The GODWIN VOCATIONAL TRAINING CENTER (GVTC) in Sierra Leone, West Africa opened its doors in 2011.  From the start, the school has focused on training women who are disadvantaged either by poverty, sexual abuse, teenage pregnancies, and/or domestic violence.  Most of these young women dropped out of school early and are chronically marginalized because of their lack of education and social status. 

                  The Godwin Vocational Training Center exists

                   to give these women a second chance at an

                   education and to enable them to carve out a

                   career and one day own their own business

                   and become leaders in their community.
 

​

With its success, the GVTC has become not only a Vocational School but also a Preschool, Kindergarten, Primary School and Middle School. As a result, the former building became too small to accommodate all of the students.  The new facility enables the Vocational School to add additional curricululum to their current list of classes in Catering, Tailoring & Dressmaking, Gara Tie-Dying, Art & Craft, Computer Studies, Hairdressing, Adult Literacy and Business Studies/Entrepreneurship.  It also brings all of the children’s care and schooling under the same roof; a big bonus in a country where, on average, it rains 100 inches during the six-month-long rainy season.