Skills course empowers Rohingya refugees

PETALING JAYA: When she first arrived in Malaysia, Rohingya refugee Rahana Nur Salam couldn’t imagine how she and her family would survive.

But now Rahana, 29, is rebuilding her life with the help of PieceWorks Vocational Training Centre.

She is among the first batch of refugee women who have graduated with a certificate in baking after completing a course aimed at skills training and capacity building.

The Kedah-based centre is run by the non-profit social enterprise arm of New Thessalonian Apostolate (NTA).

Rahana and her coursemates have received their certificates in baking, along with a new set of baking tools, at a graduation ceremony in Alor Setar recently.

It was a bright moment for the Rohingya community here.

Rahana was one of thousands who fled Myanmar in rickety boats and made perilous jungle treks.

Kedah is home to almost 6,000 Rohingya stateless refugees.

Many face limited options and legal challenges in finding ways to support themselves and their families, said NTA founder and director-general Dave J. Kameron.

“We hope our work here at NTA will help at least some of these victims begin new chapters on the path toward stability,” he said in a statement.

As for Rahana, it is definitely a new start.

“My husband is happy that I have learned something new, if we get the chance in future, we would like to open a small shop so that we can work for ourselves and be our own boss,” she said.

In the statement, the NTA said it planned to offer basic training in skills such as sewing and automotive repair to help the men and women from the Rohingya refugee community support themselves and their families.

All is done to provide non-discriminatory and unconditional service for those in need.

The Certificate in Baking is the first in a series of courses under its vocational training programme.

PieceWorks is now developing a complementary programme aimed at helping its course graduates find work.

“We are in talks with a blue collar job matching platform and are actively looking into finding partners with whom we can develop CSR-based initiatives for workshops and skills training.

“We are also looking for retail platforms through which we can eventually sell and market products made by entrepreneurs within the community,” said its executive director of external affairs Sherril Netto Vijayan

Marianne Kameron, programme director for the PieceWorks Vocational Training Programme, said they decided to empower the Rohingya women first because they realised they are voiceless and often dependent on their husbands due to a strong patriarchal culture within their community.

“In cases where they lost their husbands, or their husbands are unsupportive or abusive, they are especially vulnerable, and basically left without options.

“We wanted to empower them to stand on their own two feet and say, ‘hey, I can be a supporting factor in my community and in the family. I am worth something’,” she said.