By Emmanuel Toochukwu Ekuma, Program Officer
On May the 10th 2021, the faces of the Amuro and Ozziza representatives, especially the young girls who were selected for skill acquisition training beamed with joy as the trained girls received certificate of graduation following their successful completion of the 1-year hairdressing skill acquisition program. Each of the 7 graduates also benefited from hairdressing equipment such as – sets of hair styling combs, hair cream, bottles of shampoo and conditioners, packs of three sizes of towels, packs of hair rollers and setting lotion. The three (3) best graduating girls were also gifted with additional equipment including hand dryer, hand straightening machine and standing hair washing basin.
Photo 1.0: The graduates of hairdressing course displaying their certificates and the items they were supported with.
The graduation ceremony took place at PDA’s office with 33 participants in attendance including 1 male and 15 females (15 – 29 years); 5 males and 12 females (30+). Participants at the graduation ceremony included the graduates, their guardians, the hairdressing trainers, the apprentices learning tailoring, representatives of Amuro and Amikpo communities, a motivational speaker and all PDA staff.
Photo 1.1: Group photograph of participants at the graduation ceremony.
The graduation ceremony was anchored by the program officer, Ekuma Emmanuel who welcomed all participants. In her address, the Executive Director of PDA, Chidinma Arukwe thanked all the participants for honouring the invitation, congratulated the graduating girls and appreciated them for their patience and doggedness throughout the training period. Additionally, she said that the skill acquisition was targeted at reducing unemployment amongst the youths, especially young girls through increasing their employability and building their self-esteem. She concluded by saying that the trainees after having acquired the skills, will in turn train others within their local context.
Nnenna Oko who represented Amikpo community was overwhelmed and expressed great joy for the opportunity which PDA through the support from ActionAid has availed the girls in her community to learn hairdressing and fashion designing. She said PDA has done a lot of things in her community to ensure an improved standard of living of her community. In her words, “if I am given time to start listing out what PDA has been doing in my community, we will not go home today. I am filled with joy as I witness the graduation of these young girls from my community who are trained on the skills acquisition. My God will bless PDA and ActionAid. God will replenish their pockets”
Lending his voice to Nnenna’s message, Oscar, another representative from Amikpo community said that the certificates given to Amikpo graduates would be shown to the community people in a town hall meeting. Meanwhile, Oscar stated that Amikpo community would support these graduates with a shop to start up and train more girls in the community. Bakare Grace Akama, a representative of Amuro community, with smiles on her face, appreciated PDA for strengthening Amuro girls with the skill acquisition initiative. She said that her community was privileged to be part of the girls’ empowerment from PDA and ActionAid. In her words,” I am indeed overwhelmed because this has never happened in my community. If this was coming from the government or politicians, it wouldn’t have reached the vulnerable ones. ActionAid, through PDA has trained our girls and now they can be self-employed’. She also thanked the trainers for the work well done in ensuring that the girls learnt well both in skills and morals. She promised to take the message to the community in order for them to brainstorm on how to support the graduates of Amuro community.
Experience Sharing
This session provided opportunity for the trained girls to share their personal experience(s). Eunice Chidinma from Amikpo community was thankful for being part of those trained in hairdressing. She appreciated PDA for counting her worthy to be a beneficiary under the umbrella of ActionAid. She promised to make the most use of her skills. Another graduate, Favour said she is happy to have received training in hairdressing as she will use the skill acquired to take care of herself, her family and train more girls in her community.Obeni Onyemuche was thankful for the great opportunity PDA has offered to her. She said, “I wanted to learn hairdressing, but there was no one to train me. Now that I have acquired the skills through the help of PDA and ActionAid, I will ensure that I put it into use through working towards opening my own salon and stepping down the training to other girls in my community.” She added that she has not just learnt the hairdressing skill only but she has equally learnt morals. According to her, the trainer took her time to teach them well, and also took them like her own children to ensure that they learnt.
Motivational Speech
Egwu Felicity Uchenna, the CEO of Ma Fec collection, gave a motivational talk to the trained girls. She encouraged them to take actions and make changes that will make them better persons in the future. She said that making plans, willingness to work with passion, and commitment towards achieving a set goal are key to success in life. Furthermore, she encouraged the trainees to ensure that they create awareness of their skills; apply unique techniques to their skills and also be creative- as these are necessary for them to grow in their businesses. Again, she advised the grandaunts to think big but start small; and also ensure that their skills reflect in them as this would attract customers.
Photo 1.2: Pictures of Felicity giving her motivational speech.
To buttress her point, Felicity narrated a story of how she started. In her words, “when I was done with my secondary education in 2011, I was asked by my parents to enrol in a computer centre where I would be trained on computer appreciation. However, I was not comfortable with my parents’ decision, so I asked myself if that was what I wanted. At a point I realised that my parents’ decision was not what I wanted for myself. All I needed was a skill that would earn me income in the future. In 2013, I enrolled to learn sewing at Lagos. In 2015 I came back to Afikpo and lived with my grandmother and started sewing in my grandmother’s house with a machine”.
She made the graduates understand that it does not only end in learning skills but, continuity and focus determine how far one would succeed in life. She wrapped up saying, “I had to start reflecting my handwork every day. I went round searching for who to make their clothes and at a cheaper price. This was because I wanted to attract customers for myself. From my little savings I rented a shop and added one more machine to the one I already had. With the income I generated from sewing I used it to send myself to school (Higher Institution). Now, I am not only a proud graduate of Computer Science, I am equally known for my sewing in Afikpo. Today, i have five sewing machines and have apprentices learning under me.