“THANKS TO GERED GEREEDSCHAP, WE CAN KEEP OUR PROMISES.”

“If you promise something, you have to commit to it,” says Davis Ssenabuya. “And with the support of Gered Gereedschap, we can now keep our promises. We promised our students that they would receive good vocational training from us. We also said that after completing their training they would be given tools to be able to start working as self-employed craftsmen. Fine promises, but the reality was that we barely had enough tools to properly train the students in our classrooms. I remember well when the tool kits and sewing machines from Gered Gereedschap arrived last year. I was over the moon.”

Davis coordinates in the South Ugandan city of Masaka the various vocational training courses for young people of the Villa Maria Hospital Home Care Program. He knows like no other how important it is to have sufficient tools and equipment to provide a full-fledged vocational training: “We simply did not have enough tools and equipment to adequately train our students. How can you properly train someone to be a carpenter or car mechanic when he has to wait his turn to use a chisel or a wrench? And because we didn’t even have enough tools to give the lessons, giving tools to graduate students was out of the question anyway. With the arrival of the tool kits and sewing machines provided by Gered Gereedschap, many of our problems were solved at once”.

Especially the sewing machines were very important, says Davis. “Before, when we didn’t have any yet, we organised training places for girls at local tailor’s workshops. We were therefore unable to supervise them directly and it did happen that these girls became victims of exploitation and sexual harassment. They often were also inadequately trained, as the owners of such workshops were unable or unwilling to spend too much time and attention on our students. We now have our own sewing machines and we can train girls to become tailors in our own classrooms. That really is a huge improvement. We immediately stopped placing girls for training in tailoring workshops”.

A FUTURE FOR VULNERABLE YOUNG PEOPLE

Davis emphasizes that the students in the Villa Maria Home Care Program are among the most vulnerable group in Ugandan society: “These are young people who have had to drop out of school because there was not enough money at home to pay for it, drug addicted young people, HIV infected young people, orphans, young people with a physical disability. We want to give them all a chance to get a good education so that they can learn a trade with which they can earn a living and build a future. With the tools provided by Gered Gereedschap, we can make that happen. From a handful of trainees, the number of students participating in our training courses has now risen to more than fifty. These young people learn a trade with us and are given the tools they need to set up their own business or work for someone else. They often pass on their professional knowledge to others once they have completed their training. Sometimes talented young people also stay with us to teach new students. This creates a wonderful multiplier effect. And all this is only possible because thanks to Gered Gereedschap we now have sufficient tools and equipment available”.