Pinehas Nakaziko
Windhoek-The 21-year-old Kavezembua Kaute, a Level 3 cooking trainee at the Nakayale Vocational Training Centre has been awarded the Best of Nations award at the recent 2017 World Skills International (WSI) competition held in Abu Dabi in the United Arab Emirates(UAE).
Kaute scored an overall of 685 points in the whole competition entailing all the seven trades. She also managed to finish 31st out of 42 competitors in her skill area, which is cooking.
The Best of Nations award is given to a competitor from one of the participating countries. The award is awarded to the competitor who performs exceptionally well. “I feel so happy and honoured for winning this award,” said an excited Kaute, adding that it was not easy.
“I had to work very hard for it to help remove negative perception associated with vocational centres,”says she.
The WSI is a non-political organisation that promotes skills excellence through a bi-annual World Skills competition, and by establishing networking and sharing platforms for the members to learn from one another.
The competition serves as a platform for the participants to exchange and compare their standard of competencies in industrial trades and service sectors globally.
The Namibia Training Authority (NTA) sent seven competitors in the company of seven experts, competing with 51 competitors in bricklaying, carpentry, cooking, electrical installations, joinery, plumbing and heating, as well as wall and floor tiling.