In the kitchen of a modest Fairfield home, video images from Liberia flash across a laptop computer screen.

On a PBS program spotlighting the emotional and physical rejuvenation of young women abused during more than a dozen years of civil war, the women are telling their stories. While they speak of the horrors of war, they also talk about rebuilding their lives through education.

That vocational training is being provided, to a large degree, by Village Ministries, a non-profit organization co-founded by a Liberian pastor and Victoria registered nurse, Helen Fletcher.

Seated at her kitchen table, Fletcher beams as she watches and listens to the success stories.

She has a right to. Many of the women interviewed learned tailoring through Village Ministries’ first vocational school and have begun the slow path to self-sufficiency by starting their own business.

“When I first went there in 2006 (with Mercy Ships, a medical/health relief program), I realized that you need the women … They are the ones who will spend the money wisely – they’re the future leaders.” Many of these women are the breadwinners in their families, she adds.

Existing in a “fragile peace” since 2003, Liberia is also filled with 10,000 former child soldiers. Forced into service during the war years, these young people – many are still boys – are reviled by villagers, primarily the women, who suffered under their hand.

In its attempt to bring peace and development to the country, Village Ministries has given the boys a place in the school.

The deal? Hand over your weapons and you can learn a trade, Fletcher says. To keep a lid on tensions, they are schooled at different times than the women, she notes. But the process of reforming the young men from fear-inspiring thugs to productive members of a rebuilding society is moving forward.

Dozens have enrolled in trades training for masonry, agriculture, carpentry and auto body repair. The women also take courses in cosmetology and hairdressing, and all students take math to learn basic business skills. So far, 435 people have graduated.

The war left Liberia impoverished – an estimated three-quarters of the population subsist on less than a dollar a day; at least half on less than 50 cents a day. That said, its people struggle to find food and stay healthy.

Training people is one thing, but doing followup to see if the students are applying what they learned is the job of Fletcher and Pastor Eric Sumo, the man on the ground in Liberia.

Sumo does missionary work in 30 villages in and around the capital of Monrovia and looks after four churches. He sees the direct results of the work students have done to get themselves ahead.

“The students are excited about the great opportunity to learn these various trades,” he writes in an e-mail. Some have become entrepreneurs, while others have taken jobs with other companies. “Because of the state of poverty, the education they just received is a big opportunity that will mean a permanent improvement in their lives if they apply what they have learned.”

Among the 30 women in the first graduating class in February 2008, some have managed to put their children in school – not inexpensive at about $250 per year, per student. The operation of schools in Liberia is just starting to gain momentum after being essentially eliminated during the war.

Other graduates’ victories are more modest, such as clothing their families in items they made, or providing more frequent meals. Fletcher will return to Liberia in February to assess how the former soldiers are doing, in terms of finding or creating gainful employment.

As for Sumo, he hopes the education has a ripple effect, from graduates to their families, to whole villages. In the long term, he says, such a trend could lead to a reduction in overall poverty in Liberia.

The vocational school is not simply a program to help feed the starving, Fletcher says. It’s about giving war-affected young people in one of the world’s poorest countries some hope for their future.

editor@oakbaynews.com