Lucas Schuurmans, 25 (Netherlands)

Stayed at UJUZI in March 2023
Staying at UJUZI Skills Forum was an unforgettable experience. From the first moment you are involved in the ongoing projects.

Your input is taken very seriously and you areencouraged to voice your ideas or viewpoints. Moreover, you enjoy a lot of freedom to initiate your own projects and consequently organize the necessary details.

For my situation, I am from an HRM-background and interested in career development, Kai gave me the freedom to organize a career event for Tanzanian youth. She provided me with contacts of potential sponsors and gave me some guidance and support in organizing the event. Other than that I got the full responsibility and freedom for the programme and set up of this event. It was an amazing experience of which I learnt a lot about myself and Tanzanian culture. For instance, starting at 14.00 does not mean starting at 14.00 in Tanzania…

Kai clearly has great ambitions with UJUZI and envisions the NGO to have a vast impact for Tanzanian youth. She is truly committed and puts in a great amount of hard work and positive energy in the organization. UJUZI, however, clearly is in an early stage of its lifespan and is going through a transition phase in which it is searching to assemble the funds and
connections to transform their big ideas into actual outcomes. I believe that the next step for UJUZI is to find one focus point or one specific field in which they can sustainably help Tanzanian youth to become economically independent.
The apartment in which I stayed for my time at UJUZI is great. It is spacious and comfortable.

I liked to visit the shops and restaurants which are close by and liked to go to the beach in the weekends. Kai is really welcoming and often checks in on how you are liking your time or the accommodation. Also, I met her family and other volunteers were super hospitable as well. Eva invited me over to have dinner at her family and Joseph showed me some more of Dar es Salaam.

In short, I had an amazing time at UJUZI. You definitely need to be a little assertive, independent and able to spend some time on your own. Yet, I also noticed that these arequalities that you will develop along the way. I greatly enjoyed staying at UJUZI. Both the volunteering project as the area will give you enough opportunities to go exploring and learn about the people and the culture. In addition, I really felt that UJUZI is aiming to have a great positive impact and is on the right track and therefore it feels like you are contributing to a meaningful initiative. I could recommend everyone who is considering to stay in Dar es Salaam to stay and volunteer at UJUZI.

If a prospective volunteer has any questions on how I experienced my stay, he/she cool.