Winner's story: Skills that restore hope
For World Youth Skills Day, meet a young woman in the Democratic Republic of Congo whose sewing machine changed everything.
Written by Kirill Tarasenko
on August 4, 2026
Most mornings, Winner sits at her sewing machine. She has a small workshop in her community in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Winner measures, cuts and stitches for her customers. The work is steady and it is hers.
Two years ago, her life looked very different.
When Winner lost her father, everything she was building fell apart. At 20, she had to drop out of tailoring school. To survive, she sold water in the streets. Her dream of becoming a tailor faded a little more each day, and with it, her sense of self.
Where the change began
The turning point came when Winner joined the Youth Ready program, World Vision's skills training program for young people. Before she ever threaded a needle, the program's coaches began with Winner's mindset: helping her believe her life could still go somewhere.
Winner says the training “restored her will to live.” She learned to know herself, set goals, take herself seriously and believe in a future with possibilities.
That is by design, says Martin Mukenge, an education specialist at World Vision.
“Youth Ready is more than just training. It's a journey of personal and professional transformation,” he explains. “It helps young people reconnect with their dignity, define a life plan and, most importantly, believe in themselves. We don't give them ready-made solutions. We help them become solutions for their communities.”
After the foundational training, Winner chose to return to what she loved: tailoring. Six months later, she completed her specialization and received a sewing machine, fabric, scissors and thread. Simple tools, but enough to launch her craft.
Just five months after finishing her training, Winner set up a workshop at home. Today she earns her own income, covers her personal needs and is saving so she can one day return to tailoring school and keep growing.
Winner at the sewing machine she received after completing her Youth Ready training. (Photo: Didier Nagifi/World Vision)
“I'm happy. I have a skill no one can take from me,” she says. “No man can manipulate me anymore. I feel strong. My dream is to open a big workshop with many machines of all kinds.”
One story among hundreds
Winner's story is remarkable, but it is not rare. In her community, 290 young people have enrolled in skills training through the Youth Ready approach, learning trades like tailoring, masonry, mechanics, driving, beauty, carpentry and metalwork.
“For many, like Winner, it has been a turning point,” says Faustin Kisanzala, a child well-being facilitator with World Vision. “We see real change, a visible transformation in how they think and act.”
That transformation is what World Youth Skills Day, marked every July 15, is all about. This year's theme, “skills for a shared future,” highlights this truth: when a young person gains a skill, the community around them grows stronger. A tailor clothes her neighbours. A mechanic keeps a village moving. A carpenter builds the spaces where people gather.
What your support makes possible
None of this happens on its own. When you give to World Vision, you can help make skills training like Winner's possible. Your support can provide the trainers, the courses and the starter tools—like that first sewing machine—that turn a young person's potential into a livelihood.
We believe every young person is made in the image of God, carrying gifts He intends to be used. Programs like Youth Ready help uncover those gifts, restoring hope, dignity and purpose where hardship tried to take them away.
Winner would tell you it works. “Thank you to World Vision for giving me the hope to live,” she says.
This World Youth Skills Day, you can help another young person discover the skill, and the future, that no one can take from them.
Learn more about our education work .