Migori Youth have been encouraged to join a community-based NGO Institute to improve their lives rather than relying on handouts from politicians.
Speaking during the launch of the Goma Technical and Vocational Training Centre, a Community-Based Organisation (CBO) institution located in the Oruba slum on the outskirts of Migori town, the founder, Mr. Samuel Ouru, said that the Centre will empower youth who have no guardians to pay for their school fees.
Ouru, who was once also a street boy in Migori town, says the Institution is a way of giving back to society, especially to young people still on the streets, helping them make something of their lives for a brighter future.
“We do not want our youth to be idle and start engaging in criminal activities that can end their lives and destroy their future. I, therefore, call upon all the youths, the vulnerable in the society, to come and join this Institution to get skills and become self-employed,” said Ouru.
He said that the Institution will change the lives of the less privileged children in the Oruba-Ragana area, a place that is labelled as dangerous, with criminal activities being the order of the day.
Ouru, who is also the Founder of Sagoma Community Based Organisation (CBO) in the Oruba area, explained that the Institution will also engage students in various courses like fashion and design and Information Technology (IT) to equip the youth with the digital skills needed to manoeuvre in the digital space, job creation and employment.
He explained that eradicating poverty is not only about taking people to school but rather changing the mindset of the youths to self-actualise their full potential and talents.
“I am offering economic skills to these less privileged youth to offer them a better life after school and create employment as well as help them find their feet in the job market through self-employment,” said Ouru.
The Institute also aims to offer youths an opportunity to engage in as well as generate wealth instead of over-relying on politicians’ handouts and criminal activities that endanger their lives as well as impair their minds.
He encouraged the youths from the Oruba area and Migori town, regardless of whether they dropped out of school or finished their high school studies, to join the organisation and acquire real-life experience to empower themselves economically.
The official, however, appeals to well-wishers to help the GOMA Institute with additional tailoring machines to enable it to train more youths from the area.
Alice Abuna, a member of the Sagoma CBO, explained that the Institution will not only help vulnerable youths but also anyone within the Oruba area who wishes to get tailoring skills.
“We are fast approaching the election season, a time where youth tend to be used by politicians to settle political scores by being given handouts,” said Abuna
The official also urged parents to guide their young ones in the right way by encouraging them to attend training institutions to acquire knowledge that can help them be employed, start their own business and empower other youths.
Grace Achieng, a form four leaver from the Oruba area, says that she decided to join the institution to get a meaningful education and practical skills in tailoring.
“I want to get skills, start my own tailoring shop to keep my life going, employ other youths and help both my parents and siblings,” said Achieng.
Her dedication to education has enabled her peers to also join the institution to acquire skills in tailoring, fashion and design.
The institution has also been empowering its students by securing employment for them to generate income and be self-employed in future.
“I am calling upon my peers who got married early, dropped out of school or are doing manual jobs like maids to come to the institution, learn and get knowledge in tailoring and become their own bosses in the future,” she said.
By Makokha Khaoya
