All Photos By: DJ Pierce
2019 Donors’ Appeal
Empowering Communities Globally—We ask you to join us
Social Impact: Disabling Poverty and Creating Empowerment
When we first came to Cameroon, our main building was in poor condition and the community didn’t have the high-quality skills we were looking for or the necessary equipment to make the needed repairs. Once we firmly committed to establishing our center (Himalayan Institute Cameroon), we took the necessary steps to repair the building ourselves, and the community quickly became engaged. Through this endeavor, we immediately began to provide the community with job opportunities and also saw a real opportunity to give job-skills training. Through this awareness we created the Himalayan Institute Cameroon’s School of Carpentry and Construction, which was and is the first of its kind in this region. We’ve since learned it’s common in Africa for technical schools to teach students their trade through lectures and exams, but not provide them with any hands-on tools or experiences. Unfortunately, this leaves a lot of students with theoretical knowledge without any practical application.
The School of Carpentry and Construction was created to serve two purposes: first, to disable poverty; secondly, to create empowerment for those lacking in education and job skills. Our school and craftsmanship center not only provide a large range of modern woodworking tools and equipment, but also a large number of professionally trained mentors who have been hand selected by HIC staff to utilize and teach modern woodworking techniques. Because of this, our center is now known throughout Kumbo and neighboring communities as the best producer of fine craftsmanship pieces, and the best location for student internship and job opportunities. This year alone, we’ve trained 100 interns and apprentices, and the numbers are continuously growing. Now, we find more craftsmen are creating high-quality products with attention to detail and longevity. We offer both free and paid training to hundreds of tradesmen each year.
The Need
We need to purchase new equipment to replace the current tools and machines that are worn due to overuse; new equipment ensures the safety of our students. We also need additional training materials and supplies to fuel our program’s growth.
Join Us
Providing the resources, job training, and increased job opportunities is why the Center of Carpentry and Construction was created. This center has been vital to community empowerment and to interrupting generational poverty, and is now a recognized center for skilled craftsmen.
We ask you to join us in this life-changing work. Please donate NOW to support our social impact, as we continue to support Africa into a brighter tomorrow. Creating change is a long-term investment. The impact that your support creates NOW will continue to develop for many generations to come.
We are changing the world.
All Photos By: DJ Pierce
