Interview: Lessons from life: Thomas Tapfumaneyi, youth worker, Rathbone

Those facing the stark landscape of unemployment are likely to have encountered prejudice, fallen behind at school or experienced challenging circumstances at home.

Thomas Tapfumaneyi, a 32-year-old youth worker with the charity Rathbone, is no stranger to adversity - a point he often shares with young people.

"By working with the integrated youth support service and liaising with Connexions I get a bit of an understanding about young people's backgrounds," he explains. "But for them to open up and for me to understand how I can help them, I have to tell them a bit about myself."

Now a proud resident of Rochdale and co-ordinator and tutor for the Progress to Success programme, Tapfumaneyi's childhood experiences have had an important impact on his career.

Until the age of 12, he lived with his mother in a village in Zimbabwe. Just before the exams that would see him finish primary school, she died. While his uncle took him in, Tapfumaneyi was forced to work in the family shop to pay his school fees.

Eventually Tapfumaneyi moved to the capital Harare to live with his father whom he had never met. But when his father died seven years later, he was again left struggling to complete the final stages of his education.

Despite his tough upbringing, Tapfumaneyi's lasting memories are of the people who helped him through. He says: "I always had a roof over my head and my relatives chipped in as much as they could. By getting opportunities and support from my elders I finished my exams. Now I want to return the favour."

Overcoming hardship

This desire led Tapfumaneyi to become a community worker for a church group where he worked with orphans and people carrying the HIV virus. Having witnessed suffering and poverty first hand, he decided to join the main opposition party's campaign for change. This left him an open target for Robert Mugabe's regime.

Tapfumaneyi says: "I had to leave town for a little while but they found me and gave me a few scars." These are the same scars he points to when working with young trainees to show them that hardship can be beaten.

After seeking asylum in Britain in 2000, and studying courses including social welfare and sociology, Tapfumaneyi was keen to continue his community work.

Rathbone's Open Doors project, which helps 14- to 19-year-olds secure training, education or work, was the perfect first job for him. "I try to break barriers and understand what made them not enjoy school," he says. "A lot of the young people have no motivation from home or are missing a role model. I was able to do well because I was always receiving guidance. If my mum never woke me up to force me to go to school perhaps I wouldn't have gone."

Value of education

But Tapfumaneyi stresses that everyone is capable of achieving success, no matter what struggles they have experienced. He says: "When they come to me, young people don't have to worry about their backgrounds because I tell them: 'This time is about you - you have to help yourself'."

Tapfumaneyi aspires to instil the value he has for education in the young people he works with. He recounts stories of teenagers he has helped, explaining how they have gained qualifications that have helped them go on to greater things.

He says: "I am so pleased I can make these kids learn to feel good about their achievements. By understanding that it hasn't been easy for me, I think they realise what they can do with their lives."

Not one to shy away from a challenge, Tapfumaneyi is practising what he preaches and is currently studying for a PGCE at Huddersfield University. "Education never stops," he says. "You have to make something out of yourself but you can only do that if you listen to the advice of people around you."

BACKGROUND – PROGRESS TO SUCCESS

• The Rathbone programme Progress to Success targets 14- to 19-year-olds who are not in education, employment or training (Neet)
• Through the programme, youth workers equip young people who have been Neet for up to three years with skills to help them get back into education or work
• Young people are taught in small groups and given help in a range of areas, from CV writing to advice on healthier lifestyles and timekeeping
• Rathbone's work reaches 12,000 young people a year across England, Scotland and Wales. The charity operates from a network of 69 centres across the UK