Skills Training
Point Hope offers skills training to men and women. We also work in cooperation with other organizations at the camp to coordinate our trainings so that as many refugees as possible are able to receive skills training, enabling them to move out of a position of weakness and dependency and into an independent, sustainable future filled with hope.
This is especially important as the Liberian Refugee Settlement is growing near to the time when it will be closed as a refugee camp and exist solely as a Ghanaian community, blending in with the indigenous village within which it already exists. Learn more about the Liberian Refugee Settlement
CARPENTRY
PURPOSE:
The intention of the Point Hope carpentry course is to give the students usable skills that will enable them to find income producing, sustainable jobs. The course is designed with appropriate technology for the culture; power tools are not used. Students create their products using only hand tools that are easily accessible anywhere in Ghana or Liberia
SUCCESS:
On April 8, 2009 nine young men became the first graduates of Point Hope’s carpentry course. The year long course taught the students the basic carpentry skills including lay-out, cutting, design and construction, joinery, sanding, finishing and simple upholstery. Each of the students was required to complete and master the construction of a table, chair, shelving unit and utilitarian objects such as boxes. PointHope Ghana presented each of the graduates with a tool kit and certificate during the graduation ceremony. Since this first class, many more men have been trained and enabled for success through this program. Point Hope congratulates all of these men and wishes them a future filled with success. If you would like to join Point Hope in teaching the art of handcrafted carpentry or helping to provide tools of their trade, please click here.
BAKING
Point Hope has purchased two ovens; one was given to Harmony Center to help with their skills training and the other is used daily by Point Hope sponsored women who receive training in baking of bread, cake and pastries. The goods are made on the camp and sold throughout the settlement by ladies walking through the camp or selling out of a particular spot in the open market.
If you would like to help bake a cake or buy an oven or start a woman in her own business, creating plans for hope and a future, please do it today! Would you like to go to Ghana and share your business expertise to raise the chances of success for her business? Please contact Point Hope.
BATIK
PURPOSE:
Point Hope sponsored training through Women of Destiny to teach women the art of batik design and to give them a marketable skill. This time and labor intensive art takes patience, perseverance and a lot of hot wax and water! But what incredible goods they produce!!
Each individual piece of fabric is hand stamped multiple times with a carved stamp dipped in hot wax, then the cloth is left to soak in a dye bath until the color sets. After that the entire fabric is immersed repeatedly in hot waters, melting off the wax and exposing the pattern.
Lastly the cloth is left to dry in the sun, further setting in the color and revealing the finished product.
SUCCESS:
The graduates of this course have trained others and have worked with the ladies from the sewing course to create garments and accessories. They have also recently registered in Ghana as their own business under Project Hope: Gye Nyame to establish themselves as residents of Ghana and successful entrepreneurs. This is a major step toward independence and a prosperous future for these brave women who have known such hardship and tragedy.
Would you like to help train other ladies, give a woman a hand-up by setting her up in business, purchase finished batik product or go to Ghana to share your business acumen? Perhaps you are aware of a marketplace that would be a perfect fit for these products? Please contact Point Hope and let’s work together for their future.
COMPUTERS
Point Hope has joined in partnership with another organization on the camp to offer IT classes for repair of computer hardware and to work on programming computers with software. If you have experience in this field and would like to use your skill set in this area or if you have gift in-kind donations that can be made, or if you would like to contribute to the success of a student in this endeavor, please act today! This is a new horizon of opportunity for many of these refugees and the window of opportunity may be closed in the next 18 months.
JEWELRY
PURPOSE:
Point Hope sponsored several women in skills training for jewelry crafting and beading. This is a skill widely used in the area, both for locals and for tourist trade and is easily transportable, thus making it an ideal skill for a semi-transient population, such as the refugee in West Africa. Using beads they buy locally: Ghanaian clay beads, sea glass beads, wooden beads, colored stone, gems, and less exotic beads, the artists fashion necklaces, earrings, and bracelets in unique styles.
SUCCESS:
Several women, and a few men, now meet daily at the Point Hope skills center in the camp, working together and producing jewelry, as well as adding beading to sandals and other accessories created through Project Hope: Gye Nyame, to sell in the camp and other markets.
Do you have a passion for jewelry or beading and would you like to offer your expertise to this group? Come to Ghana and share what you know! Or would you like to send beads, wire, tools over? Perhaps you would like to sponsor a start-up business for someone who would take the opportunity you offer to make a new life for themselves and their children? Contact Point Hope and we can help you make it happen!
SEWING
PURPOSE:
The intention of the Point Hope Sewing skills training course is to give the students usable skills that will enable them to support themselves and their children. Not only are they instructed in basic clothing design and sewing, but they also receive classroom training regarding business practices: how to run a business, how to grow the business, and what it means to be a successful entrepreneur. Because the refugees in Buduburam have so little, things like cotton calico cloth is often too expensive to use for the early learning phase of the class, so the women make their first creations out of plain brown paper. They will have mastered the techniques of how to sew a seam, place a dart and pleat a skirt using paper, before they spend any money on actual fabric.
SUCCESS:
On January 24, 2009, the first group of students graduated from the Point Hope Sewing Project. For these women it was a most special day. They entered their commencement ceremony singing and dancing, each wearing a dress she had uniquely designed and created, reflecting each woman’s individual personality and skills. The women glowed with pride.
The scene was repeated on June 24, 2010, when the second class of students graduated. These women had worked hard, studied many months, and made countless stitches on hand-cranked, manual sewing machines, which allows the women to sew whether or not they are able to access or afford electricity. Each graduate was presented with a diploma and a brand new sewing machine, so that they can use their new skills to help their families and community.