In 2014, PTPL responded to requests from colleagues in Uvira that funds were needed for students in vocational education beyond primary and secondary schooling. The Greensboro Board allocated $1,000 to begin the initiative.
The PTPL commitment to vocational education has funded 19 students. They learn practical skills in the following programs: barber/beauty – 3; mechanics – 1; sewing – 7; and soap-making – 8. Future students may also study culinary arts, driving, computing or the more advanced field of medical technologies. With skills in fields where jobs exist, or where small home-based businesses can be started, graduates have the potential to move toward economic self-sufficiency for themselves and their families.
In the past, PTPL funded supplies and tools to help make vocational classes possible for Congolese citizens who had escaped warfare in their country to refugee camps in Tanzania. Our funding of that effort ended a few years ago when Tanzanian authorities no longer allowed refugees to participate in training.
The new vocational program is an important next step for students. Located now in Uvira region of the Congo(DRC) where our other programs take place, it offers participants a way to work their way up the educational ladder in what remains a war-weary country.