Building a better community means creating better lives for our children, our neighbours and ourselves, says final year Criminology and Youth Studies student Abigail.
Date: 29 October 2020
Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?
My name is Abigail Dwomoh, I was born and raised in East London, in the Borough of Waltham Forest. I am a single mother to a beautiful 5-year-old girl and I am currently in the last year of my amazing undergraduate degree in Criminology and Youth Studies. With only six months left I plan to finish with a bang!
Why did you decide to take the Empowering London module? What do you hope to get out of it?
When picking my third-year modules it was important to me to pick a module that would not only help to develop my strengths and skills but also help me grow and develop as a person finishing education and going into the working world. Through building on the knowledge I already have and using self-reflection and creativity, I hope to make a real change in the city of London.
Why do you think it is important that students work with their local communities?
Our communities are essentiality our home. No matter what is said about our communities we all feel some sort of connection to them. By building a better community we create better lives for our children - who are the future of this country - our neighbours who at times help us in ways we never expected or do not notice (such as by taking an important package on your behalf) and most importantly ourselves. These links do not only give life to new friendships but also business opportunities that can be reinvested into that same community to make an impact.
What's your favourite thing about where you live?
DIVERSITY! I am a very proud East Londoner and even more proud to come from the Borough of Waltham Forest which was named London’s Borough of Culture in 2019. There has been a lot of debate on discrimination and racism in the UK for a long period of time and it has been highlighted more than ever due to the Windrush scandal and the Black Lives Matter movement. So to know that the borough I am from is dedicated to celebrating differences in people and their cultures makes me very proud!
Do you have any thoughts on what you'd like to do after you graduate?
After I graduate I would love to work in a secondary school, specifically in early intervention. My goal is to work with children at risk or on the brink of permanent exclusion and help them to turn their lives around through education. It has been proven that children that are permanently excluded are more likely to be involved in crime and anti-social behaviour, which is already affecting many of our communities on a large scale. I want to change that. I strongly believe that every child has the desire to learn, it’s just down to how they are taught! I aim to be the person that can make learning fun again for children that are clearly not engaging with the current curriculum.
