Helping young Kenyans survive and thrive in Kisumu

The workshop has been training youngsters now for a year. They are much better equipped with tools than they were 12 months ago and they have been able to obtain a few contracts for school desks, school lockers and for some tables for a local conference centre.  This helps provide good training opportunities and a small income to help fund the training.

As with all new projects there have been teething problems. When you are living near the breadline there is a temptation to earn a small amount of money instantly rather than spend time training to learn skills which will see you and your family alright in the long term. As a consequence there has been some difficulty obtaining, recruiting and retaining trainees. They can earn a few shillings a day as a bicycle taxi.  The situation has been exacerbated by the difficulty in obtaining the electricity which would run the planing machine which would provide a useful service for the local area, and a relevant skill. It would also help fund the training as well as provide a very small income for the trainees. The problem is that a major road improvement nearby has caused disruption to the power and water supply to the area. We hope that this situation will be remedied soon.

2013 is a big year for Paluoc.It has already provided useful training for a small number of trainees. It tends to recruit youngsters with low self esteem who have had relatively little previous education and even less success
with it - often due to circumstances beyond their or their family’s control. They are generally unable to make any significant contribution towards the cost of their training.  Paluoc gives them a chance to gain skills and confidence, and hopefully to earn a decent living in the future.

January and February are the most important months for recruitment, it is the start of the year and many youngsters find themselves in the position of being unable to continue with their current  training due to lack of funding. That’s where Paluoc comes in.

Paluoc is still very short of training materials with only one woodworking book, a stick of chalk and a homemade blackboard. They are used to making do. They also need timber to practice making various joints that they need to master. Trainees are currently given about K30sh a day so that they get something to eat at lunchtime, that’s about 25p/40c. They need basics like exercise books, pens and pencils, to be able to practice drawing and reading design plans.

The scheme has been launched -  it now needs a bit of help to get it through the next phase to help ensure that it is successful in recruiting and training needy youngsters. We hope that by the beginning of March the workshop will be full of the sounds of planing, sawing, hammering and chiselling. That’s the dream of Paul the carpentry teacher and he has worked very hard to get the project to this pivotal point.