The St. John of God hospital in Amrahia has successfully trained 49 women and seen to their graduation through their women empowerment programme.
The initiative, which begun in 2018, aims at changing the face of poverty and improving the lives of women in various communities by helping them gain occupational skills such as beads making, soap making, fascinator designing and entrepreneurial skills.
The programme, which is in its fourth phase, employs the use of nurses going into communities to recruit women who would be interested in joining the programme which is free of charge. The women are given free lunch during the six-month duration of their training and after completion, are also given seed capital from the hospital to start their own businesses.
Speaking at the event, the originator of the programme, Brother Bartholomew Kamara pressed on the importance of society to create programmes that aid less privileged women in society. He stated, “We saw single mothers suffering in raising their children and managing broken homes because of the daily challenges that befall hardworking women like ours. Due to the rise of unemployment and other factors, we have put the programme in place so that we hope will change the scenario of their lives.”
He reiterated that such initiatives can contribute to ending the cycle of poverty in many communities in the country.
The event saw to the graduation of 49 women with all of them receiving certificates in their specialized skills. They were also rewarded with tools they would need to start their own businesses in the future.
