The hope and opportunity brought by the VTC has been an inspiration to us here at Children in Crisis. Here we introduce you to two such inspirational women.

Yasmine

At 19 years old, Yasmine struggles to write her own name. She also has two young children whom she is supporting on her own. The ‘baby-father’ left soon after the birth of Yasmine’s second child.

Yasmine was born into war, and has only known a few years of peace in Liberia. Her schooling was limited during the war years, and stopped entirely as soon as she became pregnant with her first child.

‘I can write good now. I want to learn more. When I finish here, I will be a good tailor. This will make me a better mother.’

Every morning, Yasmine is the first to arrive at the centre. She is presently attending both an adult literacy and tailoring class. Yasmine is determined to learn, and improve both her life and the lives of her young children. In a recent maths test, she was marked 9 out of 10, and was positively overflowing with pride with her achievement: ‘I can write good now. I want to learn more. When I finish here, I will be a good tailor. This will make me a better mother.’ In this statement Yasmine means better at being able to provide for her children, as from what has been observed it seems clear that she is a very loving mother.

Martha

Martha lives in Cestos City with her husband, who works as a fisherman, and their six children. Although Martha was enrolled in school, she dropped out before she was eight years old due to the cost of schooling being too great for her parents to afford. At the opening of the Vocational Training Centre, Martha was the first in line to sign up for tailoring classes. The last six months training have given Martha confidence and determination for the future:

"I’m here to help my family. Before I was at home doing nothing, I knew nothing, but now I am proud because I can make my clothes for me and others”

“Now I am able to make something presentable for myself and my children and other people. Now I can sew my own clothes. When I have the materials I can put it together for my little daughter. I’m here to help my family. Before I was at home doing nothing, I knew nothing, but now I am proud because I can make my clothes for me and others”

After her tailoring course finishes Martha hopes to share a sewing machine with several other women from her class. She hopes they will be able to earn enough money to buy their own machines and set up a tailoring shop in Cestos City: “We want to continue because we haven’t learnt it all yet”.