Your investment in Liberian Youth pays a dividend of marketable talent ready to make a difference in their nation. We’d like to introduce you to two graduates whose lives were transformed because of you.
Viola Blaine is one of six who graduated with a Diploma in Cosmetology on April 13, 2019 at the Uniting Distant Stars Vocational Training Center (UDSVTC) in Liberia. She is 40 years old and a mom of three children: 16-year-old boy (lives in Ghana), 14-year-old boy, and 11-year-old girl (both live with Viola).
She left Liberia during the civil war in 1996 and became a refugee in Ghana. During that time she took advantage of the United Nations educational programs including graduating from high school, receiving a certificate in cosmetology, and attending a one-month business school. This gave her the opportunity to start plaiting hair and giving pedicures to be self-sufficient.
Viola returned to Liberia in 2012 and continued to work as a hairdresser. In 2018, she was praying to God to find a school to gain more knowledge. While listening to her favorite station, Radio Advent, she heard Kelvin Fomba (UDS Co-Founder & Director) and others talk about UDSVTC. She took down the phone numbers and called the school. She was invited to the campus to complete the admissions form and to attend orientation.
She shared how much she appreciated Kelvin’s encouragement and stressed the importance of learning skills that lead to self-employment. She expressed her gratitude for all the support given to her to achieve her goal of graduating from our program.
Viola shared how UDS provided the advanced skills in manicures, pedicures, facials and much more that she was seeking. She now holds a diploma, and she is looking for a small shop where she can launch her salon business. She currently does home visits to plait hair, and she hopes to continue this service once she finds someone to work with her at the shop.
Quote from Viola: “Thanks go to Mr. Kelvin Fomba from the UDSVTC school where I came from with a diploma in cosmetology. This will provide a good opportunity for me to do my own business. Uniting Distant Stars Vocational Training Center is one of the best schools you can go and get good vocational skills. Thanks to all of you for the knowledge I received!“
Anthony Bombo Kpehe Jr. graduated with a Diploma in Computer. He is 27 years old and the father of one young son. He is also a Freshman at the University of Liberia and is focused on an Economic Major and Management Minor.
Anthony’s shares his journey to UDSVTC: “After being a college drop out in 2013 from the A.M.E. Zion University, I struggled with finding financial support to continue my academic sojourn, I was left with no option but to do things that I could sustain myself until the appropriate time came for me to go to school or for me to enter the University of Liberia.
One day in 2017 while I was sitting at home, I received information about a newly opened vocational school located on the Old Road. So, I thought wisely to go and see their information sheet. When I got there, I met my sister Roseline who told me that the school had a scholarship.
Unfortunately, I went late to make an inquiry to the school and was unable to be part of the first graduating class. I was told to wait for the next year which I did. Today, I am proud to be a graduate of the Uniting Distant Stars Vocational Training Center. But before then I was judging myself of what to do when I was given the opportunity to attend the school. So I said to myself since I was studying Economics in college, then I will do computers because it is the future. We in Liberia will depend on them so I will learn computers. This was how my computer studies came about. To my supporters please continue your hard work for UDS and God will richly bless you.”
Anthony hopes to become the Finance Minister or Central Bank Governor and plans to become a computer expert. He will use his skills to create an IT network system that promotes transparency and prevents corruption within Liberia.