“When you have passion for something it is not difficult”: How NILS helped Champion follow his dreams

Champion is passionate about planes and recently undertook an introductory course in Aviation Engineering, thanks to the No Interest Loan Scheme. It was an important stepping stone for him as he builds his career and life in Ireland.

Champion’s whole face lights up when he talks about airplanes and aviation. Ever since he was a little boy in Zimbabwe he has dreamt of working with planes. When he was in primary school he spent three months trying to build his own model helicopter out of wire. He was never quite able to get it to take off, but in hindsight he knows now where he went wrong!

That’s thanks to a course in Aviation Engineering which he recently completed with Atlantic Aviation and Limerick Institute of Technology. The ten-week introductory course has given him a taste for his chosen field, and it was every bit as exciting as he expected.

“I worked as a motor mechanic back home but I’m crazy about engineering and planes. I’m the kind of person if I just look at something I’ll be able to tell how it works or how to fix it. The course was an amazing experience. They gave us an assignment after every class, there was a lot of reading and research, but when you really love something you do not see it as work.”

Champion Sibanda has been in Ireland since May 2015, living in Knockalisheen Accommodation Centre outside Limerick for most of that time. He has no family here and says he sometimes finds it difficult to stay positive about this new phase of his life.

“You have to be strong. It’s not easy but I’m managing. I do volunteer work at a charity shop. The place I live is isolated from the community, so it is not easy to mingle. I think it can make people lazy: just stay at home, eat, sleep, eat, sleep, and that’s not good. It can feel like an open prison.”

Champion felt the aviation course would give him an opportunity to keep his mind active while studying a subject he was passionate about. He found out about Good Shepherd Ireland’s No Interest Loan Scheme (NILS) through a notice at the centre, and quickly secured a loan to pay the course fees.

“My loan was approved, and the fees went straight through to the college. It was easy, just one form. Our agreement was that I’d pay €2 a week, and I have repaid the loan in full. There is no hassle or pressure. If you are struggling or need to miss a payment you can talk to them.”

Champion is awaiting a decision on protection status, having attended his interview almost a year ago. “I can’t really tell when I will hear,” he says. “At least with the help of Good Shepherd you get to do something to keep yourself busy, because otherwise you will crash.”

For Champion the NILS loan was a lifeline, as it gave him the opportunity to take a step towards his dream career: “When you’re coming from direct provision it is not easy to find courses or jobs. You start from zero. I would like to do the next course in Aviation Engineering, hopefully next year; it is definitely what I want to do,” he says.

“I hope Good Shepherd keep up the good work as it is really helpful. It is good that they are not giving you money for free and you get to pay it back so someone else can benefit. May the good Lord bless them!”

Other Journals

Become a NILS Referral Partner

At Good Shepherd Ireland we operate the NILS programme through a model of partnership.
We partner with client-facing, like-minded, local organisations to ensure we can reach those in financial crisis.

When a household appliance breaks it usually needs to be replaced immediately, but finding the money to pay for it can be a struggle. When it happens just before Christmas, the financial pressure can be even more intense. The No Interest Loan Scheme is there to help people tackle those unexpected expenses.

Bumps on the Journey

Just over a year ago, Delia was faced with a dilemma. She had damaged her car, and had been quoted over €600 to fix it. Postponing the repairs wasn’t an option as she needed transport for school runs. But she didn’t have the money to meet such a large expense, and felt she had nowhere to turn.

Sustainable Living, from Congo to Limerick

Sowing seeds of hope: How NILS helped Maurice to develop vegetable garden project

On a farm outside Limerick, Maurice and a team of volunteers are teaching young people how to grow African vegetables for the local community. The No Interest Loan Scheme was instrumental in getting the project off the ground.

“He will have a diploma. She will have a diploma.”

“Il aura un diplôme. Elle aura un diplôme,” chant the children of the Bon Pasteur School in Domaine Marial, a settlement at the edge of the mining town Kolwezi in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The thought that even a single boy or girl in this settlement might one day earn a school diploma is not something that would not have been considered possible a few years earlier.

“I’m in a better position now to get a job”: A step closer to employment thanks to NILS

Benoit loves to actively contribute to his local community, but as an asylum seeker has not been allowed to work. Thanks to the No Interest Loan Scheme, he recently returned to study and is preparing to enter employment in Ireland.

Two new businesses help Dropati find her own voice

Dropati is a housewife living in the rural village of Khursipar in Madhya Pradesh in central India. When Dropati first married, the management of the family’s two-acres of land was left entirely to her husband. Over the last year, Dropati has taken on a more active role, starting two new businesses, building a new home and finding her own voice.

“Thank God we are together again” – The path to Ireland for one Syrian family

It is a typical school scene: a group of children sit in a classroom, several more play football outside, a few lucky ones are having fun on the swings and seesaw in the playground. Over the roof of the building are the words ‘My school’ and on the other side of the picture is written a single word: ‘Welcome’. A Syrian flag flies above the school, while a backdrop of mountains, birds and fruit trees suggest an idyllic valley setting.

Sharing Success in a Dairy Cooperative

Jayasri and her family – her husband, two children and parents-inn-law – are landless. Because they have no land of their own to farm, the family is entirely dependent on the irregular wages they earn as agricultural day labourers and selling the milk from their buffalo cow.

Economic Independence Helps Reduce Violence Against Women

The women of Domaine Marial are sewing a bright new garment. Many hands hold down the colourful fabric as one of the women irons a straight new seam.
They are part of a women’s economic empowerment project run by Good Shepherd at their training centre on the outskirts of Kolwezi, a town in the southern-most province of the Democratic Republic of Congo.