Chamil Fernando, senior biochemistry and molecular biology, works on his assignment for trigonometry on Monday in the William Allen White Library. Though Fernando enrolled into the university as a nontraditional student, he has found his passion that will lead to helping people and would like to do research about clinical nutrition in the future.
Finding one’s purpose in life can be a long and arduous trial, but can also be the source of one’s happiness and motivation, as Chamil Fernando, senior biochemistry and molecular biology major, explained. Fernando shared his tale from when he was raised in Sri Lanka to how he found his current path as an ESU student, searching for his purpose.
When Fernando was in tenth grade, he believed he wanted to be a Roman-Catholic priest, as he had seen how priests helped people. However, several years later after having joined a seminary on his way to becoming a priest, his family encountered hardship.
“I told my directors in the seminary that I have this unresolved struggle,” Fernando said.
He went home to help his family and he saw that as his new purpose in life.
The core of the story, Fernando explained, is as a kid he wanted to figure out his purpose in life.
“Is it about me or is it about other people?” Fernando said. “There was something resonating within me that I want to help people. I think we all have a mission, a purpose for being here. One day we are going to understand it.“
Fernando eventually left his home for the United States, in order to work and support his family. He was able to help his family build their home and his sisters marry, to start their own lives. In the midst of it, he met his wife, Rachel Spaulding, a current ESU professor in English, modern language and journalism. Fernando was pursuing the life he thought he wanted, dreaming of owning a house, running a business, raising kids and having a normal life.
During this time, he worked as a server for a restaurant making decent money, but at the same time he felt he wasn’t serving the purpose of his life.
“I told Rachel (Spaulding,) this is really killing me and I’m not going to be happy if I keep doing this,” Fernando said.
Fernando eventually found out he had gluten sensitivity, and this sparked his interest in nutrition. However, he soon found his pursuit of becoming a registered dietitian was not what he hoped it would be, so he sought a new path in nutrition.
“I dug into more literature, listened to podcasts, and discovered for many there is a nutritional imbalance in our systems that makes us sick,” Fernando said.
This led him and Spaulding to ESU, where he had discovered the program the university offered and Spaulding found her new position as a professor.
“It is amazing that she got to teach what she loves, and at the same time that ESU has this program that I want to learn,” Fernando said.
Looking ahead, Fernando hopes to eventually be conducting research in clinical nutrition. He urges people to not think about how they should look or what they want when it comes to nutrition, but to think of what their body wants and needs.
“Our body is so loyal, it is the vessel to carry out lives,” Fernando said.
He says his life’s purpose is to help others maintain their bodies so they can invest their life energy in fulfilling their lives.