The St. Joseph Training Centre at Iawakaka ward, Rabaul District has produced more than 300 students since the rollout of trainings in June last year.
The training center which is a Catholic run organization offers one month basic cooking, basic sewing and organic gardening courses. It recently hosted its graduation which saw Batch 5 for Basic Cooking and Batch 4 for Basic sewing graduated with flying colors; wearing shirts they themselves sewed and celebrating afterwards with food they prepared.
A total of 34 participants graduated which includes both male and female; 26 for basic cooking and eight for basic sewing.
Speaking during the graduation mass was Fr. Paul Kote who stressed on the importance of acquiring basic life skills and using it to help others.
“These skills are gifts from God and we must utilize it to serve others. Do not let these skills die out, we must continue doing it and also share our skills with others,” Fr. Kote said.
He further said that we must prioritize our education whether it be a short course or year-long course.
“Make use of such opportunities, a lot of people travel long distances and spend more money to learn such courses and you are lucky the courses are offered at your doorstep,” Fr. Kote said.
Meantime, Sr. Elmah who is the Training Center Coordinator said that though most of the participants are from the nearby communities, only two female participants travelled all the way from the Autonomous Region of Bouganville to attend the training.
Also speaking on behalf of the Rabaul District Administrator was District Social Development Officer (DSDO) Tony Namur who highlighted on the importance of such life skills training saying that it is the foundation of the family unit.
Mr Namur said that it is better that such training is conducted so that participants improve their art in cooking and sewing and prepare themselves for possible employment. He added that everybody eats food and wear clothes and that the demand for such skills is still high.
Mr Namur confirmed that the District will continue with supporting future trainings and also encouraged more youths to apply.