By Fatmata Jengbe
A team from Hunan Province is in town for about two months to teach pupils how to do embroidery, stitching and sewing at Fourah Bay College (FBC) Secondary School. Emma, who is the coordinator of the programme, said the team arrived on the 29th October 2019 and they will be leaving on the 20th January 2020.
“Last year we were in Sierra Leone teaching how to make ceramic products in Waterloo and Lunsar. We indeed impacted on so many young people that on my return I visited some of the guys we worked with last year and to my surprise they are doing well in creating these ceramic producst, which they are now making money from. It is in against that backdrop that we are here again to train pupils across Freetown in stitching, sewing and embroidery.”
She intimated this medium that during the week days, they are at YWCA teaching secondary school pupils and during the weekends they are at FBC Secondary School teaching pupils at the school. She said in China, these skills have lifted so many people from poverty and they would want Sierra Leoneans to learn these skills that would help them to develop the economy and their lives.
Most of the pupils at the FBC Secondary Schools that were participating in the training said they were happy to receive such trainings parallel to their education.
They say they are looking forward to Saturdays to come and train embroidery which they believe will become very useful to them in the future. The 90 days training course is sponsored by the Chinese Government and supported by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security of the Sierra Leonean government, and it aims to improve the stitching and sewing skills of 45 participants who are from different areas of Sierra Leone.
Counselor Zhang Xueqian, Economic and Commercial Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy commended the six Chinese experts who are in town to train the participants and hope that they will do their best before leaving for China next year.
Human capital development is an integral part of a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between China and Sierra Leone and also a driver for economic and social progress. It is one of the priorities of President Maada Bio’ New Direction Manifesto.
“China has always been dedicated to helping nurture talents in various fields for Sierra Leone, strengthening human resources development and cooperation, and contributing to the human capital development of Sierra Leone.”
