Introducing the ‘MY FIRST JOB’ Program

We are proud to introduce to you a brand new program we hope you will become excited about just as much as we are.

The sad reality is that some girls in remote Western China still find themselves as young women with little or no education to speak of. China has made incredible progress in makng education available to everyone, however, poverty and prejudice still result in some girls falling through the cracks. These girls, now 16+ years of age and largely illiterate, ask the daunting question of “what now?”. The simple reality is that the options are few. It’s too late for school scholarships, and without help, the future has many clouds for these women. At Captivating, we believe the best solution is getting these young women safely into their first job. This program is about joining the dots – matching the need with a good first employer – and attempting to position these girls with some skills and mentoring so that this first job is much better than otherwise expected.

Our first ‘MY FIRST JOB’ initiative is focused on providing 6 months of intensive Cooking training for ten rural illiterate girls. This program commenced a few weeks ago. These girls will be trained over a six month period with the objective of getting them into approved restaurants as junior chiefs. We will then keep in contact with the girl for the next two years to support her and track her progress. The trainees are from different counties and regions of Qinghai Province and they all come from rural and impoverished families.

Meet Limojyid. She is 23 years old and from Guinan County, Qinghai. She dropped school when she was only in grade two at primary school. Since then Limojyid has been helping her family herding. “This is my first time to Xining City ever in my life and I was very excited when my father told me that there is a chance to attend cooking training. I hope I can get a paid job in a restaurant so I can help my father with supporting the family financially.” said Limojyid. 

Thank you to TJ and Michelle, Rebecca A, and Donna & Leigh who have generously funded the beginning of this program. We are still needing to raise a further US$9,500 to fully fund this program. If you would like to donate and receive updates on the progress of these 10 girls and their first jobs, please contact andrewc@captivating.org. We would love to partner with you to help bring a brighter future to these wonderful young ladies.