EDUCATION AS A FOUNDATION
FOR THE FUTURE

Vocational training
In addition to literacy training, the new training center itself offers the opportunity for vocational training in the tailoring workshop that was also built and raises awareness of health care (e.g. AIDS prevention), hygiene, and women's rights.

The construction

To provide a permanent and secure home for such a training center, three buildings were constructed in rural areas of Equateur and Tshuapa provinces. They house classrooms , a kitchen, an office , and a tailoring workshop . Where possible, local building materials were used; the bricks, for example, were produced locally.

Emigration is reduced
The facility is designed to accommodate approximately 50 women per year. This also has a broad social impact, providing trained women with an opportunity to earn money and thus reducing migration to cities.

Opening and success

After completion of the work, the center opened in 2016 and immediately met with enormous interest. This alone demonstrates the project's purpose and, for the generous donors, the successful use of funds – the project has been enthusiastically received by the population. Thanks are due to the donors from Carinthia and the Diocese of Bokungu-Ikela. Creating this bridge of hope in a country that seemed plundered and without prospects by decades of civil war and political mismanagement was a very small light at the end of the tunnel, but for a small region in the former homeland of our chairwoman Susanne Plieschnegger, it was a blessing that is having a positive impact on numerous households.