Karen Dsouza

Personal Statement My family history can be traced right upto Pakistan’s Sindh province, which we fled, after the Partition of India in 1947, on grounds of religious persecution. Bereft of home and our possessions, my grandfather with his family made the arduous journey to Mumbai, over 2500 kilometres from home. Settled as refugees in Ulhasnagar in a refugee camp, the uncertainty of one’s identity, homeland and one’s future could have excoriated even the hardiest. My father, a little boy then, recalled that even dry staples like rice, salt, dal, oil were hard to come by and we faced a lot of hardships, along the way. By the dint of my grandfather’s hardwork and his belief in education, our family’s economic upliftment has been progressive, with both my parents having collegiate education. As the son of a refugee, I too have been raised to value the privileges I have, although I have not seen the deprivation of living in the refugee camp. Being born and brought up in a rural suburb of financial capital of the nation- Mumbai, I am aware of perils that result from unequal access to resources and opportunities, especially for the disenfranchised and this remains my motivation to work for social causes. Regardless, I will be the first individual in my family to go to graduate school and that too, overseas. I also believe that sustainable development is a key factor when prioritising technological innovations, over the planet’s wellbeing. Hence, I believe 21st century technological solutions should address problems like food waste, market matching and global warming and I want to give my best at building solutions towards resolving these issues. I have gained a level of proficiency in my field, ______________ although I firmly believe that one’s grades are not an entirely inclusive assessment of overall potential. Nonetheless, I rank in the top 10% of my department. With current trends of climate change and rising inflation, the conservation of resources are the primary concern as the battle rages for access to clean, potable water, unadulterated food sources and quality healthcare. In the light of these, concerns over food waste are extremely close to my heart and I want to work on them. In the past too, I have worked on developing ICT learning tools that are employed to teach children in the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America through my work with __________. I also helped schools in developing economies save thousands of hours of effort dealing with security and availability issues through my work with ______________. In fact, through my contributions, I managed to boost the ed-tech startup _________’s revenues by 30%. In fact, through the empowerment of both knowledge and skills that I hope to receive through this graduate degree in _____________ at the _______________ University, I hope to bring about pervasive social, economic and technological equity among the masses for the future generations.