More than 100 students yesterday received certificates in various courses such as sewing and design, catering and banqueting skills. The training was carried out by Esther’s Aid Rwanda, a skill training centre for orphans. According to Clare Effiong, International Director of Esther’s Aid Rwanda, the centre which operates in Kacyiru but with roots in New York has operated in the country for over eight years and trained many in previous years. At the award giving ceremony, Effiong appreciated Rwanda’s political stability adding that the government of Rwanda has availed her with conducive conditions of work saying that “if the government had not given me a go-ahead, this day would have been a dream.” She also expressed her gratitude to the American people saying that they have really played a great role in the project’s success through their aid. “Esther’s Aid Rwanda caters for all the costs of the students from the time of admission up to graduation,” she revealed. Urging able and similar centers to join in helping the needy, Effiong said that these children do not need a lot, adding that “they need skills to do something so that they do not engage themselves in wrong acts.” Aiming at empowering orphans with skills which can enable them to start work and have a better life, Esther’s Aid Rwanda also gives a kick-start to its graduates. It gives them sowing machines and other necessities so that they immediately start work hence enabling them to get money and later buy machines for themselves. The Student’s representative in his speech said that Ester’s Aid Rwanda has been a mother to them. He added that what they had acquired from the Centre will enable them start life by becoming job makers other than job seekers. Ends
