Training youths to be shoemakers

Training youths to be shoemakers

TANGERANG (JP): With a Rp 50 million (US$5,620) fund from the
2000 budget, the Tangerang Municipality is training 20 youths
from the slum area of Kampung Sawah, Pakojan subdistrict,
Cipondoh, to make shoes and sandals.

The eight-week course, held by instructors hired by the
municipality's Economic Affairs Division, is aimed at giving the
boys, all of whom are from poor families, skills to become
talented shoemakers.

Division head Suwardjono said over the weekend, "After
completing the short course (Aug. 29 to Oct. 26), the youths will
be provided with two sewing machines, a pressing machine, a
hemming machine, and the raw materials required to make shoes and
sandals."

"We hope that this group of young men can develop themselves
and then also help develop the economic engine at their isolated
Kampung Sawah village," the official said.

A course participant, Roni, who graduated from a local junior
high school last year, expressed his gratitude over the
municipality's plan and promised to do his best to complete the
course.

"It is better to work than being jobless. The point is, I'm
ready to be a shoemaker," Roni said. (41/bsr)