As a Church Go Ye Restoration we believe that we should restore people fully whether it be spiritually, physically or financially. We have a God given responsibility to empower people so that they are fully established in their lives. We want to ensure that we are balanced in our approach.
In line with our vision we have created a programme that will teach the young people in our church practical vocational skills. We identified that Carpentry would be a great skill to teach.
We invested a lot of money into buying carpentry equipment from the United States of America. We hired Mr Chinkango, a qualified and experienced carpenter to train the young people. We purchased some timber (Matabwa) and all required materials.
This programme helps achieve several goals:
- Skill – Young people gain a trade that they can use in the world.
- Productive – They have something productive to do. They are encouraged to move away from negative behaviours.
- Financial – Graduates can earn an income.
Currently we are working to the best of our ability. We can only offer Carpentry at the minute as we can only afford to. However we have a vision to create a small technical college where young people can be taught different trades such as:
- Carpentry
- Electrical
- Mechanical
- And other vocational skills.
We are praying that God will help us grow this programme when we have more resources.
Why is this needed in Malawi?
There is a large issue with youth unemployment in Malawi. Many young people are left idle and struggling as they don’t have any marketable skills. This can cause frustration and reliance.
How We Are Helping
By offering this programme we are tackling the root of the problem by:
- Offering free or affordable skills to young people in the church.
- Giving them the tools and knowledge to become independent.
- Giving them the opportunity to become entrepreneurs.
- Making them less reliant.