Learn to Earn! Trades training in Gulu, Uganda

Project Report: July - August 2024

Implementing Partner: Family Harvest Foundation

Project title: A story about Chandia: I am being empowered by Family Harvest Foundation

Chandia being a young South Sudanese refugee living in one of the city in northern Uganda is faced with multiple challenges. She currently lives with one of her cousin after missing to go for further studies in nursing due to financial constraints while she was in South Sudan.

Her breakthrough

Chandia is a determined young refugee girl from South Sudan currently living in Gulu City as one of the urban refugees staying with her cousin. One day during early June 2024 on her way to the city centre she saw a signpost of Family Harvest Foundation (FHF) showing the services we provides and picked our phone number and made a phone call to seek admission in our tailoring department to learn tailoring in order to gain skills and be productive and earn money enough to pay for her school fees as she desires to become a nurse in future.

Chandia chose the tailoring skill because her cousin offered to buy her a sewing machine and some linen during her training session while at our school. She saw the chance as a good one and accepted to join our school. From 01/07/2024, When she joined our school chandia has put all her efforts to learn each and every part of the tailoring skills to an extent that she has started earning  while  still learning much as some of the dresses she makes for herself others are sold to those of her size  to acquire new material/linen.

Gaining self confidence

Given the tailoring equipment and tools at our facility, Chandia is able to use the sewing machine, baby lock machine and produce the cloth or dress ready for sale. Her determination to make a living and raise the school fees for her nursing course on her own.

With her fluency in Arabic, we/FHF are likely to recruit her to perfect her hands-on skills training to urban South Sudanese refugees living in Gulu city until she has raised enough fees for the nursing course. This girl is one of the few aggressive ladies determined to make a decent future living through her efforts.

Chandia’s dream

My dream to become a nurse has not been shuttered given the fact that from the tailoring skills I am due to complete at the end of September 2024. My tutor Susan is equally encouraging me that with more efforts I will get anything I want. I am very optimistic that one day I will go back to school to study nursing. I pray a similar opportunity knocks my other refugee or host community friends in northern Uganda.

End of part 1 of her story.

Chandia’s part one story offers open opportunities to other youth with similar dreams to change their lives from hopelessness to  self-reliance as whoever happen to gain a skill is likely to achieve his or her dreams. The support that make the vocational school supports her is a real opportunity that is worth.