Today, we are happy to welcome Keziah Oduro, a biomedical science student at the University of Ottawa and a proud participant of the Emerging Young Global Leaders Accelerator program 2020 North American edition. She enjoyed very much the 10-day accelerator program with extensive deliverables on entrepreneurship, leadership, and community development and empowerment.
Keziah was greatly motivated by the keynote address of Canada's Minister for Diversity, Inclusion and Youth, Honourable Minister Bardish Chagger @ Bardish Chagger. Seeing women of colour holding this important position in the cabinet serves as a great inspiration for young girls like Keziah to trust their abilities to make a difference in the world.
As a teenager who has lived experience in the foster care system, Keziah cares greatly for this particularly vulnerable community in our society. She saw that many young people in the foster care system struggled to connect with their cultural roots, causing talack of a sense of belonging. She also noticed that the population is often underserved by the educational system, ignoring the particular psychosocial needs of the youth with often unstable living conditions.
This is why Keziah wants to create a program for kids in the foster care system to connect with their culture through special activities such as a cultural appreciation day for all. This will provide the youth with opportunities to learn about their culture and possibly make connections with other members of the community. She plans to reach out to schools and community organizations to implement this program in the future.
Want to support Keziah in her project? Listen to this week’s episode: Love with Care with Keziah Oduro. Available on Spotify
This episode was hosted by Echo Jiang. It was edited by Zola Mirenge and engineered by Zenga McCurdy. Music by Jonas from Pixabay