ARTFUL: A Chinese instructor watches over one of his students as he learns the art of rattan weaving (PATRICK WROKPOH)

Joseph Cummings, 35,  is a former student of the Liberia Opportunities and Industrial Training Center (LOIC). One of the country's foremost institutions in its field, LOIC also serves as a training center for ex-combatants like Cummings, who fought against the government of then President Charles Taylor. He was enrolled in the Agriculture Department because he has a love of the land and had ambitions of being a farmer.

But when the Liberian Government requested the LOIC to recommend some of its students to the Bamboo and Rattan Weaving Center, he jumped at the opportunity. The center is a joint venture between the Liberian and Chinese governments and teaches wood and bamboo craft skills via Chinese expert instructors. Cummings felt that by signing up he could gain experience in a totally new area of expertise. That was in January 2007.

Opening doors

"I saw the opportunity as an added advantage to learn new things and improve my skills and so I asked the LOIC to send my name to the weaving school," Cummings said.

"When I disarmed in the Liberian civil war as an ex-soldier, I worried about my future because I was returning to civilian life and needed to have a professional skill to survive on," Cummings recalled. "Luckily for me, I enrolled at the LOIC, but my interest to be an agriculturist was not progressing as I expected, and so, when the weaving center was established, I enrolled with the expectation that I could soon become a professional career person."

As one of the first graduates of the school, he said his dream came true and currently he is exploring the possibilities of establishing his own business. "With the toolkit I received from the school and the skills acquired, I am making furniture such as dining and living room chairs, which I sell for up to $200 each to earn a living," he said.

Cummings supports his father and other family members on his furniture earnings and said he feels more optimistic about his future.

John G. Gibson, who is currently enrolled at the school, said he feels more responsible after having enrolled in the program. "I feel very good about the program because I will be financially independent soon. Such initiatives are very good and in the interests of us young people because by learning the skills, it means we will be able to earn without relying on others," he said.

Gibson said if more unskilled youth enrolled in the program, it would reduce the dependence syndrome in the West African nation, because the program can empower people. 

For student Eric Lablah, who will graduate later this year, the program has been very rewarding. He said currently the school offers students food and a stipend. "I want the program to continue because in the first place, our products are needed and this is beneficial to us in many ways," he added.