TOOLS FOR SELF RELIANCE
Do you have any hand tools or sewing machines you no longer use? TOOLS FOR SELF RELIANCE refurbishes tools and sends them to their training centre partners in Africa.
They may look worthless to you, BUT for people in Africa a good set of tools can help them earn a living for themselves and their families. Good quality hand tools are needed for metalworkers, woodworkers, mechanics, builders, electricians etc. and also Singer round bobbin sewing machines and electric zig-zag machines.
Further details are on tfsr website, www.tfsr.org or for local collection email David Houghton houghplant@aol.com
Project news - skills training project gives Naomi new hope
Forty-six women and men in Zambia have just completed a multi-trade training course and have just started out running their own businesses, with help from Tools for Self Reliance.
During 4½ months of intense practical study 22 women and 24 men learnt how to repair bikes, lay bricks, wire a house, make furniture and roof trusses, and make grille doors. As well as this they also learnt about how to manage a small business, everything from generating a business idea to doing the detailed financial planning.
One of the biggest changes has been a huge rise in the trainee's self-confidence. Many, such as Naomi Chipabila, now see no limit to what they can achieve in the future.
At the end of the training the graduates set up in small groups offering their local community a range of services, and filling a vital need. To make sure the training has had the desired effect Hope House staff visited each new business and each trainee to see how the budding entrepreneurs were getting on. The results were very positive.
Here's what skills training coordinator Billy Sichamba told us:
"This project is addressing the plight of people living with HIV/AIDS who have had no skill at all to enable them to earn a living. The stigma and discrimination in communities and nationally has made their lives very difficult because jobs are difficult to find without a skill. The project is giving them a new lease of life by [teaching them skills that they can use] for their income generation activities, which will improve their living style."
The Hope House project was the latest project with our partners Kara Counselling. It was financed via a share issue which meant not only did the project get fully funded, but also shareholders received regular updates on the trainees' progress. Although this particular project has now finished we continue to work with Kara. We had such an overwhelming response to the share issue last time that we think that future projects could also benefit by being funded in this way. Watch this space for further details!
