Lifeline at Nambiti

Forty unemployed men and women from Mulanje District are starting our first training course in Joinery Skills. They will have six two-hour sessions each week for nine months, followed by three months of practical experience in local workshops.Apart from improving literacy and mathematical skills the course includes Business Management and aims to lead participants to the possibility of part-time or full-time work or setting up their own small business.   Many are married and any extra income they can achieve will greatly improve the family’s standard of living and transform the educational prospects of their children.If you are not one of the 10% of Malawian children who have access to a secondary education and if you have no skill that might lead to employment in the village and no qualification to go to a Technical College, escape from rural poverty is difficult.This pilot project, devised by Captain Tiyanjana Banda, Diocesan Youth Co-ordinator, will be carefully monitored and refined in the hope that it will provide a template for future courses in Joinery and other vocational skills.Joinery tutors pictured here preparing for the course.Steven, one of the students said that since the first discussion about the course he had been waiting but thought it would never come to fruition . He promised to work hard and commit his time to learning.Tiyanjana Banda, the course organiser said, “The whole of Nambiti is excited, not just the students. This might be the genesis of a rural Growth Centre. Thanks to Team Malawi for investing in this vision."