A new WAVS campus. A new future.

Since opening its first campus in rural West Africa, the WAVS School has trained more than 1,000 students.

Now, for the first time in 13 years, the school is expanding.

Welcome to the Bissau Campus.

How do you and I help create a world where everyone has the opportunity to provide for themselves and their families? We do it by investing in people themselves.

As a supporter of the WAVS School and its staff, you have been a part of realizing that vision – starting in a nearly forgotten corner of the world called Guinea-Bissau.

For the last 13 years, the WAVS School in Guinea-Bissau has transformed the futures of young women and men by equipping them with life-changing job skills. One year after completing their courses, more than 75% of graduates are working or continuing their studies. This means that young people like Ciro, Rumario, and Rosa can now use their own skills and abilities to provide for their families – for the rest of their lives.

What we’re doing is working.

Sergio, center, welds together a piece of metal at a the local welding shop where he works. A few years ago, Sergio was unemployed and only made a few dollars here and there from working odd jobs. Determined to escape a life of poverty, he enrolled in the WAVS Vocational School’s welding program.

But instead of training 200 students each year, what if the WAVS School could train 1,000 students … every single year?

Instead of one campus, what if there was a network of schools and partnerships throughout the region?

Instead of transforming one town, what if we could play a role in transforming an entire country?

We can. And here’s how.

Instead of transforming one town, what if we could play a role in transforming an entire country?

I’d like to introduce you to the Bissau Campus. For several years, we have been working with Guinea-Bissau’s government to try to secure property in the country’s capital, Bissau, to establish a second campus. But every time we got close to reaching an agreement, new government officials came in to replace the old ones and we had to start from scratch all over again.

But earlier this year, we finally worked out an agreement. And it was better than we could have ever imagined.

The school needed at least 10 acres of land for the Bissau Campus. We acquired 27 acres.

The school needed to be in a specific neighborhood where the city is growing rapidly. We ended up with prime real estate within that exact neighborhood.

It was nothing short of a miracle.

I want to be clear. The Bissau Campus is not just a second campus that will double the school’s impact. The new campus will serve at least 5 times as many students in a city with 10 times as many youth and on a piece of property 15 times the size of the first campus.

The Bissau Campus will be a flagship campus that will serve as a training ground for teachers and students, and as a launching pad to establish new campuses and partnerships throughout the region.

This is how we grow. This is how we invest in Guinea-Bissau’s future leaders. This is how you and I help create a world where everyone has something so basic, yet so critical: opportunity.

Thank you for believing in this vision. Thank you for believing in the future leaders of Guinea-Bissau.