DIXON-HIGHTOWER
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FOUNDATION
Muriel's Place
Vocational Training Center
Who We Serve
The vocational training center for widows on the Solid Rock Youth Campus was started to provide another option for widows, with children, to make a living. We promote economically sustainable livelihoods and transformations, through God’s truth for those society considers worthless. It is our first prototype, and we will implement vocational training or support local training in future outreach.
In the DRC, many women and their children are forced off of their farmland and out of their homes by traditional law and relatives when their husbands die. The vocational training program was started to help provide an income as well as assure healthy diets for their children.
Widows accepted into the program listen during the orientation session.
Widows are provided free training, which includes an outline for the care of their children and marketing of their produce. During graduation, following completion of the course, the women are given tools to begin the use of their newly gained agricultural skills. Currently, the lives of over 100 women have been changed, in addition to those of their children.
Members of the first graduating class from Merial’s Place, pictured on their graduation day.
Muriel's Place Vocational Training Center
is named after Muriel Thompson, a giant among women in the world. She has worked tirelessly to help empower young women. Through her efforts, she has supported and worked with a range of projects which provide women in difficult situations with resources. This has included access to a comprehensive understanding of choices, as well as training for livelihoods.
She was part of the foundational organization in the USA, of Shifra’s gardens, which has developed into a national network of homes, which supports women with unplanned pregnancies.
She has been a faithful financial and moral supporter of Muriel’s Place.Through the DHF Muriel’s Place is one of the longest-running programs we sponsored, with over one hundred women having completed the greenhouse and cooperative marketing development training .Thank you for being an example for the rest of us.
Vocational program students tend Mel and Margaret’s Garden, grown from seeds and seedlings.
Widows are provided free training, which also includes practical instruction in planting and harvesting. In addition to classroom-based learning, they are guided in the application of agricultural knowledge to ensure they are equipped to implement these skills effectively.