Harambee, a Swahili word meaning ‘pulling together’, represents the Think Africa Democratic Action Team (TADAT)’s call to collective action.
The Harambee Podcast explores the unspoken narratives of immigrants of African descent in Finland. The podcast aims at creating a space where lived experiences, frustrations, joyous moments, connections and aspirations, meet and are pulled together to cultivate a Voice for ‘speaking up and out’. The Voice will make for greater intercultural and transcultural foundations in Finnish society.
The Harambee podcast, featuring guest interviews every month, sets the stage for conversations on what it means to be part of and included in Finnish society. The podcast unearths knotty topics on democratic participation, civic participation, ‘democratic trauma’, student integration, amongst many other issues. Delivered with lighthearted humour, Harambee is where the small voices are finally given air in Finland.
Think Africa Democratic Action Team produces the Harambee podcast.
Our Story
The team’s story started with the itch to be part of a solution to the problems faced by Africans, Afro-Finns, anyone with African blood flowing in their veins in Finland.
In looking for a solution, the team came across the Sitra Lab 3.0 call for applications. The team saw it as a chance to look at the bottlenecks to democracy from the lens of people of African descent; this then birthed the Think Africa Democracy Action Team (TADAT). The three founding members of TADAT are originally from Nigeria, Ethiopia and Liberia, bringing a combined diversity and expertise to finding solutions to the problems at hand. Our commonalities and strengths come from having multiple identities and identifiers in Finland such as ‘immigrants’, ‘Africans’ ‘foreigner’ and ‘internationals,’ and sometimes ‘refugee/asylum seekers’, making us a triple force in writing the narrative in our way while reconceptualising and renegotiating our space in the Finnish society. With this understanding, we aim to collate our experiences and those of others in the same positions, curate meaningful conversations and create dialogue (s) aimed at forging a better path for immigrants of African descent in Finland.
At Harambee, we take a knowledge-based approach to participation and inclusion in Finnish society. We open up dialogue and bring to the spotlight crucial issues that affect the everyday lives of immigrants, especially those of African descent. Academicians, politicians, media, and everyday people will have the floor to impact change we all want to see in Finland – a vibrant, all-inclusive Finnish society.
The Episodes
Listen to our first podcast on the last Finnish municipal election of June 13, 2021, with Dr Theresia Bilola (PhD), a sustainability expert and Deputy Counsellor for the City of Turku and Mr Obi-West, a publisher of Diaspora Glitz Magazine and Founder of the Face of Africa Queen Finland. You can tweet your opinions on this episode to @think_africa and @DemocracyThink and join the Think Africa Facebook page conversation. Listen to Episode 1 HERE.
Hosts: Feven Abegaz, Omotomilola Ikotun and Cucu Wesseh
Produced by: Think Africa ry
Music and Editing: Ondi Madete
