At Love Alive International, we believe in various methods of extending a helping hand. While handouts are needed in times of emergency, opportunities are more suited to proper poverty alleviation in the long term. Empowering people to break out of their cycle of poverty from the inside rather than pulling them out from the outside goes so much further toward helping restore the broken relationships we have with ourselves, our neighbors, and God’s creation. With that in mind, Love Alive endeavors to provide educational opportunities in both basic education and vocational skills to the neediest of people in Rwanda.
In early February 2016, we began our latest efforts in a rural village by opening a Salon School to teach and certify students with the job skills needed to work in beauty salons throughout the country. As with most vocations, specialized tools and internships are needed to better equip and train new graduates for the labor market they are entering. A newly minted stylist will need clippers, scissors, combs, weaving supplies, and miscellaneous products in order to begin working in a salon. Most employers in Rwanda also require successful completion of an internship by the prospective job candidate before offering an employment contract.
A one-time gift of $175 US will provide a graduating gift package of all the tools and supplies a newly certified hair stylist would need to begin employment in a beauty salon in Rwanda. This package includes clippers, scissors, hair dryer and straightener, hair products and hair pieces, clips and combs, towels, kits for manicures and pedicures as well as other necessary items.
A one-time gift of $200. will cover the expenses for one student to receive all salon training required to receive a certificate and have the skills to begin work. Investments such as the cost of vocational training, or the tools necessary to begin work would take months for the average citizen of Rwanda to amass at current wage levels for the jobs that are available to a person with little to no education or job skills. In addition, most of our students have families to support and the investment of time just to attend school for them is a huge sacrifice. Many of our students also travel long distances by foot to attend school, walking as long as two hours each way.
With the amount of effort supplied by most students just to attend these vocational schools, partnering with them by providing necessary tools and enhanced training is a way to provide a hand up to the poorest of Rwanda’s citizens, allowing them and their donor to work toward breaking the poverty cycle while maintaining the dignity of both the giver and the recipient, restoring and mending the broken relationships we all have with ourselves, our neighbors, and God’s creation.
Thank you for partnering with us to improve the lives of Rwandans who are motivated to help themselves and others when given the opportunity. God bless you greatly!
