Tag Archives: guinea-bissau

Dalton’s Journey of Faith and Becoming a Welding Instructor

Photograph of Dalton Da Silva

A Difficult Childhood Dalton Da Silva was forced to grow up quickly. As a young boy, his parents separated. His mom and baby sister moved out, and they had no one to care for them. Concerned for their survival, Dalton gathered dried grass and carefully tied it together to make traditional sweeping brooms. He sold […]

Milestone reached: More than 500 students trained at the WAVS Bissau campus

WAVS 2024 graduates lined up for the graduation ceremony.

When we opened the new WAVS flagship campus in Bissau, the capital of Guinea-Bissau, we knew we were taking a risk. We were new to Bissau. People in the neighborhood weren’t familiar with us. And the campus wasn’t exactly easy to get to for anyone not living in the immediate vicinity. It’s located on 28 […]

This WAVS graduate surprised his employer. Here’s how.

Welding graduate Augusto from Guinea-Bissau adjusts a drill press in a workshop.

From Learning to Leading: Augusto’s Journey Augusto is a young man living in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, who grew up seeing a welder in action – his father. Even though his father had no formal training, he earned a meager income as a self-employed welder.  Augusto idolized his father’s profession and dreamed of following in his […]

The odds were against Cirilo. He found a way to overcome them.

He grew up in one of the world’s poorest countries. As a child, he nearly died from malaria. But this dad found a way to work for a brighter future. Cirilo was born in Guinea-Bissau, a country where most people earn less than $2 a day. As a child, he suffered from severe malaria and […]

To finish university, Rukas first needs to become a welder

Rukas Welding Student in West Africa

I’ve had the privilege of getting to know many of our welding students since moving to Guinea-Bissau earlier this year. One thing I have discovered is that many of those students have already studied at other schools or universities in the past. But in a country with few salaried jobs available, their education hasn’t been enough […]

Impact of the coronavirus in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa

WAVS students and staff have been proactively cleaning and disinfecting the school in anticipation of the coronavirus outbreak.

For the latest number of cases in Guinea-Bissau click here. September 14, 2020: The WAVS Schools resumed classes, with extra protocols in place like wearing masks, for those students who were enrolled in the Spring term that was cut short by the state of emergency which closed all schools. These classes will go until September […]