On April 19, 2022, we started our First Batch of Skills training in Basic Cookery with 23 participants coming from Watam Island, Malagunan Village, Baining Village, Waranguy Village, and Rakunai Village, Kabaira and Lungalunga village. We started the training with our usual procedure of registration of participants, orientation on the policies and guidelines of the centre and all the needed health protocols for Covid 19 prevention. Each day was always begun with a simple prayer/ fellowship and reflection on the Word of God for the day.
As part of the Covid 19 Protocol, the training was always started with the making of the face mask (hand sewn). They were provided with apron and head dress to protect their clothes and also for hygiene purposes. For their weekly formation they were given inputs on the following: Charism of the Congregation, SSJ Founders, Vision-Mission of the Training Centre, Values of Nazareth, On Gender, Techniques in Basic Cookery, Safety measures during cooking, Introduction of the different cooking equipment and accessories ( how to use them and take good care of them). Proper handling of food before and after cooking and keeping the kitchen always clean and orderly, maintenance of gas range and oven is part of their daily task.
Together with the sewing trainees, they had PowerPoint presentation on the Care of Creation (Laudato Si, on Costing and Pricing with simple accounting in case they engage in small business enterprise.
During the training they were able to learn around 60 recipes in (cooking and baking) using the garden products of our organic garden and also from their own garden produce. They also had the opportunity to have their practicum where they have to teach a certain recipe which they have already learned. It is also an opportunity for them to recall what they have learned and learn how to impart with confidence what they have learned.
The trainees enjoyed baking pumpkin scones which for the first time in their life they use pumpkin for cooking. They normally serve the pumpkin to feed their pigs and they only cook the pumpkin tips with coconut cream mixed with boiled cooking bananas. Now, they realized that with pumpkin, they can bake pumpkin cake, pumpkin scones, pumpkin muffins, and cook pumkin omelette, pumpkin ukoy mixed with sweet potatoes and pumpkin soup. They were very grateful to discover that many of their garden products can be used in different delicious recipes.
There are other recipes which they are learning for the first time and also other ways of baking without using an oven. In their villages, they have no electricity so they usually use firewood. They were taught how to bake using an ordinary but big cooking pot. What a joy for them to discover that they can now bake cakes using an ordinary cooking pot. With their learnings, they realized that they can make small business using the simple recipes they have learned. In their formation session especially on the rights and privileges of women as well as the significant and important roles of women in the homes, in the Church and in the Society, they learned to accept and appreciate their value and dignity as women, as women pregnant with life, as women pregnant with God’s love through their caring and enduring gift of self-giving as they cook and bake for their families.
All these are amazing experiences of affirmations, of transformation and collaboration in the building of God’s kingdom here on earth.
The Basic Sewing Course started on March 14, 2022. Because of the increased number of participants, this time, we had 18 women participants, we needed to buy four (4) more hand sewing machines during the training so that all the trainees will have their own sewing machine to use. With this opportunity, they also learned how to handle their sewing machine with care. We still need more portable electric Sewing for the training but we intend to buy them gradually because it is quite expensive. For the remaining days, the trainees were able to finish all their projects which are requirements for them to graduate.
The trainees also shared their own training experiences in one of our sessions. They generally expressed that the training had really helped them to discover and appreciate the value of sewing and they are hopeful that with the skill newly acquired, they can make a difference in their life, become more productive by sewing and selling what they have sewn or to be able to get a job for their own sustenance and that of their family. They have learned to dream for a better life, a more meaningful lifestyle, different from what they were used to do in their villages of just sitting and telling stories doing nothing but with their acquired skill, they can be creative, joyful, harmonizing prayer and work while sewing and dreaming to own a sewing machine through the help of their families so that they could start doing their small business. It is really amazing to see them very enthusiastic to finish their projects to be used for their graduation and to be given as a gift to their family members.
Finally, on May 13, 2022, we had the graduation of the Basic Cooking Course (one month)
together with the graduands of the Basic Sewing Course (two months).
During the graduation, we had the celebration of the Holy Eucharist presided by our Parish Priest, Fr. Francis Paska. Some representatives from the Local Government of Rabaul District attended the graduation. In their speeches, they expressed their gratitude to the Training Centre, to the Sisters and trainers and to the main sponsor: Taller de Solidaridad for their Financial Assistance in order to carry out the Training in Basic Sewing and Basic Cookery which is a big help for the women of Rabaul to be empowered and prepared to get employed, earn a living to support their family and to uplift their dignity as women. They felt happy to be given the privilege to help in the distribution of Certificates and Awards to the graduands.
Since most of our graduates are school drop-outs, they felt so happy and grateful of their graduation experience wearing their finished project (blouse and skirt) as their graduation attire. They said: “We came to the training without knowing how to use the sewing machine, the ruler and the tape measure… Being able to know how to draft patterns cut our sewing materials and sew them and to receive a certificate is for us a big achievement. Thank you, Lord! Thank you, SSJ Sisters! Thank you, Taller de Solidaridad!”
After the mass and the distribution of Certificates and awards, we had lunch prepared by the Cookery graduates who were so happy to see that everybody enjoyed what they had cooked for this significant occasion. Some cooked food was also brought by the families of the Sewing graduates. It was a very simple celebration but very meaningful for the graduates and for all those who came to attend the graduation.
We want to express our deep gratitude to you, Taller de Solidaridad, for your commitment as our Co-Partner in the SSJ Mission here in Papua New Guinea, specifically in the Archdiocese of Rabaul. What you share with us are blessings to so many underprivileged, unemployed and unskilled women from the different villages of Rabaul. They are now going home with their smiles, manifesting their hopes to venture into small businesses, with gratitude to God, to TDS, to their families and to the Centre for the skills acquired and the experiences of living in the Centre during the training days. INDEED, EVERYTHING IS A BLESSING. THANKS BE TO GOD.
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