Graduated and Welding

Darius at work

The Center for Champions welding program has been graduating skilled and employable welders since it opened in 2008. Welding remains an in-demand skill in Rwanda’s developing economy, particularly in the growing construction sector.

Here, we speak with two graduates who have built their lives around the skills they gained at the Center for Champions.

Darius with his wife and son

Darius completed secondary school, focusing on history, geography, and economics. But without the means to attend university or secure formal employment, he stayed home to help his parents on their small farm and worked as a casual laborer.

At the time, his prospects felt limited. Then he learned about the Center for Champions and enrolled in the one-year welding course. Seven years after graduating in 2015, Darius is now a highly experienced welder. He describes himself as self-employed, contracting with businesses and institutions to provide maintenance services.

There’s no doubt in his mind that the course changed his life: “I started earning money because of the skill that I learned. Through that I managed to build this house. I don’t rent—I own it. I also managed to find a wife and pay the dowry for her. And now I have a family.”

Amiable

After graduating in 2016, Amiable began an unpaid internship to hone his skills. It was a tough year. “If you are doing an internship, it is you who are paying!” he says. “I did a mix of temporary construction work to support myself.”

Raised by a single parent who worked as a casual farm laborer, Amiable was committed to his trade and to improvin g his skills. Now, after several years of working independently, he earns RWF 6,000 a day (close to six US dollars)—far more than a casual laborer—and can support his wife and nine-year-old son.

Asked how his son’s life will be different from his own, he replies, “Totally different. If my son has a father like me—a father who is working—he will go to a good school.”

Reflecting on his time at the Center for Champions, Amiable says: “For me, it was good. I gained knowledge, and now it’s helping me to thrive.”