May 12, 2017
TFFT Form 4 graduates are busy individuals! This is a great privilege. For many Tanzanian students who have completed Form 4 and are waiting for the next year to start Form 5, this period can be a long drawn out time. At TFFT, we like to give our scholars during this time opportunities that will inspire them, make them grow, and keep them learning. In between completing community service work and starting a three month computer course, our post Form 4 students were invited on an educational day tour of Arusha.
The Career Mentoring Tour took the form of visits to three different educational institutes in Arusha. We visited Arusha Technical College, University of Dar es Salaam in Arusha, and the National Tourism College. The purpose of the tour was to inspire our scholars with possibilities that they might not have previously thought about. We gathered practical information about the courses offered, selection requirements, and learned about enrollment processes. The most fruitful experience was meeting so many people that were enthusiastic about their work, and prepared to share their passion.
At the Arusha Technical College, we saw civil engineering workshops, mechanical engineering garages, and woodcraft and metalcraft students at work. At the University of Dar es Salaam, we met an enthusiastic lecturer who shared his passion for blogging and spoke of computer courses on security, commerce, and mass communication. He is even going to write a blog about our visit! At the National Tourism College, we saw students baking breads, taking cooking lessons, and setting up a room for a conference and fine dining. We visited the library and discussed with the college academic coordinator the employment possibilities in the tourist industry in Northern Tanzania.
We all had an interesting day, seeing things we have never seen before, and meeting people we would never have otherwise had the opportunity to meet. Perhaps the scholars did not change their life goals, but they gathered a clearer understanding of university life and internalized the importance of further study.
