School of Life Skills

Have a Heart Adoption – School of Life Skills programme has been established to provide life-skills education for adolescents with no formal qualifications that would enable them to deal effectively with the challenges of everyday life. Girls take sewing, knitting, crocheting, embroidery and cooking classes and boys master carpentry skills. During the 2/3 years course, they learn how to make stools, chairs, tables, coffins and other wooden objects required by the local communities. Both groups are also taught how to read and write. The project started off in 2003 by the Pallotine Sisters in the missionary centre based in Masaka, Rwanda. A few years later similar projects were initiated in Buraniro (Burundi, Sisters of the Order of the Holy Spirit), Djouth (Cameroon, Sisters of the Most Holy Soul of Christ the Lord), Rutshuru (Congo, Pallottine Fathers). The monthly fee is €15.

The situation of the adolescents who are to take part in the programme is carefully examined before the enrolment. The School of Life Skills programme helps orphans, young people with disabilities or those coming from no-income families who don’t own the land therefore unable to support themselves from agriculture. Your donations help to cover a large number of expenses. To start the project off, we need to build the toilets, renovate and equip the workshops. We have to supply wardrobes, tables, chairs, sewing machines, carpentry equipment and any other utensils needed to carry the classes. The project also covers costs of purchasing textiles, threads, sewing accessories, carpentry materials and the teachers’ salaries. In Solaris Center (Djouth, Cameroon), we also cover the costs of boarding school for the young girls. The primary purpose of the School of Life Skills programme is to teach all the necessary life skills. In this way, the young people are able to support themselves after the graduation. There is an opportunity for the adoptive parents to buy the tools for their children once they finish the school.

Like with all our Have a Heart Adoption programmes, the adoptive parent receives a file with all the details and information about the child including photos. There is a possibility to exchange the letters and create a long lasting relationship with your child.

Please submit the registration form, if you wish to join the programme.