Our latest project with the Golder Trust for Orphans takes us to the island of Mauritius, to support the Oasis de Paix school. Founded in 2006, Oasis de Paix is a school for children between 11 and 18 years old. Due to a variety of learning and financial hardships they were marginalized in Mauritius’ education system and were unable to succeed. The children are missing basic reading, writing and numeracy skills and thus fail the mandatory Certificate of Primary Education (CPE) exams; thus condemning them to further economic and social exclusion.
However, a second chance exists for them at Oasis de Paix! Teachers use tailored programs for each child to help them learn with the goal of the child retaking the CPE and rejoining the mainstream education system.
Oasis de Paix also provides preprofessional training with skills to help older children become employable. Their program includes apprenticeships and training opportunities in:
- Welding
- Wood-working workshops focused on sculpture
- Arts and craft workshops
- Embroidery, sewing, painting on fabric, baskets, jewelry and flower making.
For many children this is their last chance for an education that will lead to employability.
Oasis has also partnered with the Mauritius Institute of Training and Development (MITD) and together they created an equal standard curriculum that will give students a foundational skills level should they wish to study further at MITD.
Golder was introduced to Oasis de Paix through our operations in Mauritius and after putting Oasis de Paix through our NGO evaluation process, they were selected as a GTO project.
We’re proud to support the education of these young people through the dedication of our GTO volunteers and generous donations. Over $40,000 USD in grant funding will be provided for a welding classroom and courses; as well as upgrades to the classroom (Health and Safety standards including electrical rewiring), tools and equipment, desks and salary for the instructor for the first year.
