Welcome to The Yearbook
As a One Student member, you’re part of a community of people who are creating a world where everyone has the opportunity to work for a brighter future. To celebrate this exciting work, we’ve created The Yearbook. At the end of every three-month term at the WAVS Schools, visit The Yearbook to see your impact up close.
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Highlights
Latest updates from Fall 2022
Students have already started hands-on projects like welding this gate for the temporary welding workshop.
First welding class at the Bissau campus begins
All 20 available slots were quickly filled by students eager to learn this important new job skill.
The Bissau campus has already trained over 100 students!
Bissau campus more than doubles enrollment from previous term
The Fall term had 79 students enroll, which is more than double the Summer term which had 32 students.
Students welded the metal framework for the desks before attaching wooden tops.
Welding students build desks for new classroom
The project helped students gain practical skills and furnish the new classroom building.
Around Campus
Lights were installed at the welding workshop. This allows students to easily see their work even on cloudy or rainy days.
Teresa is an IT student at the WAVS school in Bissau. In the future, she wants to own and run her own supermarket.
Honorio Mendes is studying to become a nurse. However, he understands knowing English can open up more jobs and opportunities for him. “This (English) can help me in the future to speak to other people and have work and more opportunities in the future”.
Underground electrical wiring was installed at the Bissau campus to provide power to the second classroom building.
Behind the Scenes
Building the Bissau Campus
Tremendous progress has been made on the Bissau campus since the land was first purchased in 2019. Almost all of the 28 acres of land have been cleared, and two classroom buildings, a temporary welding workshop, and a water tower have all been built in the last three years.
Spotlight
Dalton
WAVS Assistant Welding Instructor
Meet Dalton da Silva
Dalton graduated from the welding course at the WAVS school in Canchungo in 2021. A year after he completed the course, WAVS conducted a survey and asked graduates about the impact the school had on their lives.
When asked about the spiritual impact of the school, Dalton said, “Before attending this school, I did not care about the Word of God, and I was hopeless about my life and my future. When the teacher shared about Jesus and his hope, it helped me a lot.”
The graduate survey also alerted staff to the fact Dalton had moved to Bissau. As staff prepared to start the welding course at the Bissau campus, they realized they would need an assistant to help run the class. The position was offered to Dalton and he accepted. Now, he helps lead devotionals with students taking the same course that changed his life.
Where are they now?
Read stories about WAVS Graduates.
Four examples of how vocational schools use practical job skills training to help young people in West Africa
West African Vocational Schools has equipped more than 1,400 young people with life-changing job skills [...]
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Rosa: This high school student worked in a rock quarry so she could afford English classes. Now she’s a teacher.
I sat next to Rosa on the veranda of her family home – a home [...]
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For this future leader in Guinea-Bissau, life is ‘Fantastic!’
How Vasco’s training at the WAVS School is helping him become one of Guinea-Bissau’s future [...]
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