- Country of Origin: Burkina Faso, USA
My name is Tiessouma Pare and this is my education through chaos.
It all started that October of 2009. I had just joined my first year at the University of Norbert Zongo, located in the north-central part of Burkina Faso, in the Faculty of Economics and Management. At that time, I admit that my university studies were not really easy with all the instability my country was constantly going through. While many classmates were giving up their studies as soon as they started, I chose not to follow them but to move forward and pursue my ambitions. It was a harder route. Or that was me.
By October 2012, despite the difficulties and obstacles during my studies, I obtained my Bachelor’s in Economic Analysis and Policy. Nobody thought I could manage to. At last, I made my family proud of me. Everything I had aimed for was not accomplished yet. I still had one more year of hard work waiting ahead, to complete my studies and move on to the next steps I had dreamt of.
One year later, I obtained my Master’s in Economic Analysis and Policy. During this period, I started a practical internship ending in Dec 2013 within a financial institution responsible for supporting beneficiaries in obtaining housing.
Enough school
Following my internship, the Spring of 2014 saw my integration period within Coris Bourse. That financial institution specialized in portfolio management in the stock market of the BRVM, the regional stock exchange.
It was March 2014, I had barely joined SOFIOR, a company specializing in consulting on gold trading and mining methods, when my country entered a succession of socio-political crises that unfortunately put me out of work before I could even complete a year of living my dreams. I was almost depressed, my very being was in absolute turmoil, just as my country was. Despite the despair that I was going through, I felt I had no other way forward but to find a way to get out of it and pursue my ambitions. I never wanted the chaos within me to succeed. Times were bad, and finding a job seemed impossible. I was desperate but nothing seemed to work.
After a year there was some hope, some welcoming news. I got an offer from a telecommunications company as a “customer success” representative. Not what I was looking for, but I had no choice then. With no job at hand, I even signed a contract for three months. The customer success job came as a lucky charm, for at the end of the contract I felt overwhelmed to be offered a different job for another company specializing in consulting on gold trading and mining methods, SCOR Burkina.
However, coinciding with a succession of sociopolitical crises, thanks to the unrest, I found myself unemployed once again. It was June 2016. It was not even a year since I had started living again, and things seemed to get seriously worse since I was going through a financial impasse.
Time for a leap abroad
It was now September 2016, seven years after I had decided not to give in to the sociopolitical unrest. Enough was enough. After being persecuted for legal claims, I decided to leave my land, not easy but I had to live. I traveled to the USA for new adventures, while remaining focused on my goals. There was little to lose in the mess of Burkina Faso.
In February 2017, I signed my first contract with Uber to recover financially. Yes, I started in the US as an Uber driver. I did not stop here. I invested whatever I earned in obtaining certificates — yes — particularly in the humanitarian and technological fields.
Still pushing through chaos
Five years passed and I decided to start my own company, as I had enough experience in logistics and transportation. This thrived. My logistics and transportation firm is still running at a profit.
In October 2023, I received my credential from World Education Services (WES) in “International Academic Qualification.”
Back to school starting September 2023, I am in an apprenticeship with New York’s Cooper Union in Java programming and Android development. I am now a macroeconomist, with skills in financial analysis, development economics and sustainable economy. I have also developed skills through many certificates: global health, mediation, and cross-cultural negotiation.
These skills boosted a great sense of responsibility, leadership, and communication. I also learned how to be patient, create values, and build rapport. The list is long and flooding my life with learning that never ends.
Still pushing through chaos, is courage and perseverance ever enough?
Always arm yourself.
Thank you, toTripti Mund and Yosef Baskin, for inspired edits on the piece.
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Tiessouma Pare
Working as an accountant, auditor, project manager, Uber driver, customer service representative, and Java programmer, Pare pushes through and often succeeds. He won’t say he thrives in chaos, but it’s hard to argue he does not.
