Journey

The road awards my future goal would be able to modify my personality. The Journey would allow myself to understand my personality even further. Also, the passage towards my future would grant myself the privilege of discovering who I am. I do not understand myself, but a part of the journey is discovering what your intentions, dreams, actions, paths are. The goal would still be at the end. However, the journey is a never-ending adventure. The initial goal would waiver with each action, decision, made. The future is full of different paths, experiencing the different paths would transform a person into a new being.

A person is similar to a caterpillar, a transforming creature. The caterpillar changes from a helpless creature into a powerful butterfly and humans grow with each experience they encounter. For example, each day that goes by, science is evolving by the scientists who encounter new Ideas, experiments, and results. Each day passes with change from within. As a future is full of different paths, dreams are full of different results and mindsets. In the life Vive experienced so far, Vive been through many dreams and career paths, the journey towards my future is a never-ending experience.

My first dream started as an artist during my elementary school days; that ended when I realized there were other people who were more talented in the arts. However, I continued to sketch as a hobby. My second career path was through history as an anthropologist; that career went down the drain because of money issues. My third dream was a preschool teacher. That dream began with my love for children and is still a possible career selection for my future. My fourth career choice Is a pedantically. Although the choice of continuing school for a long time will probably backfire on me, the desire to alp children has kept that dream alive.

My fifth dream Is to be an accountant, my current dream. All the different dreams I’ve had over the years has set myself towards different results, but my ever-changing demeanor has confused my end result. The future Is unclear and the path Is cloudy, the end Is a mystery and the Journey Is a challenge. People will grow as they move forward. However, there Is no guarantee of growth at the end of the road. The obstacles before a challenger calls for mistakes and growth, not perfection. The end is perfection, but the trek towards he end is full of mistakes, errors, and progress.

That is why I believe that the journey is greater than the goal. The End or The Journey By Cindy “The Journey is far greater than the inn. ” I am a sixteen year old girl. As a child, there is a long Journey towards adulthood. There is the pleasure of the Journey taken and the Joy of the end. Some people may more impact on the person. During Journeys, there are obstacles that the Journeyer has to overcome. The road understand myself, but a part of the Journey is discovering what your intentions, dreams, actions, paths are. The goal would still be at the end.

However, the Journey is new ideas, experiments, and results. Each day passes with change from within. As a selection for my future. My fourth career choice is a petrifaction. Although the help children has kept that dream alive. My fifth dream is to be an accountant, my current dream. All the different dreams Vive had over the years has set myself result. The future is unclear and the path is cloudy, the end is a mystery and the journey is a challenge. People will grow as they move forward. However, there is no the end is full of mistakes, errors, and progress. That is why I believe that the Journey

A Journey A Life is all abort accepting how our lives have turned out. Sometimes life makes us wonder whether we have made the right decisions or not. All the decisions life throws at us is only to make us stronger as a person. After we have made a big decision all of us come do doubt whether we have chosen the right thing to do. This mental journey of self-assessment is what the protagonist, Mary, experiences in the short story “A Journey” by Colm Toibin from 2006

Mary has had a hard life, she has seen how hard can be, she has a clinically depressed son, and a paralyzed husband and during the long drive back from the hospital whith her son in the back seat, she think about how her life has turned out to be. The story is told by a limited third person narrator, and seen from the mother, Mary’s point of view. By observing Mary’s thoughts, it becomes easy to see how much her choices in life has meant to her and how much she still think about them.

Especially when it comes to the son’s diseases – it is something she is very concerned with. Her main concern is whether she and her husband had something to do with his condition. “Were they to blame, she and Seamus, and in what way, for the fact that their twenty-year-old son whom she was driving home from the hospital had spent the last seven months there suffering from silence, as she called it; the doctors called it depression”[1] Mary searches her memory to find answers to the many questions she had build op in her mind though the years.

Through a number of flashbacks she is trying to find some clues as to what could be the cause of her and David’s condition. It is questions like whether Mary and Seamus perhaps gas spent to little time at home while Mrs. Redmond babysat David, and whether hey should not have sold the old shop. Mary and Davis’s relationship is tens; Mary is trying to break the ice between them by asking David for a cigarette. The relationship between them develops throughout the journey from the hospital.

Even though Mary has made some wrong decisions in life, she does not complain about it, but she tries to repair her relationship with her son. Mary is stopped in her life as she stops the car, and she is now trying to change things, starting with the relationship with his son. This goes hand in hand with the poem Lucinda Matlock by Edgar Lee Masters’ from 1916. In the poem the speaker also talks about how she has lived her life, and how there has been good times and bad times. She has enjoyed her life, but she has still lost eight of her twelve children.

Lucinda argues that you have to take charge of your life and take the good times with the bad. As she finishes her poem, “it takes life to love life”[2] When she decides to stop the car, she finally makes a breakthrough in their communication. Mary is not only using this mental journey to think about her son, but also about her life with her husband, whom she thought she knew. Once again she thinks back on her life with Seamus and thinks about all the happy times they had together.

Seamus is much like David, he does not give her any attention. The thoughts Mary deals with in regards to her son and husband are very well illustrated in Andrew Sean Greer’s The Story of a Marriage from 2008. “We think we know the ones we love […] But what we love turns out to be a poor translation a translation we ourselves have made, from a language we barely know”[3] She feels that they ignore her and do not appreciate her, not only by her by husband, but also by her son.

Mary is moving one step closer to taking her fate into her own hands. Finally it dawns on Mary, that no matter how many downs you have in life, it will still be her life. And when her life has not come to an end yet, she is forced to take her life into her own hands and decide whether she will live life with two people who do not show their love for her or whether she will take a decision to live a life alone. We as readers do not know the ultimate ending to the short story, as it is an open ending.

It is up to the reader to decide how it should end. B Flashback is one way for the author to tell whether an episode has happened in the past that has significance for the present. It gives us as readers a better understanding of why Mary thinks like she does. The flashbacks in “A Journey” are not very long, but despite that they give away a lot of information. Some of Mary’s flashback shows a life with happiness, but some of them do also show a life with difficultness.

The first flashback, we get in the short story is when you get an insight into David’s childhood from Mary’s point of view. Because we see it from Mary’s point of view we need to make our own impressions. The flashbacks deals with the important things in her life, most of them are a contrast to how her life has become. The Flashback is about her dead mother in her father’s old shop, the rather pleasant experience of taking care of here father on his deathbed, and joyous occasions with her son and husband.

Some of the flashback shows a life with happiness, but some of them do also show a life with difficultness. An example of a one of the positive flashback could be when she imagined the time where her father bought a house to her and Seamus. This flashback shows us that she had a wonderful life with Seamus before he got sick “She pictured as well their first sighting of the old two-story house beside the school that her father had bought for them when they got married. She remembered the atmosphere inside the house the day they went to look at it […]”[4]

All the flashback, we get in the story come on the trip home from the hospital with her son. She sees herself in him and want him to get out of his little shell, so he can experience the wonderful world we actually live in. She knows how it feels to live a hard life. She got over her mother’s death, so he need to get over his father’s illness – If it is the reason why he is so mentally closed. ———————– [1] P. 1 L 30-33 [2] p 6 l. 22 Text 2 [3] P 7. L 1-3 text 3 [4] P 2. L 55

Each person undergoes a unique journey in their life. However, each person goes through the same basic steps; Choosing different paths to make each journey unlike anyone else’s. The Hero’s Journey is a journey that everyone will take during their life. We should acquaint ourselves with the type of journey we are on in order to successfully complete our journey. I had traveled down the wrong path and had gone from using marijuana occasionally to being physically addicted to methamphetamines. I knew it was wrong but I couldn’t stop myself. I needed something to motivate me to change my ways and become a better person.

To begin, the hero’s journey is initiated when the hero is removed from their comfort zone. This irresolute feeling is agonizing, confusing, and manifests a Call to Adventure. A call is in demand when the hero has room to grow and develop: when he must change. My personal Call to Adventure was when I overdosed and nearly died, landing me in the hospital for weeks. The hero must answer this calling in order to satisfy this need to grow, face the unknown, and to gain something of magnitude. I knew now was the time to change my ways and get my life back on track.

While I was lying unconscious on the hospital bed, I can clearly remember somebody telling me that I would die if I didn’t change my ways. I never figured out if it was God or a person talking to me but it definitely hit home with me. This was where I made the decision to get clean and change my life. This was the jumping-off point; it was now or never. After I decided that, I knew there was no going back. After I was released from the hospital, with the help of my doctor, I convinced my parents to send me away to inpatient rehab. That is where I encountered my first trials and challenges.

My first trial and challenge was going through the withdrawls from the drugs. I was sick, nauseous, and delusional for about a week until it all got out of my system. That was probably the hardest part. I kept imagining was being in a fire and then directly into an ice bath because of the raging fever I had. After that subsided I could start to work on my issues and start to deal with my addiction. My next trial and challenge came when I was released and went to hang out with my old friends. At first, I had no idea what to do when I saw my old friends using drugs so I just stopped going out.

I had no social life for a time so I decided to try to get back with my old friends and not use. This is what led up to my final battle/climax. The final battle/climax of ’s journey was when I went to a party with my friends and had promised myself that I wouldn’t use drugs. Unexpectedly, somebody had brought some and everyone was joining in on it. I had to choose between using the drugs and getting my life back on the downward spiral that It was on a couple months ago, and between walking away from the situation and keeping my life on track.

Even though everyone was pressuring me to do it, I stayed strong and didn’t; I left and went home instead. I had chosen to keep my life on the path I was on, the path to success and sobriety. My atonement phase was almost as hard as the rest of it. I had to confront the issues that I had suppressed with drugs during a crucial development period in my life, emotionally. I had always coped with my emotions by using drugs but that was no longer an option so I started going to the gym to let off stress. There has been nothing negative about getting my life back on track. My home life with my family is much better. I am much happier overall.

My return phase consisted of successfully going back to school with the kids I used to use drugs with and be able to function without giving in to the peer pressure. It was here that I became the master of two worlds. I was still friends with all the kids that I used to do drugs with but I was sober and had sober friends at the same time. These two worlds were vastly different but I am still able to balance my time between them so nobody feels like I am no longer friends with them. I am confident that I can handle the peer pressure of kids at school and outside of school now and that is crucial to my journey to adulthood.

SAFEJOURNEY 1. Introduction Since the innovation of diesel engine mankind has got new dimensions in their piece of living conditions i. e. the civilization. Most important achievement thereby was that men got the motion. These diesel engines gave shape in manifold. In transport sector the horse car/coach were started replacing by motorcars of different sizes and shapes to fit the needs of mankind. The addition of petrol engine has accelerated the rate. In the present era nobody can even think of avoiding the elements of transportation because the society has become too much dependent on this.

But still there is a problem. The problem lies with the technology. Nobody can claim that these technologies will never fail. Due to mechanical fault, poor maintenance, overuse, overage, misuse etc these failures occur. Though we are aware of these and may take preventive and reactive measures to avoid those situations but these failures are still day-to-day phenomena. Think about a situation – where your personal vehicle becomes out of order on the highway in a remote place. If so, what is the remedy? There are some arrangements by the Government.

However, that could not earn the faith of the public. Thus, in our case, this aspect is still remaining uncared. The astute investors could have identified the need of assistance in such situation in many countries. The effort of our new service oriented firm Safejourney is to care these aspects. The purpose of this plan is to analyze the strategic and situational aspect of the firm and focus market product, marketing mix and thereby project a detailed marketing plan of the firm. The scope of this plan will be limited to the following: Concept Development Process • Company Description • Strategic Analysis • Situation Analysis • Market Product Focus • Marketing Mix • Financial Analysis • Organization • Implementation • Evaluation and Control While formulating the plan firstly our effort is to highlight the concept development process, followed by the orientation with the company. Then Mission, goals and core competency of the organization will be covered under strategic analysis. Thereafter, analytical part of the plan will include – SWOT, industry, competitor, company and customer analysis.

The market, product and financing objectives of the organization and also target market identification will be the contents of the product market focus. This part will also mention the Unique Selling Proposition [USP] and positioning plan of the organization. Then under the marketing program 4 P’s i. e. marketing mix will be illustrated. The financial analysis and organization’s planned set up will be discussed followed by the implementation plan. Finally, the evaluation and control measures will be pen-pictured. We have carried out a detailed study, which was a combination of primary and secondary data analysis and empirical study.

Our contact method was mainly in the form of personal interviews with the competent official of the concerned authority, and collecting public views associated to this sector. We have also conducted the market survey deliberately, carried out various statistical analyses by testing related hypotheses. Collection of associated data from Bangladesh Road Transport Authority and Bangladesh Police [traffic control] were also a part of the survey. Thereby, we have found it is feasible to serve the victims of the roads. 2. CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS 2. 1 The Idea Generation

Bangladesh is a third world developing country. The country’s GDP is not again encouraging. Therefore, the people cannot always effort to have all first hand / brand new vehicles of any sorts. The used vehicles are not always reliable and often found to be out of order. Moreover, poor infrastructure of the country has also strong influence to cause such failure – a fatal accident is not also an exception to it. The arrangements offered by the Government to support such cases are often seem to be inadequate, time consuming, costly and failed to earn confidence.

Thus, there is always a need to support those victims in terms of mechanical, medical, psychological and emergency assistance. This led us to create the idea of a service organization to support in this regard. 2. 2 Concept Development The concept of providing necessary service by Safejourney is to have number of Highway Mobile Patrols [HMP] and Static service points at regular intervals. Maintaining a reliable communication network, our teams will be called by our valued customers and in response, will be capable to reach the spot within 30 minutes. Service charge will be collected depending upon the degree of assistance rendered.

Membership will be offered on the basis of annual subscription. 2. 3 Nature of Service Safejourney will have the capability to offer the following services: Small scale repair work on the spot. Medium scale repair work at the static service points (Towing facilities will be included) Large scale repair work at the zonal workshops (Towing facilities will be included) Available at the static service points. On call. First aid will be provided on requirement. <> Evacuation support:Will be provided on emergency basis. 2. 4 Investment/Benefits/ Commissions/ Business 2. 4. Investment Concept 1Invest to purchase vehicles, repair machineries, establishment of Head offices, zonal workshops & static service points. Concept 2Invest to establish versatile communication network. Concept 3Invest in acquiring required manpower. Concept 4Invest in promotional and social activities. 2. 4. 2 Benefits Concept 1Earnings from membership charges. Concept 2Earnings from service charges. Concept 3Earnings from charges of emergency support. 5. Time Frame Concept 1To provide services round the clock. Concept 2To reach the spot within 30 minutes after calling.

Concept 3To provide medical and emergency support as and when required. 6. Number of Outlets /Service Points Concept 1To arrange service facilities in the major highways. Concept 2At least two mobile patrols under each static service points. Concept 3Static service points are to be established every after 70/80 km. Concept 4Zonal offices are to be established near the major cities. Concept 5Head office is to be established at Dhaka. 3. Company Description 3. 1History Although it is new for the country like Bangladesh, service organization as Safejourney is not a new venture in the world.

In Germany, there is such an organization known as “Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobile- Club” in short ADAC operating for more than 40 years. Earning the confidence and faith of the public is the first and foremost criteria for most of the businesses success. If one can achieve it, other part of the business becomes much easier. The newly established firm Safejourney is the pioneer in Bangladesh in this field. 2. Name The legal name of the firm is SAFEJOURNEY BANGLADESH PRIVATE LIMITED and the motto of Safejourney is Destination Guaranteed… 3. Purpose

The purposes of Safejourney are described as follows: ? To provide quality repair and recovery services to the vehicles on the prescribed highways. To support the under mentioned services in emergency: a. Providing First aid to the accident Injuries. b. Evacuating the serious cases to the nearest hospital/ clinic. c. In case of criminal act, providing support by informing highway Patrol Police. d. To provide transportation service to anyone on payment only in emergency cases. ? In future we plan to render our communication network facilities to the transport companies. 4. Functional Activities

Safejourney has started her journey to serve the victims of the roads and persons in emergencies. On receiving the call from the customers our control station will intimate the matter and appropriate location to the responsible zonal office and / or static point keeping divisional office informed. The zonal office or static points will than direct the nearest Highway Mobile Patrol (HMP) to the spot. HMP, upon initial investigation will render effort to repair the necessary defects. If the case appears to be relatively difficult, the vehicle will be towed to the respective static point.

Likewise, major cases will be handled by the zonal workshop. In simple cases, on completion of the necessary repair jobs the customer will pay the bill prepared by HMP as per prescribed price chart. The members will get the discount if he/she possesses the Safejourney ID Card. In case of major / difficult cases the customer may pay in the head office or any of the zonal offices. A diagrammatical presentation of functional activities is as in Appendix A 3. 5 Organization It is essential to have a very well structured organisation to achieve the success in any kind of business. Thus, Safejourney has taken all out effort o organize both the administrative and functional aspects in order to ensure a quality service, secured and unbroken flow of information, good administration, better co-operation and co-ordination. Therefore, overall planning, organizing, leading and controlling aspects of Safejourney are vested on the head office. Under head office there are various departments for looking after the administrative perspectives of the firm. Moreover, our service areas are divided in three divisions. The divisions are again subdivided into area/zones to have a better control of the functional perspective of our organisation.

However, a detail of Administrative Organisation of Safejourney is illustrated in Appendix B and Functional Organization of Safejourney is illustrated in Appendix C of this plan. 6. Establishment and Number of Outlets/Service Points We have offered initially three major route of the country. The routes are as follows: • Dhaka – Chittagong Road • Dhaka – Bogra – Rajshahi Road • Dhaka – Jessore – Khulna Road Our head office is located in Dhaka, whereas the Divisional offices are in Chittagong, Bogra and Jessore. Detail of the Zonal Workshops, Static service points and outlets are presented in Appendix D of this plan. . 0 STRATEGIC ANALYSIS 4. 1 Mission Reaching our customers with in 30 minutes after calling at anytime on the highways when someone gets stuck with his/her vehicle and repair it to make him/her feel safe. 4. 2 Objectives 4. 2. 1 Financial Objective • To earn an annual rate of return on investment at 20%. • To Make Profit 20% above sales. • To reduce the amount of investment capital where possible. • To acquire 3500 members by year 5 • To reach at the breakeven point by year 5 • To achieve 80% of the market share by year 2008. 4. 2. 2 Marketing Objective • To repair 30 vehicles per route each day. To provide better quality service than the potential competitors. • To provide superior and timely repair • To achieve strong brand name. • To establish capable and systematic service outlets at each 60-80 km intervals. • To ensure wide geographic coverage than rivals’ and potential competitors. • To ensure higher level of customer satisfaction. • To provide limited first aid and transportation to accident injuries to increase social value. 4. 3 Core Competency and sustainable competitive advantage Core competency means the achievement of significant competitive advantage by a firm over its rivals.

Our core competency will be reaching in time to the customers and providing services of better quality than our competitors. 4. 3. 1 Reaching in time to the customers: We will have number of service centers each after 60-80 km. So, any one calling us over mobile/ T & T phone, we will ensure our presence with in 30 minutes. This will make the customers feel safe and confident about our organization. 4. 3. 2 Providing better quality service: At present our main competitors are the old aged roadside or sub-urban based repair workshops. Our services will be provided in time with the modern equipment and of course we will maintain our quality. . 3. 3 Pioneer advantage: Though there are number of repair workshops but we are the first to provide on call services on the highways with fast speed and responsibilities. At present we don’t have much strong competitors, but even new competitors enter, we will have customer’s preferences as we are the first in this business. We will already have lot of members and hold the lion share of the market. 5. 0 SITUATION ANALYSIS 5. 1 SWOT Analysis 5. 1. 1 Strength: Main strengths of “safe journey” are identified as follows: 5. 1. 2. Weakness: The weaknesses are as follows: business is based on happenings of some eventualities . 1. 3. Opportunity: Opportunity means where the company can operate profitably. The Opportunities of safeJourney are as follows: 5. 1. 4 Threat: The happenings which may create obstruction in achieving our business objectives are as follows: 5. 2 Industry Analysis “SateJourney “is a service oriented organization. There are many others who provide the same services to the customers. There are many workshops located in the rural, suburban or urban areas. The rural or suburban based workshops are old aged, that doesn’t have any efficient system of identifying the problems and repairing those.

There are few big sized workshops in the city areas but they hardly provide on call service. They also don’t have an efficient way of dealing with the customers. As a whole in the industry nobody is holding absolute supremacy. ‘Safe Journey’ will enter the business considering the aspects of winning customers’ mind. The competitors will not affect its operation and business objectives. The local workshops are weak but close competitors. City based service centers are strong but distant competitors, so ‘SafeJourney ‘will enjoy almost monopoly in the rural highways and likely to face pure competition in the urban areas. . 3 Competitor Analysis 5. 3. 1 Brand Competitor: SafeJourney is the first company to provide mobile repair service and serve the customers even in the remote place on the high ways. Thereby at present we don’t find any brand competitor of ours. 5. 3. 2 Industry Competitor: Our service is based on repair services of the automobiles. There are many other small or big workshops providing the same kind of services. So they are our industry competitors. 5. 3. 3 Form Competitor: This service provides the need for safety on the high ways by repair and maintaining vehicles.

There are few other workshops other than automobile workshops that also carryout some sort of repair works like motor cycle or bicycle repair. They are our form competitors. 5. 3. 4 Generic Competitor: Ours generic competitors would be anyone taking away our customers. The roadside restaurants, tower vehicles, public transports are few of our generic competitors. 5. 4 Company Analysis Our company will have numbers of static points (service centers) each after 60-80 km distance on the highways. Those static points will remain under direct control of Head office located at Dhaka.

We will also have offices in other major cities. They will deal with membership, complains, suggestions for operation and future expansion of the business. 5. 5 Customer Analysis 5. 5. 1 On the basis of buying Roles 5. 5. 2 On the basis of customer Buying Behavior Our service falls in the complex buying behavior group as it is a high involvement service. Customers normally don’t come to the workshops unless they need it. Again for yearly membership one has to pay Tk5000. Thereby, it is a service that involves a good amount of money. Customers will think twice to be a member of Safejourney.

Thus, our customers buying will follow complex buying behavior. 6. 0 MERKET PRODUCT FOCUS 6. 1. Financial, Marketing and Service Objective 6. 1. 1 Financial Objective 6. 1. 2. Marketing Objective. 6. 1. 3. Product / Service objective 6. 2 Target Market 6. 2. 1. The Selection of Target Market The Underlying logic and hypothesis dictated us to select the specific target markets: 6. 2. 2. Market Segmentation To attain the objective of our business plan, bases for our market segmentation is Demographic and psychographic factors. Under the demographic, the segment variables are social class and occupation.

In social class the upper class and upper middle class is our focal point. And under occupation we have mainly focused to the business class. Under the psychographic bases we have considered the social values to be our main segment variables. People who are highly security concerned and highly time concerned are the point of concentration here. 6. 2. 3 Specific Target Group Basing on our logic/ hypothesis, our market segmentation has led us to select the following specific target groups as our customers: Private car owners. Business class traveling in personal/ official car.

Taxi cab companies Transport owners/ Agencies. The target groups as per the segmentation can be categorized as under: |Market segment |Customer group | |Market segment 1 |Private car owners | |Market segment 2 |Business class | |Market segment 3 |Transport owners/Agencies, Taxicab companies. 6. 2. 4 Effectiveness of the Targeted Market Segment. Effectiveness of the segmentation can be measured using five useful criteria. These are Measurability, Substitutability, Accessibility, Differentiability and Actionable criteria. Testing of our segmentation based on these criteria is shown as under: Market Segment |Measurable |Substantial |Accessible |Differentiable |Action-able | |MS 1 |Very Good |Large and highly |Easily Accessible |Good |Effective and | | | |profitable | | |feasible plan can | | | | | | |be formulated | |MS 2 |very Good |Large and Profitable |Accessible |Good |Effective and | | | | | |feasible plan can | | | | | | |be formulated | |MS3 |very Good |Very Large and profit |Accessible |Good |Effective and | | | |able | | |Feasible plan can | | | | | | |be formulated | 6. 3 Point of Difference One of the most important factors for launching any new product/ service is the points of differentiation. We will differentiate our service from the competitor in respect of service, personnel and image differentiation. 6. 3. 1 Service Differentiation The key to success of our business will lie in adding value to the services and continuous improvement of quality. SafeJourney will differentiate its service from others in respect of following attributes: Ordering Ease |Any one facing the problem in highway can easily call us | | |simply making a phone call. Need not to take the trouble of | | |searching around miles together for someone leaving the | | |vehicle in uncertainty. | |Delivery |The mobile workshop of SafeJourney will be committed to solve | | |the problem in a speedy manner with adequate care and | | |accuracy. |Special service and Maintenance |Any one calling SafeJourney for a mechanical problem of | | |vehicles will be provided with free wind shield wash to that | | |vehicle and the assurance will be provided that any further | | |problem for same reason will be given free service in that | | |particular journey. | 6. 3. 2 Personnel Differentiation ‘SafeJourney’ will gain a strong competitive advantage by developing a better-trained people. For attaining this we will emphasize on the following aspect: Competence: The engineer/ mechanics of ‘safeJourney’ will possess the required skill and knowledge to deal with any mechanical/ technical problem of any type of vehicle. The mechanics will be grouped in such manner so that they can deal with any problem of the affected vehicle for which they are called for. ? Courtesy: The employees of our service will be trained to behave in a friendly, respectful and considerate manner in response to any problem given by the customer. ? Credibility: The trustworthiness of the service will be developed by providing price rate card from the company along with the specific identity card for the employees. ? Responsiveness: The Company will have a quick response in any call by sending the mobile workshop within half an hour on the spot. Communication: ‘Safejourney’ will keep the system of communicating about any problem/ comments by giving a comment card while solving the vehicle problem. This will be used by the management for further improvement of service. 6. 3. 3 Image Differentiation Our service will give adequate emphasis on building an image of quick and quality service. To do this, we will express our messages in symbols, written and audiovisual media, different events and also by employee behavior. 6. 3. 4 Unique Selling Proposition (USP) This is the factor which will attract the customer to accept our service rather than the competitors. We will concentrate on the following USP of our service. Caring about customer’s time. Greater attention on safety measures. First to provide reliable mobile repair/ recovery service in the country. 6. 4 Positioning To attain a distinctive position in the customer’s mind we will give adequate emphasis on our unique selling proposition. We will create an image of the company by promoting the idea “SafeJourney–for people who cares about time and safety”. 6. 4. 1 Positioning strategy For attaining the desired positioning in customer’s mind we will adopt the double benefit strategy. We will claim two benefit in this regard: The fastest. The safest 7. 0 MARKETING PROGRAM 7. 1 Service Strategy 7. 1. 1 Type of Service This is a utility service for providing mobile mechanical/ technical support to the vehicles facing problems in highways.

This will ensure a quick and easy service which will allow the travelers to reach to their destination safely without wasting the time. 7. 1. 2. Features of service The service will be provided both in membership and non membership basis and have the following features to provide: Repair and Recovery a. The first effort will be given to reach to the spot with mobile workshop by half an hour of receiving any call. b. The main effort will be in repairing the vehicle on spot as quickly as possible. c. Relatively difficult cases will be handled by the static service point d. In case of major difficulties the option will be given to deliver the vehicle to the desired destination after necessary repair works. Emergency Service a.

Providing first aid to the accident injuries. b. Evacuating the serious cases to the nearest hospital/ clinic. c. In case of criminal act, providing support by informing highway Patrol Police. d. To provide transportation service to anyone on payment only in emergency cases. Communication service a. The company will establish an internal communication system for its operation. b. The company will render this facility to be used by the transport companies on the basis of payment. 7. 1. 3 Brand Name The brand name of the service is given ‘SafeJourney. ’ This is done to create a favorable brand image and brand familiarity by adding the safety as a sensitive issue.

All necessary exposure and promotion activities will be done to uphold the different attributes, benefits and values related to the brand. 7. 1. 4 Special / After Service offer To create favorable positive response to the mind of customers the following special offerings will be kept: ? The provision will be kept to provide free windshield wash for the vehicle where applicable. ? Once given service by any mobile workshop the free service guarantee will be given if any problem faced for same reason in that journey. ? For dealing with the emergency situation, the service will be rendered 24 hours. 7. 1. 5 Sources of Spare parts Contacts will be made with the authorized dealer of various motor parts to keep the supply of spare parts available.

The amount of the various spares parts inventory will be decided basing on the requirement. 7. 2 Price Strategy 7. 2. 1 List Price Transparency in transaction is considered as one of the most important issues of our business policy. To maintain the trustworthiness and transparency, list price of all types of service will be kept/ hanged with the mobile service team and other service centre. The list price will be also published in the advertisement in print media. A minimum fixed charge of Tk. 250 will be charged for every vehicle calling for service. Other charges will vary basing on the intensity of the job. A model of list price is shown as under: PRICE LIST SERIAL NO |SERVICE DESCRIPTION |PRICE | | | |(In Taka) | |01 |Call charge |250 | |02 |Membership Subscription |5000 | |03 |Servicing |250 | |04 |Oil change |100 | |05 |Air Lock Clearance |250 | |06 |Fuel line Clearance |250 | |07 |Tappet Clearance |800 |08 |Cylinder Head Leakage Repair |1000 | |09 |Timing |2000 | |10 |Spark Plug Change |600 | |11 |Self Starter |500 | |12 |Fuse Box |100 | |13 |Carburetor Cleaning |200 | |14 |Gear Box Repair |500 | |15 |AC pump Repair |300 | |16 |Break Repair |500 | |17 |Steering Gear Repair |500 | |18 |Electric Circuit |250 | |19 |Lighting |250 | |20 |Spare parts |As per mkt price | 7. 2. 2 Discount To Increase the membership number and attract the customers a 65% discount will be given to the members of safeJourney. 7. 2. 3 System of payment The Payment system will be on the basis of cash payment before delivery. However, the payment may be made at any zonal / area offices also. 7. 2. 4 Different Price strategy. We plan to adopt different price strategies in different situation. ? At Launching Stage.

As this is a new service in this country, our company being first to enter in this business will have a pioneer advantage. And as we will not have any brand competitor at this stage so we will adopt cost plus policy at this stage. The assumption led us to follow this policy is the substitute awareness effect which tells that customers are less price sensitive when they are less aware of substitutes. ? At Brand competitive Stage. In Brand competitive stage it is likely that new entrants will also come in this business. If we face challenges by the new entrants in terms of price strategy, we will face this by adding new values and better quality through more promotional activities.

As the new entrants are likely to face huge amount of initial investment expenditure, it is likely to be difficult for the competitors to snatch our significant market share. Again a substantial amount of revenue in the business will come through the membership subscription which is given yearly. So due to involvement of high switch over cost customers are less likely to switch over to new competitors. ‘The difficult comparison effect’ of price sensitivity also supports our strategy as it speaks — customers are less price sensitive when they cannot easily compare the quality of substitutes. However in this stage we may have to go for the price cut strategy basing on the market condition. 7. 2. 5.

Pricing Method Basing on the market survey and the result of our hypothesis we have used a combination of both perceived value pricing and going rate pricing method to select our price. 7. 3 Promotion Strategies Promotion is considered as one of the greatest market winning factor to increase the sales of own product/ service. It consists of different promotion mix i. e. advertisement, Sales Promotion, Personal Selling, Direct Selling and Public Relation (PR) . The promotion activities also varies basing on the product/Service life cycle through which a product/ service comes from introductory stage to growth, maturity and at last at declining stage.

So our promotional activity will also vary in response to different life cycle of our service in following ways: 7. 3. 1 Introductory Stage In this stage our main strategy will be to create the customer awareness about the brand name of our service. Since the service involves the complex buying behavior, the main emphasis will be given to the print media. The promotional activities include: Regular advertisement in daily newspaper and magazines. Using Billboard in the entrance and exit of the petrol pump. Using Billboard in highways with repeated intervals. In TV and radio highlighting our USP during the commercial slot. ? Providing attractive and colorful posters, calendars etc to the car sales centre. 7. 3. 2 Growth Stage

At this stage the strategy will be to create brand familiarity to keep the present customers satisfied and to attract the new customers. This will be done as follows: ? Differentiation advertisements in both print media and loud media frequently. ? Create value chain for the existing members by sending small gifts like calendars, cards etc containing the brand symbol Arranging different types of PR programs. 7. 3. 3Maturity Stage At this stage the strategy will be to keep the people conscious about our product by various remainder advertisement and other programs It includes: Remainder advertisement in both print media and loud media. ? To increase brand preferences providing advertisement with celebrities. Arranging various PR Programs.

Sponsoring different games/ sports cultural programs etc. 7. 3. 4 Decline stage Starting from the maturity stage onward, the amount of our market share is likely to decrease. At decline stage it will tend to reduce more. But the human psychology about time and safety will always exist. The market is also likely to expand. Even though, the company may face difficulties due to more number of competitors. To overcome the problem, the following strategy will be adopted: Providing new features to the customers by making differentiation. Giving reminder advertisement both in print and loud media Arranging PR programs using satisfied customers etc. 7. Placement (Distribution strategy) The Placement strategy is very important to ensure that the company’s product/ service are passed through the right channel to achieve the objective of the company. 7. 4. 1 Places to Serve Initially the service will be started only in three important routes. These routes are: Dhaka – Chittagong highways. Dhaka – Jessore – Khulna highways Dhaka – Bogra- Rajshahi highways Subsequently basing on the feedback and market condition the number of routes will be increased. 7. 4. 2 Channel Strategies The channel of our service will be direct. ? Head office -Zonal service centre – Static Point- Mobile service workshop We will also increase the number of zonal offices/ service centre to most of the district towns. ? We will also acquire the local agency to act as the local representatives in zonal offices. ? The detail distribution channel is illustrated in Appendix E. 8. 0 FINANCIAL DATA AND PROJECTIONS | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |8. Initial Investment | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Fixed Expenditure | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Item | | | Tk in Lacs | | | | | |Construction/Office | | |7 | | | | | |Office Furniture | |7 | | | | | |Vehicle Procurement | |223. 4 | | | | | |Tel/Mobile | | |9. 4 | | | | | |Tools and Equip | |25 | | | | | |Promotion | | |10 | | | | | |Training | | |3 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Total | | |284. 54 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 8. 2 Yearly Expenditure | | | |Tk in Lacs | | |Salary | | |85. 3 |Details Shown in Appendix F | |Tel Bills | | |9. 48 | | |Fuel | | |35 | | |Rent-Office/Outlets | | |81. 4 | | |Promotion | | |12 | | |Electricity/Gas/Water |5. 64 | | |Miscellaneous | | |6. 4 | | | | | | | | |Total | | |235. 69 | | | | | | | | 8. 3 Projected Yearly Return in 5 Years From providing highway Service | | | | |Yearly |In 5 Years | |Per Day 30 Cases X 3 Routes X 500 X 365 |164. 25 |821. 25 | | | | | Tk in Lacs From Membership Charges Year | | |Tk in Lacs | |Year 1 |1000 |5000 |50 | |Year2 |2000 |5000 |100 | |Year 3 |3000 |5000 |150 | |Year 4 |3500 |5000 |175 | |Year 5 |3500 |5000 |175 | | | | | | |Total income in 5 Years 650 | 8. 4 Calculation of Payback Period | | |Taka In Lacs | | | | | | | | | |Year |1 |2 |3 |4 |5 |6 | | | | | | | | | |Opening Bal |-284. 54 |-305. 98 |-277. 42 |-198. 86 |-95. 3 | | |Cash out flow |-235. 69 |-235. 69 |-235. 69 |-235. 69 |-235. 69 |-235. 69 | |Cash in flow |214. 25 |264. 25 |314. 25 |339. 25 |339. 25 |339. 25 | |End Bal |-305. 98 |-277. 42 |-198. 86 |-95. 3 |8. 5 |103. 56 | | | | | | | | | | |Fraction of years=330. 99/339. 25=. 975 Years. | | | | | | | |Total Pay back Period =4+. 975=4. 975 Years. | | 8. 5 Projected Profit |Expected profit in year 5 = Tk 8. 25 Lac | |Expected profit from year 6 onwards = Tk. 103. 56 Lac | 9. 0 IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

Implementation is the key success factor for any business. The business planning may be the best but if implementation plan is wrong the business will fail to achieve its objectives. To achieve our business objectives we plan our business in the following way: 9. 1 Services Strategy Safejourney will provide services to the customers as and when they call. Someone may get services if they come directly to the static points. Our efforts will be to establish strong communication network to reach our customers using existing T & T facilities and mobile networks. We will also have our own communication network to ease our customers to reach us at anytime.

Practice of mobile patrol on the highways to find out and meet any eventualities will also be there. Besides repair, we also plan to provide some additional services in following ways: (1) For ensuring smooth first aid service, our employees will be specially trained on first aid. (2) Delivering the vehicle at desired place after repair will be accomplished with the necessary co-ordination with zonal offices. (3) Evacuation to accident injuries will be provided by maintaining a good will and liaison with the local hospital and clinics. (4) On establishing our own communication facilities it may be rented to the transport agencies. 9. 2 Price Strategy

As it was stated earlier, services will be provided on the basis of payment and we will have separate price strategy for our members and non-member customers. On accomplishment of any service, the senior mechanics will calculate the price basing on the minimum call charge, price of spare parts, membership discount rate and services as per price table and make the bill to the customer. Customer may pay the bill in cash on the spot or any of our offices/outlets. In the later case, the vehicle will be delivered only after the confirmation of the payment of the due bill. To deal with the competitors in the competitive stage, SafeJourney may also change the service charge or membership subscription as the situation demands but the quality will not be compromised in any case. 9. 3 Promotion Strategy:

To implement our business strategy we will go for rapid skimming. For this we will spend an amount of Tk 1,000,000 as we launch the service. In addition to it an amount of Tk 12, 00,000 will be spent on promotional activities per year. In this regard maximum emphasis will be given to print media and using the billboard. We plan to provide advertisement on web sites also. 9. 4 Distribution Safejourney is taking all out efforts to establish a smooth, secure and effective distribution channels. Members will be enrolled either by the zonal offices directly or through local agents and few selected petrol pumps. The selected petrol pumps will be considered as exclusive distribution means. 10. 0 ORGANISATION

The Head office of Safejourney will be established in Dhaka. The whole organisation is headed by Managing Director (MD). The MD will look after the overall planning, organizing, leading and controlling aspects of Safejourney. There are total six departments in head office, which are as follows: • Operations and Planning • Technical Support • Administration and Medical • Management Information System • Accounts and • Human Resource Management Under the department of operation and planning there will be one control station on for 24 hours. The three Divisional managers are responsible to control the three routes under the supervision of Operation department.

Dhaka – Chittagong route looked after by Divisional Manager –1 (Chittagong) Dhaka – Bogra-Rajshahi route looked after by Divisional Manager –2 (Bogra) Dhaka – Jessore-Khulna route looked after by Divisional Manager –3 (Jessore) Under each Division there are three zonal offices and under the zonal offices there are three static points each. Each static point is equipped with at least two Highway Mobile Patrols. 11. 0 EVALUATION AND CONTROL To learn how well the company is running, we must evaluate the present strategy. Accordingly management will be taking decision on what should be done. For that we will evaluate our performance by finding the information of following aspects: 1] Is the competitive approach of the company is correct? [2] Could we differentiate our services from our rivals? [3] Could we provide our services at a broad spectrum or to a niche? [4] Is the geographic coverage of our services correct? [5] Are the functional activities of the company correct? [6] Could we make expected return/ cash flow? [7] What is the company’s image and reputation with the customers and competitors? [8] Could we make continuous improvement of our performance? <>We will also carry out evaluation of information continuously. This will help us to take timely decisions. We plan to carry out analysis of information on the following manner: 1] Daily earnings and expenses report. [2] Total number of customers per day. 12. 0 CONCLUSION Continuous improvement and development of new offerings is an essential part for any business success in the present world. Everyday people in the business world seek for new opportunity and spending millions in this purpose. The overall paper is developed highlighting all the detail that is required to do a successful marketing of a new offerings. The alternatives are highlighted and the provisions are kept open to carry out the necessary adjustments as the market dictates. Proper implementation of the plan can make the service-SafeJourney a successful one.

Ashwin Sathyanarayanan English 10 Professor Stanley Personal Essay That Once in a Lifetime Chance It is a great feeling going to a place where it’s a huge matter in one’s life. “Revisiting Sacred Ground” N. Scott Momaday had made a pilgrimage which his Kiowa ancestors. Momaday has said,” There are certain villages, and towns mountains and plains that, having seen them, walked in them, lived in them, even for a day, we keep forever in the mind’s eye. ” Just like how Momaday relived his ancestor’s trails, I had a chance as well. I was lucky enough to be able to go on such a sacred journey that people would pay in thousands of dollars.

The pilgrimage I would like to talk about is the one I took to a sacred city in India called Badrinath. I follow Hinduism, and in Hinduism there is a saying/belief that if we go on this enriching, and spiritual journey, we will go to heaven after we pass. I have a guru, like a living god, who I listen to and look up to. He took me on this spiritual journey. This spiritual journey had started for me 7 years ago in 2005, around June I had left San Francisco International Airport, and left to my motherland India. I landed in New Delhi, India to be exact. From there we drove to a city called Kasi.

The city of Kasi is known for its sacred river. My guru had told me that in Hindu mythology if you bathe in the holy river of Ganges it will get rid of all your sins. We stayed the night there and we went to the sacred river and bathed early in the morning around 5. Then we went to the temple and did some prayer rituals that are performed after the bathing in the river. Later that day we took a bus from Kasi and drove into a city called Haridwar, one of the beautiful cities in the foothills of the Himalayas. When we reached the city of Haridwar, my guru told us a little about the place before we got out of the bus.

That is where I learned the myth being told that Haridwar is one of the four cities where amrit (the elixir of immortality) spilled from a pitcher which was being carried by a bird named Garuda. I was amazed by the fact, and my guru said, “this is nothing wait and you’ll see more amazing things. ” He left me questionable that there were more amazing things than this. We got an auto (taxi) and went to the river because we heard that they do an extraordinary festive every night. This festive is known as Ganga aarti, and it happens at the river banks of the ganges (Har ki Pauri).

At Har ki Pauri every night at both banks of the river, people are flooded, with an aarti in their hand. An aarti is a lamp lit by fire. After the priests finishing chanting the mantras and show the aarti to the gods, everyone lets the aarti down into the river and they pray what they want, and let the aarti go down stream. I was lucky enough to do that myself. We then went back to the hotel that we had checked into and left the next day back on our tour. We then travelled to our next stop Rishikesh, which is another city in the foothills of the Himalayas.

We were in Rishikesh for no longer than 4 hours because we had to get to our sleep stop. During the four hours that we were there we went to a lot of ashrams (meditation center) and saw many Saints. After the four hours had ended, we went back to our bus and left to our night stop, which was called Nanda Prayag. Since it was night time and we were all tired from the really long day, we went to bed, but I kept hearing the noise of the river really loud, and it sounded like it was just too close. Next morning the noise of the river and the animals woke me up and the noise was just so close that I had to go look how far it was.

With all my curiosity when I went out to the balcony and I saw the most spectacular view. I saw two of the most holy rivers combine together, the combinations of the two rivers was just so distinct, the Alaknanda River and the Mandakini River confluence. At this place there was a temple ashore of the river. After I went and bathed in the river I had gone to the temple and I had learned the history of this place, it was fascinating. Then we all left the temple to the bus and we left and arrived at our longest stay in our tour, Badrinath. Badrinath was literally the whole reason we went on this trip.

It was known as one of the most holiest, and sacred places to be at. We arrived there later in the Afternoon. After we checked into our hotel, we went and explored the city. And while exploring the city we saw many beautiful temples, and all these lead us to the main temple, the Badrinath Temple. We had to cross over a small walking bridge which went over the Alaknandha River, It went with such force, and if you sit in that water nonstop for more than ten – fifteen minutes, you will surely have a heart failure, because the water is that cold, and we are at an extreme altitude.

And the most Ironic thing about this cold river is after we crossed it we have to bathe before we enter the temple, even if we had bathed in the morning. When we went to the place we were supposed to bathe, we came to find out that it was a hot spring and this hot spring was ten feet away from the extremely cold Alaknanda waters, ironic enough, I thought so. After we finished bathing there was a ritual which we had to perform. We had to get into brand new clothes and we had to give the clothes were wearing to the more unfortunate people.

So after we did that, we went into the main temple, it was enriched with beautiful colors and sculptures all made since the time the temple was created. We had gone in and while we were coming outside, we had ran into a very famous priest, and we all greeted him, and he invited us to come to his ashram, so we all went. There he told us about the main reason of this temple. This temple is only open during Spring, Summer and Fall. They closes the temple, right before we end fall and enter Winter. The closing and opening of the temple is a huge ceremony.

This is the most important ceremony to come to if you have major problems which need to be resolved. He told us that during the ceremony they do many poojas (rituals and prayers) and they have an extremely huge lamp and they fill it to the rim with oil and they light the lamp, and during the lighting of the lamp we all must pray for what we all want most. After they light it they close and seal the temple for six months through the harsh winters. The most amazing part is that even though it snows and rains, and harsh winds blow, the lamp never goes out. I was dumb founded by this statement.

It is said that it doesn’t go out because of the bonds of all the prayers and wishes the people had made, it is so strong, that nothing can affect it. He continued by saying that after the six months pass, for the wish you made to come true you, must come back for the opening ceremony of the temple. If indeed you do, you will see that the lamp that was lit is still lit and the glory of the light is just so divine. Since he had an urgent issue to deal with he left us in awe. My guru then told me,” I told you I would show you something which is even more fascinating. ” I was speechless, and we left back to our hotel and slept.

The next day my guru took us to the last village in India, Mana. My guru told me that this is the main source of the river Saraswathi, (the goddess of education) and he had told me that this river is so tricky and mischievous. My guru said that this river after 3 miles this river disappears, it is said that it runs underground and comes back up in a city more down south. After we saw where the main source had come from we saw this passage on the left and my guru had told me out of my whole family to go up because it was a very dangerous path/cave and he said I am the only one in the family that is very capable of going through it.

As I went through this path I experienced the biggest fear of my life, snakes. They were literally everywhere. I had gone through this extreme passage and I got out of this tight hole and I could not believe my own eyes, there it was, The Great Wall of China. I had come back down the passage I went up but this time the snakes were all gone, there was none there anymore, which shocked me even more. I had come down and my guru said do not tell us what you saw.

I was bursting in excitement and he made me hold it in. It was the hardest thing in life for me to hold in. After we left the village and started going back down on the bus, my guru called me and I went and sat next to him on the bus and he told me,” now I want you to tell us all what happened. ” I had then told them that I went up this cave of snakes and saw the great wall, and on my way back not even one snake was there, everyone was in shock. That was the biggest mystery in my life till now.

After we came back down we had left back to our beginning destination New Delhi, India. On our way back though we went back in a helicopter, I asked my guru why we didn’t use the helicopter on the way up, and he said,” you wouldn’t have experienced all that you did now if you came on a helicopter. ” This was the sacred pilgrimage that all Indians must take at least once in your lifetime, according to Hindu mythology. I now have a dream to go back once again and revisit the same places and relive what did in 2005.

My journey to America is one unforgettable experience. I say this not because I was able to travel to the land of my dreams but mainly because the journey had improved my outlook in life through the many lessons and insights it had taught.

My country of origin is Kenya, located in Eastern Africa. Separating these two countries is the Pacific Ocean,   a large body of water that seemed to signify the impossibility of my coming here (Crofton, 1994, p. 434). But fortunately, this huge obstacle was overcome, and now I am enjoying the fun and opportunities offered by a country that had only once been a dream. You just cannot imagine the excitement I had felt when I learned that I will travel to America.

For the majority of Africans, America is a land of golden opportunity, a place that one can better himself. It offers a rare experience in advancement in technology, an essential factor to a person’s twentieth century learning. And above all, America had many fun, exciting and historical places to visit. Armed with such lofty thoughts in mind, going through the hassle of filing for travel papers at the US Embassy meant nothing to me.

I   bade goodbye to Kenya last __________. My itinerary was from Nairobi, Kenya to ______, USA. It would take approximately ______ hours to reach the US.  On the plane I tried to contain my excitement although flying above the wide Pacific Ocean was both thrilling and nerve-wracking. Looking down below from the window of the plane, I can see a wide expanse of blue water, stretching miles and miles beyond as if it would never end. Although the sight was beautiful to behold, I cannot wait to see land for by then I suddenly felt an awesome fear of being in a place totally unknown, as if I was lost in the middle of nowhere. I realized then that uprooting oneself from familiar places is not that easy, after all.

As the plane made its way across the earth,  my mind was filled with thoughts of what I will going to do in America, the friends that I will meet, the places I will visit and the things that I will have. The thoughts all came to me at once, both thrilling and enchanting me at the same time. Amidst  these thoughts, my mind  raced back to the place I just left behind, the loved ones that I will not see  for sometime and  the places that surprisingly I will miss, and then out of nowhere I felt nostalgic and if I was not strong  enough tears would have fallen from my eyes. It was painful to realize that for me to experience something new, I had to let go of something that I hold dear. But I am glad to think that someday I will be back.

Finally, after some time I approached the place that for more than a century had drawn all kinds of races and nationalities to its shores like a magnet. I expected the view from above to be so much different from the aerial view of the country and continent I just left behind. True enough it was way, way different. Whereas the place I had just left was dominated by forest and desert that was spotted with human dwellings and buildings, the view of America from the air was just breathtaking to me.

A vast array of buildings endlessly crowded themselves below, tall skyscrapers and the Statue of Liberty seemed to reach out to me in welcome. I could not believe that the famous   America was right in front of me!   I felt an awesome sense of self-fulfillment then, perhaps because America had this magical way of making a person think that finally he had seen the real world.

Naturally I could not wait to set my feet in the America soil.  For the first time in my life I was surrounded with people who look different from me. In the airport were white people, brown skinned people and dark ones like me. I was fascinated with the presence of different nationalities that were busy talking to one another in a language I do not understand and hurrying past me to places God knows where. I realized later that I will often come across these different types of people in just any street in America.

I wonder much about them, the places that they came from and the loved ones that they left behind in a country far away. I know that most of them come to America to earn more money, and I wonder if they fulfilled that goal. Settling here for _________ (months or years) now, I can say with authority that foreigners here oftentimes experienced physical, emotional and mental suffering. Many of them are homesick.  There is no place, after all, that man will be untouched by the negative experiences of life. Such realization had developed in  me a deeper respect for people who  left their homeland to find jobs in other shores.

For the many successful people who pass my way daily, I can say that indeed America is a land of golden opportunity, but only for the people who work hard. In life no matter where we are we just cannot expect a golden egg to fall on our lap. Here there are also many poor people. I do not know why they lived that way but one thing America taught me is that if you want something good to happen in your life then you must be willing to sacrifice, to let many sweats fall from your forehead.   A person should not wait for opportunity, he must look for it and when he found that opportunity he must grab it with both hands.

The list of beautiful places to visit and exciting things to do in America is endless. There are many big parks decorated with beautiful flowers and housed different kinds of animals (many of these animals are native to my homeland like tigers and elephants).  When I look a these caged animals I cannot help but compare them to their relatives back home who roamed  freely in the African wild. America is not a place of freedom for them but on the contrary, America is a trap, a prison.

I felt sad but these are the prices that need to be paid if people of America are to see a live African wildlife. Furthermore, America had many large shopping centers filled with all sorts of stuff. They are very inviting to touch, look and if I have the money, to buy. There are just many things to choose from, all of them beautiful. It is true that America has lots of things to offer especially for a Kenyan like me. Being surrounded by all these beautiful things make me look at life more positively.

I do have negative experiences in America but I would cite only one that I know is experienced by most foreign people like me and it is the ugly face of racial discrimination. I know that racial discrimination is present when the people of other races I associate with treat me with distrust without reason. I know some of them did not actually wanted the feeling to come but it involuntarily sprung up somewhere. Racial discrimination is a big problem here.  This just shows that great America, like any other country in the world, had its own issues to solve.

Obviously, there are many differences between America and my home country but there is one difference that I would like to share here. It seemed to me that the people who live in America are always in a hurry. It seemed that they have so many things to do but do not have the time to do it. That is why most Americans (including those who are not but lived here) are always in a perpetual state of stress.

They are busy chasing “something” so that they do not have the time “to smell the flowers”. This is so much unlike Kenya. There it seemed we have plenty of time to rest, to reflect. Perhaps because our lives are less complicated, our dreams are simpler. For most Kenyan families providing daily food on the table is a big accomplishment.

My journey to America is an adventure of a lifetime. I will never forget the many new  experiences that came along   and the lessons it had taught me. Indeed I can say that my journey to America had opened doors in my life that were once closed.

Reference

Crofton, Ian (editor). (1994). The Guinness Compact Encyclopedia. London: Guinness Publishing Limited.

Teenagers will be teenagers.  Perhaps this is the best way to understand the lives of eight teenagers in Hersch’s (1999) book, A Tribe Apart: A Journey into the Heart of American Adolescence.  Although Hersch only writes about American teenagers, adolescents around the world may be able to relate to the eight kids interviewed by the author.

They are naughty, to say the least, and their parents seem to have little or no interest in how they are leading or in fact ruining their lives.  The teenagers use illegal drugs, enjoy premarital sex, steal, get into trouble, and essentially do everything that they are most likely to do in the absence of adults from their lives.

Adults have abused them through neglect or other means.  Hence, the young people do not have real models to follow.  Instead, they experiment with life so as to learn their own lessons before adulthood strikes.  Many of the lessons that such teenagers may learn will undoubtedly be painful if not plain sad.

It is clear to the reader of A Tribe Apart that these teenagers could have been saved from the difficulties they may inevitably face by following models of propriety.

All the same, it is impossible to find such models when their parents are missing from home and out at work.  Teachers may not be able to fill in the gap seeing as it is the parents’ responsibility to teach morality to their kids for the latter to consider it believable.  After all, children are meant to spend more time with their parents than with their teachers.

The teenagers of A Tribe Apart do not belong to poor families.  Researchers have often described adolescents from poor families who are neglected or abused by other means before they turn into drug addicts or thieves.

Teenagers belonging to poor families are therefore believed by the masses to be morally degraded.  The unique fact about Hersch’s book is that all of the teenagers she has interviewed for her research belong to the healthy middle class.  Perhaps this makes it easier for adolescents around the globe to relate to the eight teenagers in her book.

Most if not all teenagers may be considered ‘a tribe apart’ as the reader contemplates the fact that both the haves and the have-nots behave in similar ways through adolescence.  Indeed, teenagers belonging to poor families appear to be destroying their lives just like the adolescents interviewed by Hersch for her study.

The good news is, however, that Hersch’s book could serve as a warning signal for parents who have neglected or abused their growing kids in other ways.  If parents do not take heed, their growing kids may very well shape themselves as adults that behave like their own parents.  Wealth does not matter in this case.  Rather, teenagers would remain as stereotypical teenagers – experimenting with adulthood in their youth.  They know no boundaries.

They are always crossing their limits.  Most importantly, there is nobody to guide them out of their troubled existence.  Drugs and sex become the sole source of joy for them.  Thus, Hersch’s book is a wake up call that all parents must give serious thought to.  The fact that eight teenagers confided in Hersch must also be taken seriously.  It is possible for parents to honestly understand their kids.  Hersch has proved this with her research.