By Kai Mansa-Musa
Her name is Yainkain Samura. She is 28 years married but with no kids. She works in a metal workshop where she makes aluminum frames for doors, windows, shelves, cupboards and internal partitions in houses and shops etc., and installs them. She also does welding and intends to continue her training in the making of stainless steels for as railings for steps and verandahs railing on the inside and outside of houses. She says the later is the most lucrative in her line of work, but she is yet to perfect it. She mainly does aluminum frames and welding and started on her job as an apprentice in November 25, 2019.
“I attended school and sat to the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE), but after completing secondary school I could not further my education as I had no sponsors, so I started selling cold water and soft drinks,” she said.
“It came to a time when I decided to learn a trade, but I was not sure about what trade I should learn,” she said.
At the same time the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF) was inviting applications for recruiting soldiers so she decided to join the army because she has three credits and three passes at WASSCE.
“When my husband discovered that I intended to be a soldier we discussed it. Although he was positive about my prospect of being selected with the WASSCE result I had, he was unfavorable to me joining the army because the postings that come with the military profession would have mean that we would be apart for long periods and we would not be able to be together which was our dream as man and wife,” she said.
She said that her husband, a plumber gave her the option of choosing another technical job, besides plumbing after considering that plumbing involves some aspect of hard labor like mortising.
Yainkain said that she considered and preferred the option of acquiring a technical skill because it is better than going to the army, because one could be dismissed from the army, but with the technical skills she has now acquired “they would serve me to be independent for the rest of my life”.
She said that through her husband she was introduced to Mr Sullayman Jalloh at Kewulley Aluminium Service. “He brought me to my current workshop and introduced me to my current boss who accepted me,” she said.
“My husband and I bought a tape rule, a screwdriver and a plier; the basic tools that I needed to commence my training. I commenced my training as an apprentice at the Kewullay Alluminium Service which was established by former Leone Stars Captain Kewullay Conteh, supervised by my boss Sullayman Jalloh. When I decided to take up this trade many of my relatives and friends disagreed with my choice on the notion that the trade is one meant for men,” she said.
“Three months later they attempted to justify their notion that the job was meant for men only and increased pressure on her to quit the job after she sustained an injury on her hand while she was using the electric cutter; but this only strengthened my resilience and determination to prove to them that they were wrong. I was fired up by the fact that they had doubted my resolve to succeed and follow through on my commitment to learn the trade,” she said. A month after sustaining her first injury she sustained a second when a portion of glass which she was carrying broke fell off and pierced her feet. This was in 2019. Since then, she has not sustained any injuries and has progress steadily in honing her skills on the job so much that she works with a minimal amount of supervision. Her bosses could delegate tasks to which she assumes responsibility for from the time of making estimates, taking measurements, purchasing materials, building of whatever job specification the customer would have desired and installing them.
However, Yainkain says that she has to deal with the fact that most times customers are uneasy when she is assigned to perform the tasks which are delegated to her. She gets back chats from customers which indicate to her that whenever she is assigned to do a task the customers become apprehensive that her bosses had not treated the job with utmost level of seriousness because they had assigned a woman to do it. She says that at times her bosses go to the extent of admonishing the customers to allay their fears of her not being able to do a good job. “But I always prove them wrong. When I am doing my job it is those who doubt me the most that pay keen attention to what I do and I like it because it gives me the opportunity to change their orientation and their perception about my ability. Many atimes they are so amazed that they become silent after I would have completed the job and some even confess that they are amazed by the level of my proficiency,” she said.
Yainkain lives at number 29 Sumaila Town, a place on the hills overlooking Pa Demba Road, in Freetown a city where many youths struggle to get three square meals a day as a result of unemployment and poverty. She is now an epitome of how the resilience and resourcefulness of women could make a difference in their circumstance. She said that she could now do a lot more on her own and complements her husband in the economic responsibilities of their family. She has won the respect of her family members who had initially doubted her ability on the job she chose to do, especially when it is visible that the job has contributed to improvements in her welfare which are apparent to all of them. She lives in a rented apartment with her husband. She is a source of inspiration to both her family members and age-mates at the community in which she lives at Sumaila Town and many youth male and female alike have emulated her example by opting for technical jobs of various sort to be able to make their lives better.
Yainkain Samura plans to open her own Aluminium business where she would be training girls to do the same job she now does. She says that the first stage of his nine-year plan is to firs acquire the necessary machines, like the Electric Cutter, the Hand Drill, Wall Drill, Rivet Plier etc.