Dual Citizen living a "Double Life" in both countries

Hi there,

I am an Afghan-Canadian with citizenship in both countries. My parents are both refugees but I was born in Canada. However, I am also an Afghan citizen who has lived and worked there.

My extra curriculars include extensive work with Afghan refugees (translation services, tutoring and mentorship for Afghan-Canadian children) and also peace and development efforts in Afghanistan, so you can probably concur that my post MBA aspirations involve Afghanistan.

However, in Canada I attend a Top 5 Engineering school and currently intern at one of the tech giants in Silicon Valley.

I sometimes feel like I am living a double life. I obviously have a bright future working in the tech industry but I am far more interested in taking my talents abroad to assist the rehabilitation efforts in Afghanistan. I am currently one of the co-founders of a UN-partnered initiative that connects Afghan youth in Afghanistan with financial support, mentorship and other resources they need to fully execute their ideas for "peace". In this context, peace is very vaguely defined. Not all of their initiatives are security related. We have youth that are interested in improving access to education for rural children, starting their own businesses (contributing to the economy), providing hygiene and health education etc.

How can I translate my background in tech to a career in Afghanistan? I genuinely feel that I have the right network to build a successful career for myself there. I can foresee myself creating something like a Y-Combinator in Kabul. Startup Incubator culture exists in Afghanistan but has largely failed thus far. My work is largely focused on Afghan youth, who make up 70% of the country's population.

I am very interested in Harvard's 2+2 program. I have never heard of any Afghans at HBS and we are generally a very underrepresented group in higher education because of the impact of war on education, and the low socio economic bracket of our diaspora. There are only about 300k of us in the United States.

My question is, how can I explain my life story lol? I think my career aspirations align more with my Afghan citizenship than if I were to apply as a Canadian, but I was born in Canada. However, growing up speaking 3 languages, very poor, and being raised by two refugees with PTSD really shaped me and my career aspirations.

Thanks, and sorry for the long post!