Breaking ground
CONSTRUCTION BEGINS ON THE VOCATIONAL EDUCATION & TRAINING CENTER
We believe that something as simple as a roof over one’s head significantly increases one’s opportunities. In the case of Kolahun, it’s a community need, one that RESTORE HOPE: LIBERIA aims to meet.
There is very little infrastructure in Kolahun. Most everything happens under the mango tree, as they say. When the weather is fine, this is a pleasant way to work and convene. When it’s the rainy season and every day a downpour, the usual work becomes difficult, sometimes impossible.
With a generous donation from the Germany Embassy in Monrovia, a Vocational Education and Training (VET) Center is being built in the district, on a one-acre lot recently purchased by RESTORE HOPE. The site is a short walk from the RESTORE HOPE office on the main road in Kolahun, and thus easily accessible to the community.
Front view
The VET Center will be multipurpose. It will be used to hold skills workshops and business training for community-led economic development projects. There will also be a space for small business activities supported by RESTORE HOPE: LIBERIA. One such project is the Women’s Weaving Cooperative, which produces traditional Liberian Country Cloth. Since their weaving must take place outside due to the size of the wooden looms, the women have been unable to weave during the rainy months, May through October, which has severely limited their productivity. The VET Center will change that.
The Center will also serve as a community space for meetings – the monthly Caregiver Support meeting, for example, where caregivers of vulnerable children, many of whom are serving as foster parents, can meet with RESTORE HOPE: LIBERIA staff to discuss challenges and receive support. The VET Center will also house Kolahun’s first public library and will be the site of a 4-month business skills training course, to be held this Fall, for women in the Women’s Weaving Cooperative and other female entrepreneurs in the community interested in starting or growing their small business.
If the rainy season doesn’t slow construction, we hope to finish the VET Center by the end of the year. Look for news of the Grand Opening!
