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Marie-Louise, 23, wanted to be a welder even back in school. She realized university was out of reach, but she liked the idea of welding. Her parents couldn’t afford to send her to school past secondary 3, so she stayed at home looking after her them for two years wondering what future she had. When the AEE project came to her area, she enrolled quickly, and “when they asked what training I wanted, I wrote welding. I said I don’t want to do hairdressing, I don’t want to do mechanics, I don’t want to do tailoring, I want to do welding.” Her fellow students, almost all boys said she wouldn’t make it, but “when I heard that I was more committed.”
Marie-Louise talks passionately, emphatically, about welding. “When I am cutting the steel, I feel excited. When I start welding with my classmates around me, I feel very proud of myself.”
There is no shortage of work for Marie-Louise. She can earn a sound living and live her passion.
