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| Mark at his new job at Romeo Kitchens |
June 16, 2011: Twenty-seven-year-old Mark Muchaya lives in
Zambia, a country in south-central Africa whose economy suffered a big blow from the global economic crisis. He comes from a poor family with six children. When he was in second grade his father died, and in high school he lost his mother.
Times became tough. His siblings left home to look for work. He and a brother opened a small kiosk to make ends meet. Over time he managed to finish high school, but his job prospects were grim. “Every day was a struggle to survive,” he says. “I could not see my future, I had nowhere to go.”
Finding SOS Vocational Training
In 2008 Mark enrolled in a carpentry and joinery course at the SOS Vocational Training Center in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital. After years of despair, he discovered how to channel his energy in a creative and profitable way. Not only did he discover an aptitude for working with wood, he was also chosen to complete a trainer’s course sponsored by PEPFAR, a U.S. government initiative to combat AIDS.
SOS partners with groups like PEPFAR and local industries to help orphaned and abandoned children attain job skills. Mark is fortunate that the SOS training center in Lusaka is at the heart of such ventures.
At the end of his course Mark was recruited by a local company, where he worked for six months before returning to the PEPFAR project. There he helped train 51 youths. With the training program for community youth over, Mark was then snatched up by the prestigious Romeo Kitchens remodelling and carpentry firm in Lusaka.
Making a Productive Life with Limitless Opportunities
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| Mandelena working at a sewing machine |
Mark sees no end to his opportunities. Eventually he’d like to start his own furniture construction business to fill in a gap he perceives in the market.
SOS vocational training not only transformed Mark's professional life. It was there that he met his wife, Mandelena, a former center student studying tailoring and design. Mark and Mandelena married and now have a child of their own. Their success allows them to support Mandelena’s two younger sisters.
“The sky is not even the limit,” he says.
This Fathers Day, you can help SOS revolutionize the lives of more young people like Mark through vocational training. Your donation of just $65 can purchase materials for a carpentry class. Give a young person the tools to carve out a bright future now.