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| Gladson working at SOS Medical Centre Lilongwe |
Gladson Banda is a graduate in carpentry and joinery, who completed his two year course in June 2008. Gladson lives in the community surrounding the SOS Training Centre in Lilongwe. He now runs his own carpentry shop, specializing in carpentry as well as general household maintenance. His business is busy, so he is also training an assistant to enable him to keep up with the needs of his customers.
Gladson has won the trust of many customers, as well as their admiration for his neat work. As well as his usual work in domestic settings, Gladson also works for the SOS Medical Centre, where he makes and maintains special chairs for the children's rehabilitation and physiotherapy programme.
SOS Medical Centre head Arthur Mallungo is happy to have Gladson's help. "Gladson has saved us from enormous pressure and cost. We used to have problems maintaining our rehabilitation chairs and our teaching aids for the rehabilitation programme. We had to go to Blantyre to get our equipment serviced, but this is not necessary now that Gladson helps us." This appreciation cannot be underestimated as everyone has seen that the rehabilitation programme has meant that teaching aids are well maintained for their clients.
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| Gladson working on a wheelchair |
Gladson is very proud of the skills he gained at the vocational training centre and says, "My father is very proud of my profession. Right now I am paying school fees for my two brothers and I have installed electricity in my father's house and I have provided them with a television set". This is no mean achievement for a young adult such as Gladson, who is only 22 years of age.
Perseverance has definitely paid off for Gladson - before securing his place at the SOS Training Centre in Lilongwe, he had been trying to enrol at various government technical institutes, but had been unsuccessful because there were often two year waiting lists. He was happy to discover, on contacting the SOS Training Centre, that he would be able to start his course within a few months because of their continual enrolment plan, which means that a new cohort of students can start each term, rather than waiting for the next academic year.