Careers Fair 08.11.17 – Tanzania with Raleigh International – Helena’s Story. Meet Raleigh at the fair and start your own adventure

‘I completed my ICS placement with Raleigh in Tanzania almost two years ago and it was like nothing I have experienced before or since!

Raleigh  International are in room 3 on level 2 of the Amex Stadium at our Careers Fair on 08 November, 11 – 3pm.  Why not have a chat with them and you could have a similar experience.

Our main role as volunteers was to work with young people living in rural Tanzania to start their own businesses. The aim was to help them to come up with a viable business idea and then pitch to a group of seed funding donors from Raleigh who would decide whether they would receive a loan. We spent a lot of time with these entrepreneurs and through training sessions we found out a lot about their lives and their motivations for joining the programme.

The lack of basic amenities, such as running water and electricity, was easy to get used to – bucket showers became routine and even sort of enjoyable after a while. It was also very freeing to not be around technology; we had to find other ways of entertaining ourselves and spent a lot of time outside chatting amongst ourselves. I certainly became more mindful whilst on my ICS placement and resolved to spend less time on my phone.

However, being so far away from friends and family and only being able to contact them rarely was tough. There were times when each of us wanted to be at home in our own bed, see our family and friends, and eat a meal that wasn’t rice and beans (again!). However, on placement, everyone is in the same position, and talking about how you feel makes the whole team get closer. A lot of our conversations, particularly towards the end of our placement, revolved around how excited we were to see our families again and what foods we were looking forward to eating once we got back. It made us feel grateful for what we have.

It’s hard to pick out just one highlight and one challenge that I came across. One of my highlights was definitely when one of our entrepreneurs, who had worked so hard and put so much effort into the programme, was successful in getting funding to start his business. We had had a lot of trouble in even getting people to join our programme, as unfortunately we had arrived at the beginning of the harvest season in the village, so we had to work hard to recruit people. Out of the eight entrepreneurs we were mentoring, five got the loan, which we were very happy about. Seeing our hard work pay off and positively impacting on the lives of these young entrepreneurs was so rewarding.

I would definitely recommend Raleigh ICS to anyone considering it – it really is a unique experience and as well as making an impact within a specific community, you also grow as a person too.’