TIPTOPSTARS

From an initial standpoint, it may seem as if the situation of immigrant kids vis-à-vis education and career choice is the same as natural citizens of these host countries (western world), especially when the former go by the status of citizens. But from a critical look of things it is not. It goes without  saying that migrant children, no matter how long they have lived in their host country and no matter how familiar they are with socio-economic  and cultural aspects such as language, lifestyle, financial stability of the families, academic prowess, etc, they still face a numbers of challenges that retard their progress in certain key areas of life.

And even when these children display a reasonable amount of excellence in certain noble professional domains, a good number of them have hardly ever enjoyed a smooth rise on the socio-professional ladder for reasons that have commonly been linked to natural back grounds.

Consequently and in the past, migrant youths always ended up revolving around less lucrative and non–dignified professional domains that constantly kept them at the foot of the social ladder.

Fortunately, as years went by, eyes began to open perceptions began to change, visions and ambitions began to crop up and determination to set new standards grew from lips and bounds. It soon dawned on migrants that with a little more effort, new grounds could be broken that could lead to a more comfortable educational and career situation of their children. These children needed more empowerment even if it meant just at the level of making reasonable choices.

And so questions like does what you study have toll on your future career life in the Diaspora - does your career field enable you to grow socio-economically - can others’ experiences help shape your future, gradually cropped up.

One of those who had these questions hovering in her mind is Miranda OBEN, a Cameroonian intellectual living in Germany. Also a conference organizer and moderator, Miranda, who  is trilingual and would speak English, French and German fluently, sought to find answers to these  questions by bringing the concerned  that is migrant kids on board.

That quest for lasting solutions in this issue saw the birth of an annual youths career conferences dubbed Our Kids And Their Future whose maiden edition took place last year in the city of Essen in Germany.

On July 4, this year, the second edition will be held in the city of Dortmund and is expected to bring together migrant kids, their parents, education and career experts and members of the Cameroonian diplomatic mission in Germany. 

As preparations for this year’s edition intensify, Apex 1 Radio and TIPTOPSTARS spoke with the organizer of Our Kids And Their Fulure II. Miranda OBEN was accompanied by the communication lead of the conference Eliezer  Petieu.

Excerpts in sound!