– secures job with city restaurant

By Shirley Thomas
WITH great pride and joy and a sense of accomplishment, 39-year-old Cellon Timmerman, a former student of the Charlestown Secondary School, strutted onto the stage of the National Cultural Centre last Wednesday to receive the coveted Certificate as the Best Graduating Student in Catering — one of the many courses offered by the Board of Industrial Training.

The South Georgetown mother of two fought hard to hold back tears of joy as she shared with those assembled her experience in journeying through the course.

Instead of an attack of the dreaded cold feet, the presence of dignitaries at the graduation buoyed Cellon into mustering up the courage to step forward and share her story; for on this, her special day, she was a celebrity and had the attention of a distinguished gathering, she later told the Sunday Chronicle.

Of the course, Cellon said: “I must say that it was challenging but it was wonderful, and there are fun times that I could look back on. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the programme. I must first say thanks to those who introduced me to the programme, then say thank you Jesus for giving me the health, strength and determination to successfully complete it and so make my parents, trainers and all those who supported or invested in me proud.

“I can now look back on it with pride and joy as I share my experience journeying through the programme. But initially it was with great trepidation that I approached it, not knowing what to expect or how much was expected of me; nor was I sure whether I had the potential required to make it successfully through to the end. All I knew was that I liked cooking.”

Cellon recalls that when she first started the programme, she wondered how the practical assignments would be completed in four months, and silently questioned her ability to cope.

“But I was wrong,” she added. “I must say I was inspired by teacher Ms. Grace, who, when students were not living up to expectations, would caution us in a rather no nonsense tone of voice: ‘You either stay and burn or cut and run!’ But yet, from her very body language, you immediately knew that it did not mean that you had a choice; you had, of necessity, to ‘stay and burn!’”

She then remembered her pastor’s counsel for overcoming trials.
He would say: “The more trials face you, just remember that ‘the finest pottery comes through the fiercest heat’. He would explain that, in making ceramics, if the clay was not sufficiently “fired” it would not assume a perfect finish, and might have to go back into the heat again until it is thoroughly baked.
“The moral of the story was that situations may come your way to teach you to endure to the end and make you strong. That was the story of the ‘potter’s clay’, and so I stayed and endured, and today I am proud that coming out of that experience I was adjudged the Best Graduating Student in Catering.”

She said that, more than anything else, her attention was focused on successfully completing the course and one day being able to clinch a job in some reputable catering entity. After all, she had a love for cooking and thought that it would be to her advantage if she were to do it at a professional level.

And her hard work was not in vain, for she was successful in securing employment as a cook at a reputable restaurant in Georgetown, where she is fully and meaningfully utilizing her newly acquired skills.

Her course was done at the Eccles Training Centre under Miss Grace Grant-Andries, and Cellon recalled that sometimes in one day they did as many as five practicals with the assistance of Ms Torisa and Ms. Tandica from the last graduating class.

She said: “And they all delivered well. I was able to master the art of making rice dishes; chicken beef, fish, pastries, roti, buns and other things too numerous to mention.
“If I had the opportunity to do it all over again, I would be right back at Eccles Training Centre where I did my course. I enjoyed every moment of it, because I like cooking. The course was challenging, but I loved it.”

A notable and appreciable feature of the programme, Cellon said, was that it catered to the welfare needs of the students. Trainees would come to the programme with different problems, but the mechanism was in place to respond to those needs through counselling and related interventions.

With an attitude of gratitude, Cellon has words of appreciation for her supporters: “I want to say a special thank you to the Government of Guyana and the Board of Industrial Training for giving me a lifetime experience. To all my teachers, especially the teachers of Eccles Training Centre – Ms. Grace Grant Andries, Miss Torisa, Ms. Scotland, Ms Karen and Sr. Seon Bastiani — I thank you all.”

And finally, she had words of encouragement for other persons who might pursue training: “Whatever you’ve started, make a good job of it and continue to the end. Try and try. You’ll succeed at last.”

The BIT, for its part, plans to continue to intensify the delivery of technical and vocational skills training with a view to addressing the skills demand needs, not only for the existing, but also other emerging industries.

The programme aims to intensify delivery of technical and vocational skills training to vulnerable groups, such as youths from depressed communities, single parents and school drop-outs.

Among the attendees at the graduation were Minister of Social Protection, Volda Lawrence; and Permanent Secretary Loreen Baird; Chairman of the Board of Industrial Training, Mr. Clinton Williams; Region Four Chairman Ms. Genevieve Allen; and other BIT officials and trainers.

In his remarks at last Wednesday’s graduation ceremony, BIT Chairman Mr. Clinton Williams said the ultimate goal of these programmes is geared not only to positively impact increased employment generation, entrepreneurship and empowerment; but, by extension, it should be viewed as a vital socio-economic intervention as it relates to poverty alleviation and crime prevention, he said.

In closing, the Chairman assured: “We [at BIT] believe that we are sufficiently poised to make a tangible contribution to the current Administration’s programme and policies aimed at producing a good life for all the people of Guyana.”