The trainees will work intern in a hotel, lodge or restaurant. The trainees will work in pairs of 2 up to 4 students. They will get the experience working in different departments (e.g. kitchen, service, reception, housekeeping, store or gardening). After three months each trainee has to decide in which department he/she wants to ‘specialize’. In case it is kitchen, service or reception (which needs more knowledge and practice) he/she will proceed the practical training for another three months. In case a trainee has spent the three months in housekeeping, store, or gardening he/she is not obligated to proceed with phase 2 and will enroll in phase 3 of Job Application Skills Training.

The trainees are all looking forward to get the working experience in ‘real life’. Nearly all of them are ready for it; two still need to work hard on their PDP’s (personal development plan) to get enough scores on the Hi5 criteria.

 Frank- Hi5 trainer: The 6 months of training this class was quite a challenge for me. The students of this class have many different personalities, which causes sometimes difficult group dynamics. The students have a different level of understanding; some understand things fast, others need more time. In addition, the amount of boys and girls in this class are not balanced (more girls than boys) which causes more competition between the girls. Nevertheless, the team of Jobortunity managed to deal with the challenging situations. Sometimes I needed to change my training tactic. For example; in this class we spent much more time on doing sport compared to class 2. The aim of sports is to increase team spirit and learn to work together. I am curious how class 3 will do at their practical training. I hope they will use the knowledge and skills I have trained them last months. I have the confidence that they are motivated, work hard, and overcome their challenges.

 Neema&Happy – Love&Care trainers: In the last 6 months the class was divided into 4 groups. Each week one group was responsible for general cleanliness of the Jobortunity building and surrounding environment. The aim of the love&care groups is to learn how to work together, to divide tasks, to help each other and to take their own responsibility. In the beginning it was quite hard for them to do this, but after 6 months they are doing fine. This experience will help them while they go on practical training, as many of them will work in housekeeping and know how to work with other staff. 

 Esther – social worker: in the beginning some of students had the need to talk with me and share with me their worries, mostly about family and home issues. It gave the students a relief and it went fine with them. Each student worked hard on his/her PDP (Personal Development Plan). In the beginning they were a bit afraid of PDP’s and thought it is only a method to ‘keep them busy’. But soon they understood the seriousness of it and that it is for their own benefit to work on it. A great challenge for me as a social worker at Jobortunity is to work with the students who were sent home. In this class three students didn’t make it due to personal problems and wrong attitude.

I believe that most of the students will perform well during their practical training. Some of them will feel shy, because of their very basic English. In the team we try to allocate the students at the right hotel/lodge/restaurant personality, English level and distance to home place. Some of the students are ready for big challenges, others need more security and need smaller steps.

On the 16^th of December the trainees and the trainers organized a day of ‘SHOW TIME’ whereby the students presented the results of their project. It was a day full of celebration and the students performed high in HI5! Some of students were feeling sad as well, because the phase of practical training starts and the students won’t see each other that often anymore.

Evaline&Mwanaidi at Rivertrees Country Inn  lodge, working in housekeeping and are therapists:

We are working in housekeeping and recently as therapists at the Spa Clinic of Rivertrees. We work here six days a week. We are really happy our boss was willing to train us to become a therapist. We really like to work as therapists because we like to welcome guests and to explain about Rivertrees. We often think back about Jobortunity and Hi5. Without Jobortunity we would not have a job and we were just selling vegetables at the market. We use Hi5 in working as a team. Especially the little finger we remember “take little but smart steps.” More graduates from Jobortunity work here, sometimes we remember each other about the things learned at Jobortunity. Nowadays, we (Evaline and Mwanaidi) are living together in a small room in the place Usa River(nearby Arusha). With our salary we help our families buying food. In five years I, Evaline, I hope to be a master in massage at Rivertrees. I will save money at the bank to help people suffering from famine. In five years I, Mwanaidi,  hope to work in the reservation department of Rivertrees.

Ruben at Rivertrees Country Inn lodge, works as assistant-waiter and decorator: 

I am working as an assistant waiter at Rivertrees, but I like to decorate flowers as well. Almost every day I make nice bouquets and place in the rooms and restaurant. I learned from Jobortunity to be flexible, so sometimes I work in the house keeping as well. I work 6 days a week and start at 6am in the morning. I use a lot of Hi5 in my work. For example: my boss can send me with money to town to buy new flowers. They trust me that I won’t steal. If I have a conflict at the work I try to give feedback as the way Jobortunity learned me. Jobortunity gave me the direction in my life. Nowadays, I have my own room in Majiya Chai to be nearby the job. With the money of my salary I started my own project: keeping chickens. Now I have 43 chickens. I go to sell the eggs and produce more chickens. Maybe after five years I will be still working at Rivertrees, but I hope to be a supervisor. My wish is to have my own decoration company.

Anastacia and Praylord at Arumeru River lodge, working as receptionists and in reservation:

We are working at the front desk  for 6 days a week.  We really like our job as we have a lot of contact with the guests. Our bosses are straight forward to us, but we see this as positive as it will help us to become better in our job. We use Hi5 in our life, especially the index finger: “we have a goal and direction!”

I, Anastacia, send a part of my salary to my father who is building a family house. In five years I hope to have my own cosmetic shop where I sell clothes and cosmetic products. As well, I would like to build houses and rent it to other people.

I, Praylord, live together with my father. I use my salary to do some reparation of the house and to buy a music system. I like to be a DJ. People can hire me to play music at ceremonies and parties. I use Hi5 in my job, as I know my responsibilities. As a receptionist I try to “stand out and be proud”, that is very important. If I did not go to Jobortunity I probably had nothing to do. Staying at home, maybe stealing, looking for the ‘short run’.

Willem and Josje recently signed a deed of gift with Jobortunity, the culmination of a long, becoming ever clearer assessmentprocess. Here is their personal story…

Ingredients: a growing resentment against Western prosperity, hardening of the Dutch government, and desire to do something themselves.”We wanted to avoid large organizations. Jobortunity came into view through our daughter Alice who knows Kim from University. With Jobortunity we agreed to allocate our contribution to be used for the training of trainers in in Tanzania to strengthen regional frameworks. The contribution comes from our children’s potential inheritance. But they agreed and are proud of this gesture. Our children support this which makes us proud.

Jobortunity is ANBI accredited in the Netherlands which means that it allows us to double the gift amount due to tax deductions. Development is a complex process, and success is not guaranteed. Still we find it an enriching and good gesture to support an organization like Jobortunity as in our view: A better world does not come by itself! For us personally it means the pleasure of fighting the current policies of the dutch government. The realization that our wealth is very relative, has increased. In a material sense, we loose a feather. In immaterial sense we got wings back.”

Jobortunity was just speechless when Willem and Josje came with their offer as it provides the institute security for up to five years and this is amazing! It gives confidence and helps Jobortunity to focus on her actual work; training youth!

“What I will remember is the moment I first arrived (unannounced) in the early morning at the training institute. A group of students was cleaning the place inside and outside. This happens every morning by the ‘Love and Care group’. In this way the students learn responsibility and organizing their work. It gave me the feeling of Jobortunity being cared for, and valued highly by the students.

The lessons are serious but also fun, for example the lesson I visited with trainer Frank on “non verbal communication”. I learnt the appreciation of parents and caretakers is huge. I experienced this at the “parentsday” that was organized on August 5th 2012 by class 3.” Martine was guest of honor on that day.

While Martine was working on fundraising with Susanne (see below), and the future plans with Kim and the Tanzanian Board, Jasper interviewed some hotel owners and former Jobortunity students who found a job at the hotel. It struck him particularly how the hotel owners praised the (former) Jobortunity students for their positive attitude and dedication in their work. As one of the hotel owners said: “The difference with the students and employees coming from Jobortunity and others is that they are highly motivated and they have an idea of why they want the job. That is less the case with others. Also, the philosophy of Jobortunity fits with ours; you can learn students skills on the job, but not character and attitude”.

Susanne: I enjoy working at Jobortunity! It brings me challenges and experiences for life. I totally stand behind to mission of Jobortunity to help youth to get a job and a better future!

Patricia: In my 20 years in Tanzania, I haven’t experienced so much positieve energy and motivated people as here at Jobortunity. The Hi5 in me comes out each day working with the students and the trainers.

In the last months there is a lot of movement in the Jobortunity team… We needed to say goodbye to our operations manager Elibariki …… He decided go back to school. Inspired by his work in Jobortunity and Hi5 he will study HR management. The Jobortunity team wishes him all the best.

As well, Jobortunity needed to say goodbye to Daatih, who volunteered for 7 months. Daatih is going to start a live in Canada. We thank her for good work at Jobortunity as wish her all the best in her future.

Currently Jobortunity is doing an intensive recruitment of new Hi5 trainers (all Tanzanian) who will support the TOY (training of youth) Programme and the Hi5 workshops for next year. Currently 8 trainees are joining a TOT (training of trainers) programme in the month November2011 until january 2011 of which 2 or 3 trainees will be selected to work at Jobortunity. All trainees are highly motivated and are wishing to get that great job at the institute!

The students collected in total 212,500tsh (around 106,- Euro). In collaboration with the trainees Jobortunity decided to use this money for new flowers in the garden, seeds for in the vegetable garden, drinks and snacks for the ‘show time’ Christmas party on the 16th of December, and training materials like paper and pens.