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Today Newspaper - Online Edition - The Gambia's Quality Newspaper - Leather project targets the deaf, less privileged
A leather project initiated by a local Gambian NGO to hand the poor and disabled a lifeline with which to improve their lives has been launched in The Gambia recently. The project which will have a lifespan of six months is the brainchild of KWAJEH Ability, a non-governmental organization, which dedicates its resources to tackling issues of poverty and joblessness among the physically challenged in Gambian society.
Since it rolled into motion, twelve students at the Methodist Special School along MDI Road are undertaking a course in their school geared toward imparting skills in leather works that will render them personally or institutionally employable. It is expected that the students will use the skills imparted in them to make leather belts, bags, shoes, and watch straps.
One Abdurahman Baldeh, a specialized leather worker in the country is the instructor. According to him, although it is never easy giving them students, it was nonetheless gratifying to realize that their commitment to upgrading themselves over the last couple of months has never been in doubt.
Speaking to TODAY Newspaper, the coordinator of the project Daniel K. Arthur said that by launching such an initiative his organization was sincerely living by its “breach of hope” slogan, which suggests that the primary target of their “mercy mission” are the less privileged and the hopelessly poor whose lives require a complete turnaround.
The KWAJEH Ability project is being financed by the organization’s members, according to Mr. Arthur, who also said that the best two students will be fully supported by the organization to start a leather business.
“The aim is to have them self employed. As an organization it is not our wish to gain anything in return. The St, John’s school for the Deaf and the SOS children’s village will also benefit from the same project, Arthur explained.
Mr. Kwasi Amoako Mensah, the deputy head master of St John’s school, described his school as an institution that has worked tirelessly to revolutionize the way people view and interact with disabled children. Mensah explained that in the past children with disabilities were tucked away in houses by parents who hid them away from the public glare because of their physical state.
“It is a fundamental perception of this school that there is something good in each and everyone living with or without disability. Though some of them cannot have ambitions of going to university to obtain a degree, we can impart in them skills that will help them live independent and fulfilling lives in the future. With the KWAJEH Ability leather work project, some of them are doing home economics, housekeeping and needle work. The most important thing to come out of this so far has been their sense of self-worth. As a result they feel very proud of themselves,” Mr. Mensah opined.
A leather project initiated by a local Gambian NGO to hand the poor and disabled a lifeline with which to improve their lives has been launched in The Gambia recently. The project which will have a lifespan of six months is the brainchild of KWAJEH Ability, a non-governmental organization, which dedicates its resources to tackling issues of poverty and joblessness among the physically challenged in Gambian society.
Since it rolled into motion, twelve students at the Methodist Special School along MDI Road are undertaking a course in their school geared toward imparting skills in leather works that will render them personally or institutionally employable. It is expected that the students will use the skills imparted in them to make leather belts, bags, shoes, and watch straps.
One Abdurahman Baldeh, a specialized leather worker in the country is the instructor. According to him, although it is never easy giving them students, it was nonetheless gratifying to realize that their commitment to upgrading themselves over the last couple of months has never been in doubt.
Speaking to TODAY Newspaper, the coordinator of the project Daniel K. Arthur said that by launching such an initiative his organization was sincerely living by its “breach of hope” slogan, which suggests that the primary target of their “mercy mission” are the less privileged and the hopelessly poor whose lives require a complete turnaround.
The KWAJEH Ability project is being financed by the organization’s members, according to Mr. Arthur, who also said that the best two students will be fully supported by the organization to start a leather business.
“The aim is to have them self employed. As an organization it is not our wish to gain anything in return. The St, John’s school for the Deaf and the SOS children’s village will also benefit from the same project, Arthur explained.
Mr. Kwasi Amoako Mensah, the deputy head master of St John’s school, described his school as an institution that has worked tirelessly to revolutionize the way people view and interact with disabled children. Mensah explained that in the past children with disabilities were tucked away in houses by parents who hid them away from the public glare because of their physical state.
“It is a fundamental perception of this school that there is something good in each and everyone living with or without disability. Though some of them cannot have ambitions of going to university to obtain a degree, we can impart in them skills that will help them live independent and fulfilling lives in the future. With the KWAJEH Ability leather work project, some of them are doing home economics, housekeeping and needle work. The most important thing to come out of this so far has been their sense of self-worth. As a result they feel very proud of themselves,” Mr. Mensah opined.