Awushetu, Get Into Hospitality
Awushetu used to sleep on the streets. After completing the Get Into Hospitality programme, she immediately secured a live-in job. She now has a regular salary and a safe home, for the first time in years.
‘Whenever it rains, I think of my friends from the market whom I used to sleep on the streets with, and I say a prayer for them, hoping they are safe.’
Awushetu’s father died while she was still at school in northern Ghana, and she helped support her siblings by selling firewood after class. Then, when she fell pregnant, Awushetu was expelled. She was soon faced with providing for a newborn with no qualifications, no income and no financial support.
Awushetu entrusted her baby to her mother and headed to the city of Kumasi in search of work. But the move didn’t open up the opportunities she had hoped for. Surviving through a series of gruelling odd jobs in the market, she ended up sleeping on the streets. The nights were fraught with the ever-present threat of theft, assault or rain.
Awushetu, now 28, was still sleeping rough when she joined the Get Into Hospitality programme. ‘I thought to myself that this may be the place where I leave behind my struggles,’ she recalls.
A life-changing opportunity
Delivered through our partner Youth Opportunity and Transformation in Africa (YOTA), Get Into is an employer-led training course that offers pathways to work. The content varies depending on the sector – a mixture of general employability skills and technical, sector-specific knowhow, followed by a work experience placement. Each step of the programme paves the way for the next.
The course supported Awushetu to gradually build up her self-esteem and soft skills such as communication, problem solving and customer service. She then moved on to her work placement – her first ever experience of a professional work environment. Awushetu excelled on her placement and, immediately after completing the programme, she landed a live-in job as a receptionist with a local guesthouse, totally transforming her life.
With a secure job and a roof over her head, Awushetu no longer needs to fear the rain. And she can build a better life for her daughter too.
‘I am now able to save money send it back home to support my mother in taking care of my daughter and siblings,’ Awushetu explains. ‘I hope to do even more to ensure they have a brighter future.’
Learning, earning and thriving
Drawing on the skills she learned on the programme, Awushetu’s career is off to a flying start. Her manager already trusts her to oversee the entire running of the guest house anytime he goes away, and she is also now responsible for mentoring and training new recruits.
‘I have learned how to handle customers,’ Awushetu explains. ‘My manager leaves me in charge when he travels without any concern. I have also been given the responsibility of training a new employee. I wouldn’t have known how to do any of this without the soft skills training… … I have become a different person now, and it’s clear. I have really grown from whom I used to be. From selling in the market to managing a guest house’
As a volunteer, Awushetu now shares her story to inspire others who are beginning their own journey with the Get Into programme. She also provides ongoing support and guidance to those she once shared the streets with, sharing opportunities and encouraging them to take their next steps towards a better life.
‘I want to be living proof that it is possible to rise above one’s circumstances and achieve success,’ Awushetu says. ‘Whenever I meet the old friends I used to sleep on the veranda with, I encourage them and tell them about new opportunities like the Get Into programme, which can transform their lives, like it did mine.’