life. However, it became so challenging for me because the subsequent events that took place in my life eventually made me to give up on the struggle to free transform my life and find a true meaning of life.

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The departure of my father from home brought a new hope to the family because my mother could no longer be subjected to the previous abuse and mistreatment. Fortunately, my mother further secured a job in one of the local firms. This was exactly the time when I also joined high school for my secondary education. These series of events undeniably brought joy in my life as I felt a great relief from the depression. Things moved well until one time we experienced another surprising situation in the family. Immediately after doing my college entrance examination, my father came back home and started demanding for money from my mother. In fact, he applied the same techniques of abuse and mistreatment to my mother in the process of demanding the money. Sadly, the failure on the part of my mother to meet his monetary expectations prompted him to mistreat her again. I remember at one time, my mother was beaten to a point of becoming unconscious, following a severe bleeding and broken limbs. The severe bleeding on that day was contributed by the fact that my father decided to add his cruelty by setting his teeth on her body; biting a better part of my mother's body. Luckily, the Police came for my mum's rescue, and was quickly rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment. While it is evident that the Police were able to rescue my mother, they did not any criminal charge on my father. In fact, the police categorically told me that the domestic action was a non-issue in China as it was being perceived a normal thing. In their view, the dialogue between my parents was the only solution to the violence that had been experienced in my family for more than two decades. My stuttering, which was contributed by the father's actions, prevented me from speaking and telling the Police the truth about the incident. They further advised me to persuade my father to stop fighting my mother. This would entirely be impossible because there was no way I could convince him to do so. After the discharge of my mother from the hospital, we decided to report the matter to court as well as the Women's Federation Consultation.

However, our efforts did not bear any fruit because the Women's Federation failed to give us the adequate support that we wanted. In fact, they further suggested the mediation where they advised and persuaded my mother to hold a mutual talk with my father. Ironically, this was a scheme to push my mother back to the same brutal treatments that she had experienced from her previous interaction with my father. The reaction thus left me completely disappointed with China's laws and the human welfare institutions because of their inability to offer solution. According to the court officials, a preliminary investigation was to be conducted to determine the extent of damage instilled to the mother and decision would purely be based upon the findings. The investigation would be carried the company that your mother was working for. In addition, were advised to move out from our house to search for new residence if at all we were worried about my father's brutality, aggression and violent nature. The only option left for us was to hire a lawyer who would help us go through the court proceedings. However, the high cost involved further subjected my mother to a complete state of fear. The failure for the court to take actions against my father left my mother with no option but to look for some other place for her safety.

My mother was also scared of the investigation as it would influence her job and ignite a disturbance from my father making her lose the only job she was holding. The increasing fear within the home climate prompted my mother and me to flee and hide in an underground room. Ironically, the father continued to live comfortably in the house with the assumption that everything was fine. Despite taking the ownership of the house, which was bought by my mother, he continued phoning my mother demanding for money. Failure to meet his expectations would make him issue threats regarding visiting the company my mother used to work and provoke a disturbance.

These events destroyed my inner peace. At that time, I felt that there was no justice in the Chinese society. As a result, I gave up my dream to attend the university because I felt disappointed with the community and I believed that attending university could not solve any of my problems. I loved my mother and wanted her to have freedom. In this way, therefore, I decided to work and save some money that could finance the divorce fee for my mother to free my mother from her cruel marriage.

Experiences after the Age of 18:

After giving up to join the university, I decided to spend much of my time watching various Hollywood and European films. The optimistic attitude in the films slowly helped me find back my confidence for life. I once felt that God was punishing me by giving me a cruel father, making me stutter, as well as a homosexual. However, accumulation of depression in my heart gave me a strong desire to express my feelings. Although I was unable to speak, I enjoyed writing as a way to express my feelings. I like to convey a sense of feeling and to tell a story by images, and in this regard, the idea of making a film was born. I decided to apply to film schools but was denied the admission opportunity nearly four times. I chose to study screenplay writing, photography, and editing by myself. In the first two years of the study, my portfolio showed a lousy quality without enough budget, and I could not even make a self-introduction because of my stuttering. In the last two years, I failed two more times since I wanted to produce films about feminism and LGBT yet they were not allowed in China, and I was not aware. However, I later came to learn about this.

Once I learned photography, I began to take commercial photographing orders, and I have made more than 200 orders in the past years. In 2014, I watched a European dance troupe's performance in Shanghai, and I sent them some photos I captured. The troupe was contented with my work as I was invited to Beijing to watch more of their performances. I thought the troupe would want more memorable moments while in China and thus I designed, produced, and sent seventeen photo albums for the troupe. One of the albums was presented to the Danish Ambassador Friis Arne Petersen who substantially loved the book.

I was invited to the embassy in Beijing by the ambassador being his guest. The period of my visit marked the cultural season in China and Denmark, and hence I captured a lot of photos in the various activities therein. I later designed and produced another photo album, which was permanently collected by the embassy. Following the successful events in my career, I opened my photography studio, and in 2016, I finally got the money needed to help my mother get a divorce. Eventually, my mother and I received the freedom that we long yearned for.

Experiences in Film

The first script I wrote after I studied screenplay writing was sent to the Chinese college Students' Micro-Film Competition, and it was the finalist of the Excellent Script Award. When I was 18, I visited the impoverished mountain villages in Xiangxi where I found children with poor living conditions. It made me very sad, and I decided to begin a project to help improve their lives. I decided to shoot video contents containing the lives of the little children, and I am currently editing the materials to create a documentary. Moreover, I found some opportunities where I could work on some small projects that can grant me experience in building a film. So far, I have worked as an assistant of directors, photographers, and a producer.

How I Overcame the Stutter:

From the age of 10 to 24, I could not speak a complete sentence. I was dominated by fear to face people and psychologically frustrated because of my family problems. Thus, I could only pass the first screening but would always fail the subsequent interviews in every activity that I applied. It was a challenge as I could not even argue with my peers whenever I got bullied.

I was no longer in the fear to face people after I was successful to stay away from my father and I was improving psychologically. I could frequently engage in talks with the poor children as I shot the videos and I gradually became optimistic. As I continued to participate in frequent communication with the children, I began to improve continuously. I was able to speak in complete sentences. By the end of 2017, I was able to speak fluently.

Activities for the public well-being

1. Founder and first president of the Volunteer Association in my high school. I organized various charity activities including raising RMB16000+ for the region affected by the earthquake.

2. When I was 18, I visited the poor mountain area in Xiangxi with an NGO where the poverty shocked me. Although I was unable to help them completely, I felt that once I get the capability, I would definitely help them out of the poor living condition in the mountain area.

3. I have acquired some experience in the business. After I created my studio, I helped a lady who sells steamed vermicelli roll for breakfast. She is nice, and I wanted to help her earn more income in her business. So I advised and helped her to create a signboard which helped in doubling the flow of customers. I am now advising the lady to rent a small shop and further access an online shop to continue increasing the flow of the customers.

4. I donated some desktop computers to a primary school in the poor mountain area in Xiangxi. I also helped them to develop a computer lab.

6. I organized for the teachers in the poor mountain are in Xiangxi to learn IT skills.

7. I organized the elementary schools in the area to open IT courses for the students. I also made it possible to share the computer lab. It allows all the students from the nine primary schools in the area to use the computer lab. In this regard, these schools will introduce computer courses in the next semester.

8. I donated 2100 supplies to three primary schools in the area, solving the supply problem in the schools.

9. I am currently organizing a project that involves one-to-one support for the students in the area. The project aims at identifying and solving their underlying problem regarding studying and living standards after attending junior high school.

Through my effort, I ensured that my mother and I have a better life. The activities I did for others also made me regain my inner strength gradually. I realize that I should work harder and accumulate more strength, because I am yet to realize more important dreams in my life.

What I am doing now:

1. I am preparing to produce my first short film.

2. I am organizing the teachers in the area to learn to programme, and I will help them to open programming courses next year.

3. I am making more people aware of the poor mountain areas in Xiangxi and contacting enterprises to join in the one-to-one supporting project.

4. I am organizing a team to create an NGO that offers free legal counselling services and popularizes knowledge on women's rights and relative laws.

5. I will continue to donate 4000 supplies to other six schools in the area with other NGOs. The supplies needed by all the nine schools will be fully offered, which will realize my wish at the age of 18.