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Mentoring and Empowering Children

Dr Sandrine Djoumessi
Background

Mentoring our children is a topic which has always fascinated me, especially in a highly competitive society, such as the western world. Like many of you, I’ve been inspired by people in my life, and I would like to give that inspiration back to the community. I believe that each of us has a profound personal story that should be shared, particularly with CamDocUK’s Family Members and children in the UK and abroad. This would be fantastic as we aim to empower and inspire the next generation to pursue a fruitful career.

As a GP trainee in Leicester, I previously trained in Internal medicine in Germany. Having left my home country at a young age to a country whose language I did not speak nor culture I understood, I was expected to learn the language, integrate into medical school and compete with my German peers. My challenge did not end there. I ultimately had to move to the UK, where unfortunately I did not know of any of my compatriots here who could have provided me with some guidance and much-needed insight into the UK medical system —  everything was new, thus I was faced with new challenges once again.

I know many of us have been through this challenging path and have done very well. This is one of the reasons that further enhances my belief that our children, children of the diaspora, many of them being born here in this culture, attending school and universities here can succeed and achieve to the best of their potential.

Most of us have been driven by a strong ambition to succeed, having been among the few who were given the opportunity to study in well-known universities. We quickly understood the opportunities that were at our disposal and, with our strong work ethics, we managed to do well. I probably need to emphasise the fact that most of us are endowed with resilience, partly due to our background or the societal perception that has been previously ingrained in our heads – of course, this is associated with cultural identity. Some will disagree and that is why I highly encourage everyone to speak about their own story.

I strongly believe that children of the diaspora have a very complex identity — at times, none at all! Sometimes when they asked: “Where are you from?”, they will be puzzled by the question. I sincerely believe that it is our responsibility to educate, guide and support our children in this very competitive and puzzling society. We must help them and support them in every way that we can. We do not want to look back and regret it! They must not go through the same old struggle — our struggle.

It is our responsibility living here, working here, but having been brought up with a Cameroonian Culture…. to GUIDE them, to INSPIRE them.

Suggestions for you and your children
  1. Visit prestigious universities such as Oxbridge, and historical places in the UK (like the Palace of Westminster), Europe and abroad.
  2. Organise sessions with Professionals such as Consultants, Nurses, Accountants, Solicitors, Financial Analysts, and other professions as early as 10 years old.
  3. Write a leaflet/manual on admission criteria of different careers (Medicine, Law, Engineering, Banking, etc…) as well as encourage them to partake in extra-curricular activities (like Sport or the Arts) which will make their CV stand out.
  4. Build their portfolio at an early stage. Constantly inform them about the British education system: public, grammar, private school, scholarships. Motivate them to learn new languages and skills such as:
    • Learning our Cameroonian languages as well as others
    • Playing an instrument
    • Being active

Suggestions for CamDocUK

  1. Be proud of our origin
    • Organise workshops with cultural events, introduce inspiring Cameroonian and black heroes to them.
      • Ask them to express what they think of Africa, Cameroon or the background of their parents, and what they think about their future.
    • Ask them to run presentations at our annual meeting.
    • Organising outdoors trip to meet BAME leaders in leading companies (I am sure they will be delighted to meet children with such great ambition). Such companies could include JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Virgin, Bloomberg, Thomson, Reuters, RBS, Bank of New York Mellon, etc….
  2. Organise Reading Competitions and connect with well know authors to inspire them. We could invite one author to our AGM This will encourage kids to read more books eg: Malorie Blackman….
  3. Organise a STEM  career stand. Our children will be invited to either to help running the stand or to network and connect with other children.

Conclusion

I hope I have convinced at least some of you to take action and make the most of our children’s potential.

Thank you for reading.

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