Teams4u

Vocational Colleges

We support two vocational colleges, one in Waterloo, on the outskirts of the capital city Freetown, and one in Kailahun, to the East of Sierra Leone near Guinea and Liberia. These colleges empower women to learn a trade, become financially independent, grow in self-esteem, and become role models in their communities.

In Sierra Leone, women are commonly expected to stay in the home, marry, have children and be financially dependent on men. Women are discouraged from work and often are not taken seriously. Low self-esteem, abusive relationships and resorting to unsafe work to make ends meet is common.

One of the problems is here we are raised to pursue marriage and having children as our goal. We are raised to believe our place is behind that of our husbands or fathers or brothers. But what happens when our husbands leave us? Or our fathers can no longer feed us? We are alone.

Tutor, Kumba R Sellu Vocational College

“I am 20 years old. My parents, my brothers and all my sisters except one have died. I did not go to school because there is no money for my fees. I’ve had to break stones to support my daughter. I am so happy because of this opportunity. I want to learn something that will help me in the future and to support my family.” Student at Teams4U Vocational College, Waterloo

Vocational Colleges Change This Story

Tutors act as role models to women and teach them skills in catering, tailoring or hairdressing. Students, who are often school drop-outs unable to complete their education, are now able to support themselves and their dependents. Students learn business skills, like how to grow their business and how to be financially secure. They learn life skills like communication, conflict resolution, building confidence and self-esteem and handling themselves with dignity.

Our vocational colleges are not just about skills, they’re about life knowledge and how to survive.

Director, Helga Sellu

Currently there are around 100 students, over 90% of whom are women, making these vocational colleges unique in Sierra Leone.

Here you cannot rely on just your work. You need three or four things going on. We tell our students to save their money and buy a goat, or bulk buy what they need for the month, so they are always thinking ahead. When it comes to what they sell, we tell them to always be thinking about what others are doing, how they can improve, how they can make their product the best.

Director, Helga Sellu

The two colleges offer vocational skills courses in either catering, carpentry, hairdressing or tailoring.

Our Goals

Women realise their value and potential
Women are employed and able to support themselves and their dependents
Women find their ground in a male-dominated society, making themselves seen and heard.
Men and women see that women are equally intelligent and deserving of respect.
Women become partners in the development of their country.
Poverty is reduced
Domestic violence and sexual exploitation are reduced

I am 20 years old. My parents, my brothers and all my sisters except one have died. I did not go to school because there is no money for my fees. I’ve had to break stones to support my daughter. I am so happy because of this opportunity. I want to learn something that will help me in the future and to support my family.

Student at Teams4U Vocational College, Waterloo

We support women financially

To attend the colleges

For more women to attend the colleges, we need more student sponsors. Sponsoring a student costs £7.50/month and covers the costs of the materials she needs for her course. All for the price of a coffee and cake in the UK. Will you be our next student sponsor?

sponsor a student

ordinary people can
make a big difference

Sia is attending the training college in Koindu to learn Tailoring. Informal vocational skills training is a lifeline for many students like Sia who, for various reasons, never graduated from secondary school. The training centre focuses on practical skills and becoming financially self-sufficient.
It costs £7.50 per month to support a student to complete a vocational skills course and give them the skills to succeed.

“Teams4U is all about drawing alongside children, showing them someone cares about them and believes in them. We want to be dream-makers, the kind of people that challenge these often forgotten-about kids and ask them what they want to be, what do they want to do? We are about helping remove the obstacles that can prevent these kids from achieving their hopes and plans (such as our education programmes in Romania and Develop with Dignity programme in Uganda) but we want to go deeper than that. We want to help these kids believe in themselves; sow that one seed that says they can achieve what they want to achieve.”

“Teams4U is all about drawing alongside children, showing them someone cares about them and believes in them. We want to be dream-makers, the kind of people that challenge these often forgotten-about kids and ask them what they want to be, what do they want to do? We are about helping remove the obstacles that can prevent these kids from achieving their hopes and plans (such as our education programmes in Romania and Develop with Dignity programme in Uganda) but we want to go deeper than that. We want to help these kids believe in themselves; sow that one seed that says they can achieve what they want to achieve.”

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