I am Gift Akoto, an undergraduate student at Tallinn University School of Governance, Law and Society, majoring in Politics and Governance. I recently completed an Internship with Think Africa, and thus, want to share my experience in terms of impact and what it means to me as well as what I gained from the three months.
I got to know about Think Africa through a friend, who was at the time an intern with the organization. Based on her experience, I was immediately motivated and attracted to learn more about Think Africa by visiting its website. The mission of Think Africa, its history, services, and values were irresistibly captivating and pleasing to me. Furthermore, I have always wished to find such a community in the diaspora where I could feel a sense of belonging like in a family, comfort my home craving and be useful.
Interestingly, I realized that being part of Think Africa is not just about making myself useful, but also about skills resuscitation and realization, personal development, self empowerment, and selfless services.
I am glad that my internship application was approved. I conducted research about devising a suitable methodology on the following hypothesis: Being fluent in Finnish leads to better economic/employment opportunities for African immigrants in Finland than those African immigrants who do not speak Finnish or speak very little. This Hypothesis was established based on the claim that African immigrants do not get job opportunities in their field specialization or education; the major reason being language barriers The research question is how true are these claims?
Throughout my research internship, I was significantly impacted in diverse ways from being nourished academically and to being more prepared for the preparation of my thesis. The research was a window of opportunity for me to advance in research skills, especially conducting comparison of various methodologies and literature reviews; that was necessary to establish appropriate methods to prove the hypothesis. Thanks to my supervisors, who were instrumental in ensuring a successful outcome through the organization of several online meetings despite their busy schedules. This flexibility further strengthened my appreciation for Think Africa.
Think Africa to me is a not just an organization driven by common interest of empowering and enhancing collaboration between African and Finland. It is also a Family committed to serve, bonded by commitment and willingness to empower each other positively. It is a space that serves every purpose of our African existence; providing services that cut across most aspects of our social lives. It further prepares us for an endless possibility due to the continuation of multiple events and projects that enable contributions based on one’s field of interest and/or specialization.
Even though I have officially concluded my internship with Think Africa, this research plan will further be expanded into a research proposal that will be carried by other researchers. Results of this research may also be useful for influencing Finnish policies as the research will be expanded to also investigate how Finnish language education can be improved among African immigrants for effective participation into the Finnish labour market.
Therefore, if you are reading this post and you are yet to decide about Think Africa, resist the urge of procrastinations and act Now! Join think Africa lets us collectively make a lasting change to the narratives to build “the Africa we want”!!!
Written by:
Gift Akoto, a final year undergraduate student at Tallinn University specializing/ majoring in Politics and Governance.
