Uwimbabazi Rose (17 years old) is a female student of welding at Kirehe youth welding project funded . Her story is a clear example of someone who has gone for the ‘men’s’ course. She says “At the beginning I was scared to touch any welding equipment let alone the protective gear because I thought power would shock me,” she says. “However I got used after getting training from my teachers, Mr. Fideri Rutimbo.”
Uwimbabazi Rose says circumstances pushed her to work much harder than everyone in order to know twice as much as the boys and weld twice as better.“There’s this feeling that you can’t do this or that because you are weak and fragile. And that’s true to an extent. You probably can’t lift as much as your average male welder but the job is more than that so girls can still outdo their male counterparts,” she notes.
Uwimbabazi Rose, whose class is largely composed of male students, says together with her collogue girl Mukakaragwe Mary Chantal are both source of attention in their class. “Much as they (male classmates) treat with respect, they don’t know how to approach us. They look at us as some kind of outcast but myself I am not bothered because I know the solution is in working hard,” she notes. I am just few months away from completing my one-year and half course. I will search for employment as soon as I’m done but with a plan of raising capital to start my own business,” she says.
