Men’s fellowship equips village youths with carpentry skills

An Assemblies of God (AOG) church minister is leading a grassroots effort to address the lack of carpentry skills among youths at village level.

Inoke Vakatabai, who manages a men’s church fellowship group at Batiri Village in Macuata, is currently in Nacodreudreu Village in Cakaudrove, where he and his team are training church youths in basic carpentry skills.

Ten youths are taking part in the programme, which involves hands-on training through the construction of wooden sitting benches for the Nacodreudreu Village church.

“We have engaged the Nacodreudreu youths to learn the trade from us so we can contribute to church maintenance and other carpentry needs, such as constructing sitting benches,” Mr Vakatabai said.

A former Public Works Department (PWD) employee, Mr Vakatabai said the initiative aims to empower iTaukei youths with practical skills that benefit their communities while also improving employability.

“Many iTaukei youths in other villages have already learnt from our men’s church group, and we aim to spread this skill to other areas of the division,” he said.

The group plans to move on to Vanuavou Village in Cakaudrove to continue the training.

Mr Vakatabai said iTaukei communities had access to abundant natural resources, including timber, making carpentry skills especially valuable.

He said relying on external carpenters for church maintenance or simple tasks such as building benches was costly due to labour charges.

A total of 24 benches are expected to be built, with three completed when this newspaper visited the village earlier this week.

“This is an income-generating project for the men’s fellowship back home, and we want other villages to generate income from this trade,” he said.

Government assistance requested

To improve efficiency and expand the programme to more villages, Mr Vakatabai has requested Government assistance in the form of electrical tools.

“Previously, we used a manual wood planer, but now we have an electric wood planer which speeds up our work,” he said.

He said an electric circular saw and an electric drill would further improve productivity.

Nacodreudreu Village resident and Wailevu East Coast Assemblies of God assistant church minister, Etati Rokoua, said youths should be treated as assets and moulded through empowerment programmes.

“When youths are prioritised and engaged in income-generating skills training, it contributes positively to village development,” Mr Rokoua said.

He encouraged skilled village carpenters to take responsibility by training communities that lacked carpentry expertise.

Those wishing to assist or support the initiative can contact Mr Vakatabai on 8061013.