Lubumbashi (RD Congo). From 31 August to 9 September 2021, a group of 14 students from Mary Help of Christians Higher Institute of Arts and Crafts (ISAMM) of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians of Bl. Laura Vicuña Community of Lubumbashi, O.L. of Africa Province (AFC), carried out a professional internship in Lusaka, Zambia.
For four years, ISAMM has been organizing a professional internship outside the country, generally in Tanzania. This year the General Management chose Lusaka for the opportunities related to the different sectors from which the young students come: styling and creation of fashion, clothing technology, aesthetic technique, hospitality and tourism, and interior architecture.
The young people, accompanied by tutor Teachers and Sr. Albertine Tshikomb, FMA, were welcomed and hosted in Makeni, Lusaka, in the FMA Mornese City of Hope Formation Center of St. Maria D. Mazzarello Community, O. L. of Peace Province (AFM), where they were able to breathe a family atmosphere.
Among the objectives of the trip was reconciling the theory learned in the classroom with practice in companies in the sectors, thus fueling curiosity towards the new, studying and learning the trade as workers rather than as observers.
The design students carried out internships in shoe manufacturing companies and in the printing sector; the students of aesthetic techniques, in beauty and massage parlors and in the gym; students of hotel and tourism management, in reception centers, in laundry and linen services, in rooms, and in the kitchen. The clothing technique students did their apprenticeship in the community, accompanied by a trainer who came from Botswana, due to the difficulty of finding workshops that were open because of the Covid-19 pandemic. At the end of the internship period, the students received the certificate of participation.
The experience allowed the young women to grow professionally, thanks to the accompaniment of prepared and available Formators, and greater openness to the world by experiencing the human, cultural, and social values of another country and weaving new relationships.
