Development Desk’s Vocational Skills Programme Gives a New Lease of Life to Women in Chisenga
By Gracious Chibaka
Concurrently stress and depression is building up, family problems weighing her life down, with no end in sight, as her just ended marriage relentlessly reminds her that she is of no value, poverty roaring like a hungry lion with no flesh to devour.
Negative thoughts have engulfed the 30-year-old Trintance Mtambo who does not even want to mention an inch of the many troubles she has sailed through, but sing praises for the timely rescue by the Development Desk.
Mtambo, a lady from Magomero Village in Traditional Authority Mwenewenya, Chitipa District, is one of the many beneficiaries bearing testimony that if an individual is empowered with Vocational skills her life and that of the community is transformed.
“I used to stay in Lilongwe with my husband but with the marriage failure I was forced to come back to the village. From that point, things turned sour. The only hope that I had was him, but here he is shuttering all the future I bestowed in the once lovely better half of mine” with tears rolling down her cheeks, narrates Trintance.
That was before enrolling in the Vocational Skills Training program, a brainchild of the Development Desk (popularly known as CADECOM among the locals) of the Diocese of Karonga.
“I used to stay idle, but thanks to the CADECOM [Development Desk] and the Catholic Church my story is a bitter-sweet story. At first I was reluctant to enroll due to lack of self-esteem. But I shoved out that fear, learnt the trade and here I am making a living out of tailoring” says Mtambo with, face beaming with a lovely smile of hope.
Development Desk, arm of Karonga Diocese, is offering different vocational skills like Bricklaying, Carpentry and Tailoring in the area for community members who did not go far with education such that individuals under the instruction of of experienced trainers.
“People in the village are giving me business nowadays. They come with their pieces of cloth and I sew for them with expertise, to the awe of many. I am making a living on my own a journey that I thought was for men.
If I continue working extra hard I am now assured, I will be able to construct a solid future with all the basic necessities at my disposal,” speaks out Tritance while showcasing one of her fashionable product she has made.
Vocational Skills Training Programme is a component under the Development Desk’s three-year Integrated Rural Development Project which is being implemented with financial support from Misereor Germany.