Farouk (21) is a trainee blacksmith in Ghana, taking part in the Fighting Poverty through Skills and Enterprise project run by Simli Aid, a partner of Tools for Self Reliance.
Skills are precious to me as I didn’t get to go to school … With the income I’ll make from blacksmithing I can give my two children the education I never had.
When I was growing up I would help out on the farm, but during the dry season I had little to do. Then Salifa Idi visited my community and talked about how I might get work as a blacksmith and I saw a chance to earn a living and help support my wife and children.
I like to think about the shop I’ll have when I’m fully trained. There I’ll sell my products to the community, which will help them grow and harvest more food. Someday.
So far my apprenticeship with Salifa has taught me how to turn oil drums into metal and metal into stoves and spades, and there’s more to come. It’s good work and I love the new skills, though we don’t yet have enough tools to go around.
Skills are precious to me as I didn’t get to go to school. But with the income I’ll make from blacksmithing I can give my two children the education I never had. It will give them a life, which means I can feel more confident about their future. I’ll be saving money for their classes, which is something no one in my community does, but I know it’s for the best.
Blacksmith Salifa Idi
