Austrian Airlines trainees volunteer in help alliance project

For almost three weeks, a small group of students from Austrian Airlines AIRcelerate trainee programm volunteered in our help alliance project in The Gambia. The aim of the assignment was for the trainees to learn about the work of help alliance and to pass on their skills to young people from The Gambia in addition to their regular studies. During the day, the “AIRcelerators” taught the young people the basics of business administration, and since the primary goal of the trip was mutual exchange on an equal footing, the guests from Europe helped to keep the agricultural business running in the afternoon. In the training center, the young people are not only given a four-semester agricultural education, but also economic knowledge, so that after successful completion it is possible for them to start their professional life in the field of gardening or landscaping. The agricultural focus ensures that the population is supplied with local food right from the start, thus also combating hunger in a region where many people live below the poverty line.

Tobias Sasse, 23, is studying Aviation Management and describes here his impressions of this exciting trip:

“I had a feeling before I left that my time in The Gambia was going to be good anyway. In retrospect, however, I am still overwhelmed by the many impressions and the warmth of the people.

Arriving at the camp on the first day, I was a bit perplexed: I didn’t know anyone there and was suddenly somewhere in the middle of nowhere – in the middle of Gambia. “So this is where I’ll be spending the next three weeks,” I thought to myself, slightly skeptical, but also full of curiosity. At first, the young adults in the camp were still very reserved, but always friendly. It only took a few days until I made friends with the first ones and joked with them.

The “lessons” then went much better than I had previously imagined. At the beginning I had difficulties to understand some of the students, because their intonation in English was sometimes very different from the English I was used to. However, I got used to this quite quickly. I enjoyed working with each and every one of them very much. Since I’m pretty good with people anyway, I had few fears of contact and quickly noticed how enriching the exchange with the young adults was.

In the afternoon, we then had individual free time every day. Since the Internet connection there left a lot to be desired, I could do little with my cell phone. At first, it was very unfamiliar and I had the feeling that I didn’t really know what to do with myself. But I got used to it quite quickly, helped some people with the harvest, played cards with others or read a book. But what shaped me most was that I finally had time to deal with things and thoughts that had occupied me for a long time, but from which I had always distracted myself in Europe – consciously or unconsciously.

I am very grateful for this time of self-reflection and realize today how good it did me.

One of my absolute highlights was the visit to the Catholic church in Farafeni. The atmosphere there was simply full of energy and joy. A choir sang and each and every one looked stunning, but especially the women with their typical colorful dresses. I also found it very exciting what was grown there and it was especially nice that I was allowed to help with the harvest and also in the chicken coop there with the egg hunt. Who can claim to have harvested eggplants or collected 540 eggs within half an hour?

Overall, I was very impressed by the warmth of the people in The Gambia, especially in the camp I quickly felt like “part of the family”. I am infinitely grateful that I was able to experience this time. This trip was especially good for me, because I was completely torn out of my everyday life and had time to reflect.

I also became aware that sufficient education is unfortunately not a matter of course everywhere. Some in the camp, for example, had great difficulty even with simple basic math problems. In any case, I realized what kind of luxury problems I have at home in Austria (e.g. slow WLAN or delays on the train), now look at some things differently, put my cell phone aside more often, for example, and make myself aware of how well I’m actually doing at home.

It was actually difficult for me to leave the camp again, because some of the people from the camp have grown on me in such a short time. I have a feeling that this won’t be the last time I’ve been there.”

You can see what else Tobias and the other volunteers experienced in The Gambia on our Instagram account.