CARPENTRY TRAINING FOR TSUNAMI SURVIVORS
Our vocational training in carpentry for grief-stricken young Sri Lankan men is helping to rebuild their lives and livelihoods.
What is the need?
After the devastating December 2004 tsunami ripped through the eastern Sri Lankan village of Navatkudah, many Hindu and Christian boys and young men lost their families, homes and the means of making enough money to survive.
The current culture of oppression, poverty and lack of opportunity are the birth places of terrorism and violence for young men.
Without vocational training and support, these young men are all prime candidates for recruitment by factions that would destine them to a life of violence, evil and despair.
How do we help?
Our Carpentry Vocational Training initiative is equipping these young men with the skills and materials they need to begin and sustain a lifelong livelihood.
All of the young men in our program have completed school but are not employed. All of the boys are children of tsunami victims.
• We provide 6 months of quality instruction from a veteran craftsman, together with practical work experience, so that students will learn all of the real skills that they need to be successful in building and carpentry.
• The instructor is a local pastor who is an experienced and talented carpenter by profession, who saw that the tsunami created a high demand for need for skilled trades and approached us for support.
• Our course will put the students on the path to becoming master carpenters who are in even greater demand than general tradesmen. This training will maximise their chances for a sustainable income beyond the current building boom.
• At the end of the course, we reward excellent attendance and quality work with a start-up carpentry kit.
How lives will be changed:
• The instructor has a heart for his community and a strong desire to be a force for hope and change. His carpentry skill and community connections coupled with the guidance of Samaritan's Purse are a potent combination for eternal impact through building meaningful relationships with the carpentry students.
• Among our goals is that by helping these young men of Hindu and Christian backgrounds to work together, we might attempt to mend some of the discord of the past.
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