This was located in Mponela Town, located on the main road north from Lilongwe, a drive of about 45 minutes. Within the town, the workshop is located down a lane within a dense population of traditional houses. The trainer and owner of the workshop since 2005 is Newton Soko. Newton trained at the Soche Technical College in Blantyre for four years (1990-94). He spent a further two years in South Africa (1998-2000) upgrading his skills on both manual and electric tools. His workshop was clearly respected for its quality of goods and his business brisk.
Each day was started with a theory lesson in a small classroom behind the workshop. Soon there would be simple products available for sale (as this was a test in the quality of their work) and monies received were being put into an account. Although the training had only started three weeks earlier Newton was already able to give the opportunity for some of the trainees to work on simple tasks on Saturdays for which they were being paid.
Trainees – left to right
Austain Banda, 28 years. He has a polio weakness in one leg.
Bickson Phiri 29 years. He has a club foot.
Mike Magalasi, 20 years. He has a hand deformity.
Workshop supervisor – Tony Nthala
Thomas Lyson 24 years. He has a club foot.
Halex Molosi, 30 years. He has a polio deformity in one hand.
The workshop was spacious, light and airy. Piles of shavings and stools under construction were evidence of activity. Before leaving the workshop there was careful treatment of tools as they were put away, e.g. withdrawing the plane blades before storing. There will be a toolkit for each trainee on completion of his course to aid establishing his own business.
For more photographs (link to photo gallery)