Ciro (right) and his former apprentice, Nilton (left), smile as they show off their welding workshop in West Africa. Ciro attended the WAVS Vocational School so he could grow his business and provide for four orphaned children. For years, Ciro Gomes earned a meager living as an auto body repairman — patching up old cars […]
How job-skills training is a long-term solution to poverty How do you help a young man like Sergio, who grew up in one of the world’s poorest countries? Handouts like free food and clothing are quick and easy ways to give to the poor. But they also create dependency and aren’t long-term solutions to poverty. […]
After graduating from the WAVS Vocational School’s welding program, Erickson Sanhá was ready to set up his own shop. But without start-up capital, how would he buy tools and supplies? And without a power grid in town, where would he get electricity and space to work? And without business experience, how would he know how […]
How Vasco’s training at the WAVS School is helping him become one of Guinea-Bissau’s future leaders Poverty. Corruption. Government dysfunction. The woes of West Africa add up. But when you meet Vasco Iala, suddenly the future doesn’t seem so bleak. Ask Vasco how he’s doing and he’ll give you the same answer every time: “Fantastic!” […]
Editor’s Note: Meet Gus. He’s a big, red, fuzzy, stuffed bug with his own Instagram following. For the last few years, he’s worked at the WAVS office in Fresno. Why do we keep him around? Probably because he always has a smile on his face. Earlier this year, we decided that it was time for […]
Nilton, a WAVS School Welding Graduate, is now ready to open his own shop. For seven years, Nilton Gomes worked as an apprentice at a small welding shop. But he was mostly given odd-jobs and didn’t receive much real training. At this rate, Nilton knew he would never be ready to start his own shop. So in October 2016, […]
How learning welding skills can provide for a whole family in West Africa Rumario started out welding like most other young people in Guinea-Bissau who want to learn a trade skill: He found someone who’s already working, and watched and learned. In West Africa, these informal internships are common. But they have many shortcomings, including […]
I sat next to Rosa on the veranda of her family home – a home made out of mud bricks that she and her family had dug out of the earth around them and were later hardened under the unrelenting sun. Her mother sat nearby, her coarse hands revealing a woman no stranger to physical […]
In West Africa, a vocational education can make dreams a reality. As a little boy in Guinea-Bissau, Bruno would sit in class daydreaming of one day becoming a famous soccer player like the ones pictured on the front of a notebook he brought to school every day. But when he would get home, Bruno’s mom […]
Thanks to the opportunity Papa received to study welding at the WAVS School, and a lot of hard work and determination, he now has his own shop PELUNDO, GUINEA-BISSAU – He’s gone by the name “Papa” his whole life, but soon he’ll be a father for the first time. Papa Mendes, 32, and his wife […]
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