After every academic year, students leave the school for a four-month long holiday. One contemplates on how to use this free time before the next academic year. This is if there are not proceeding to school mandated internships. There are numerous activities you could engage in. It would be better if these activities could reflect well on your CV. You could also choose to use this time to relax your mind in preparation for the coming academic year. Let us discuss some of these things.
One thing is you could seek an internship independent of school. This would help grow skills in the program you are enrolled in at school. Of course, you can opt to take an internship unrelated to your school program. For example, you may be enrolled in the Computer Science program at your school but have a passion for arts, you could get an internship at a local theater. Most of these internships, especially if you are still and undergraduate student, are unpaid nonetheless the experience you gain in the work environment is invaluable. More importantly, it would reflect well in your CV.
Another thing you could do is seek temporary employment. These would be very hard to find as most employers look for permanent employees. Examples would be; a junior teacher at a primary or secondary school, a letter boy at an office and more. Telecommunication companies like Safaricom, Airtel and Telcom usually employ “foot soldiers” to move around and sell their products. You could also wait tables at a restaurant, supermarkets also employ cashiers, “baggage people” and customer service representatives. In periods of national or local government activities like elections, voter registrations or census, you could apply for a post that fits you. They are not easy to get, especially because of corruption, but trying wouldn’t hurt. What’s good about temporary employment is that you can leave anytime, especially if your four months are over.
You could also opt to give back to the community and do volunteer work. Volunteer work is available in plenty and I doubt one can get turned away. One particular place is your sub-county’s children’s office which takes care of all issues involving children. You could volunteer as a social worker at your local office. You could volunteer for church efforts like visiting children’s homes, cleaning your locality and more. All mainstream churches are involved in some volunteer work. You could volunteer at a school that has financial difficulties and is unable to acquire adequate teaching or non-teaching staff. I’m positive that volunteer work will reflect well on your CV.
If you have the capital and the will you could open a small business. You could sell food stuff, blend juices, open a salon or barber shop, a massage parlor, a cyber café a studio (for videos or music) or anything you could think about. Just don’t open a movie shop because it is a very unethical business but not illegal in Kenya (selling foreign copyrighted works is not good). Remember to also get all the required paperwork to start your business, e.g. the business permit from your county government, and fill your returns with KRA. You don’t want your temporary business to get you in trouble with the authorities. This will indeed give you experience in the real world. You will gain experience in handling finances thus becoming more responsible.
Another activity you could engage in is enrolling in a short course. Let its duration not exceed the length of your school holiday. The course could be vocational or theoretical. It could complement your school work. Example a media student could enroll in a web design and development course, a business student could enroll in a statistics course. You could also do an unrelated course that you are passionate about. For example, a tailoring course, a creative writing course, an acting class or a computer packages course if you feel that your computer skills could be better. If the course is related to what you want to do after graduating it will definitely help in your CV. The course could also aid you the next time you decide to open a business or seek an internship or temporary employment.
Lastly if you just want to relax your mind, travel. Kenya has a lot of destinations you could visit. This would be expensive so most would not consider it but you could get together with a group of friends and split the cost. Visit parks and reserves, lakes, the coast, hotels and lodges or just take a road trip. Taking a break in your schedule would be very important now especially when still in school as the coming years will not present such free time. Travel and know your country. You do not even have to go very far. I believe most counties, if not every, in the country have tourist destinations.
What you choose to do depends on your financial situation. If none suite you look for something else to do or just relax at home.
Dan's 