‘I HAVE ACHIEVED SOMETHING!’

In the almost deserted training center of NOYED-Ghana in Tamale, due to COVID, a few students are still finishing their welding and metalworking courses. One of them is twenty-year-old Ayisha Issah.

She is working on a challenging welding task when we speak to her. “This assignment is really for advanced students. And I consider myself advanced now,” she says with a laugh. “I’m at the end of my second year of training. In the beginning, I knew nothing about welding. I had never even seen a welding machine, let alone held one. And now I’m working on tasks like this.” She points to the metal door she was welding parts onto when we started talking to her.

FRUSTRATING TIME

When Ayisha received her high school diploma four years ago, her school career ended. Her grades were too low to continue her studies, and there was no money to catch up on certain subjects. It was a frustrating time, she says. “I was home all day, had no money, and my parents had to support me, even though they could barely make ends meet themselves. I also got pregnant. It was difficult.”

WELDING MACHINE

Two years ago, she decided to enroll in the welding and metalworking course at NOYED-Ghana’s training center. This organization was founded in 2005 with the aim of improving the social and economic situation of the population in Northern Ghana, an area affected by poverty and unemployment. Providing vocational training for young people is a core activity. Gered Gereedschap supports NOYED-Ghana by donating welding equipment, metalworking tools, and sewing machines. “At the start of my course, there was a shortage of welding machines,” says Ayisha. “Then a container arrived from the Netherlands, and we had enough again. The welding machine I’m using now also came from the Netherlands.”

AUNT

We ask Ayisha how she decided to take the course. “At one point, I really didn’t know what to do anymore,” she says. “Then my aunt suggested I check out the NOYED training center. I stepped inside, and when I saw the students working, I got more and more excited. Thanks to my aunt, I ended up here.”

RESULT

What has the NOYED-Ghana training program done for Ayisha so far? “I’ve achieved something. That’s how I feel. This training has given me more confidence. I have a goal and an income. My parents or other family members no longer need to step in. With the jobs I do during my training, I earn my own money. Sometimes more, sometimes less. But now I can support myself and my child and save money to set up my own workshop. I wouldn’t have thought that was possible two years ago.”