subject: Vocational Courses Help Woman To Volunteer Abroad [print this page] A Northern Irish woman will use the skills she learned on vocational courses to work abroad in Romania.
The Belfast Telegraph reported that Christine Skeffington gained the confidence to volunteer for an international organisation devoted to building affordable housing after she completed plumbing courses and electrical courses.
Ms Skeffington, from Belfast, will help build houses in Romania with Habitat for Humanity in October and explained to the newspaper that she would not have taken the exciting opportunity without having passed vocational courses in the first place.
The 54-year-old opted to take plumbing courses and electrical courses when she was made redundant by a bank having spent 30 years in full time employment.
She told the newspaper: "I just woke up in the morning and thought 'this is weird'. I couldn't get up and get going because I didn't have anything to do. I'd always worked and worked and worked and never needed to know about training."
Ms Skeffington used the redundancy to her advantage by using her free time to learn practical skills, which ultimately boosted her self-assurance and secured her a placement with Habitat for Humanity.
"The timing was right, and I had my confidence back. I guess this must have been meant to be," she told the publication.
Women's Tec recently announced that Ms Skeffington was one of their students of the year and presented her with a certificate at a ceremony in the Northern Irish capital.
Reality television star Kelly Osbourne recently revealed that she would have benefited from taking plumbing courses when she discovered that her bath tub was full of human waste following a drainage problem.
The model was forced to stay in a hotel with her fianc Luke Worrall for a couple of nights while they waited for a professional plumber to fix the problem.
She wrote in Closer magazine: "It turns out tree roots were growing underground into our pipes and the whole drainage system clogged up and had to be cleaned out. Everything's back in working order now, but talk about disgusting..."
Charlie Mullins, founder of Pimlico Plumbers, told Real Business magazine that more women should take plumbing courses because some homeowners feel more at ease in their company.
He said: "Female and elderly customers feel much more comfortable with women plumbers. There's a huge demand for them."
The Secret Millionaire participant also said that he had banned his plumbers from sporting earrings, tattoos, pony tails, trainers, shorts and low riding trousers.
