When Emmanuel Adomfeh spent two years in Ghana, his parents’ homeland, that’s when he decided to make a change.
That was one of the first times I saw that a lot of my relatives were living in poverty, dire situations, and that kind of opened my mind for the first time in terms of the disparity and standard of living, said Adomfeh.
Born in the United Kingdom but raised in Clifton Park since the age of 9, Adomfeh held on to that urge for change until his freshman year of college at SUNY Albany when an opportunity to do something, presented itself.
`In my freshman dorm room [in 2008] a friend of mine and I were having an argument about African politics and at the end we didn’t feel that we had made any difference, so we decided to direct our energy, rather than arguing, to something positive and impact the world,` said Adomfeh.
Out of that inconclusive argument, Third World Impact was born.
Third World Impact is a student group dedicated to raising student awareness of issues facing developing nations around the world.
`Our primary goal is to help students learn ways to make a positive impact in the rest of the world,` said Adomfeh.
Adomfeh served as the first president of the group and quickly got the ball rolling on several projects, like clothing drives for victims of abuse in the Congo and rebuilding parts of Mississippi devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
`We’ve been organizing as many projects and events that help the community locally, as well as nationally,` said Adomfeh. `We’ve been involved with U.S. refugees and immigrants, organized classes, taught English to refugees from regions like Burma and the Congo and invited speakers.`
The most recent speaker was a teacher from Afghanistan who works at an orphanage. He brought one of his top students along with him to share her story of overcoming the tragedy of both parents being killed by the Taliban.
`The fact that she was able to come and speak anybody can overcome difficulties and make a difference in the world,` said Adomfeh.
Third World Impact’s largest project to date is building a school and orphanage in Uganda, which a $25,000 grant made possible.
After founding and fostering Third World Impact from the start, Adomfeh is handing the reins over to junior Nishtha Modi after graduating a biology major on Sunday, May 15.
`She’s driven and intelligent from India,` said Adomfeh. `She’s leading the Ugandan initiative and will be leaving with a group going to Uganda this summer to help finish building the school.`
Modi will also be spearheading more programs targeting refugees in the local area.
`There are over 500 refugees that come to Albany alone every year,` said Adomfeh. `There’s a lot of help needed in that area.`
Modi said if people take a moment to look at what’s going on in the world, they’ll hopefully realize (like she did) that there’s a need for change.
Third World Impact wasn’t the only way Adomfeh found to give back.
Throughout his time at SUNY Albany, he tutored middle school students, high school students and undergraduates in biology and chemistry. He also conducted research on chimpanzee evolution.
The next step in his journey will be to participate in the Teach for America program, a project aimed at `eliminating educational inequity in the United States by enlisting its most promising future leaders into teaching position.`
`Emmanuel is a natural leader and would be a perfect fit for Teach for America,` said Dan Wulff, professor of Biological Sciences and Adomfeh’s advisor. `He is continually placing himself in leadership positions that inspire and enable others to make a difference as well.`
Adomfeh is planning to pursue a medical degree that he wants to use to improve healthcare in Ghana.
`In some parts of Ghana, healthcare is almost nonexistent,` he said. `All it takes is a willingness to make a difference and one person can be an agent of change.`
He might be relinquishing his Third World Impact presidency but it’s not the end of his involvement.
`I always plan on working with this group, coming back and helping hopefully to start a branch or similar organization wherever I go to grad school,` said Adomfeh.
Anybody interested in getting involved with Third World Impact can email [email protected]. Adomfeh said it’s a great opportunity to tackle global issues right at home.
`If you want to get involved with international work or experience it without actually traveling, volunteering with the refugees is a good avenue for that,` said Adomfeh.
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