Alumni Testimonial: Theophilus N Dobson Jr.’s Dream to Build a Power Plant
On October 21, 2024, Heather Cannon—Co-Founder and Executive Director—met Theophilus Nasa Dobson Jr., a 2022 Electrician Graduate.
Left to right: Theophilus N. Dobson Jr. and Heather Cannon
Heather met Theophilus during her 2022 visit. He has such an energetic personality that she named him Hot Wire. You will see this energy in the videos of their conversation.
Before Theophilus enrolled with UDS, he graduated from Booker Washington Institute (BWI) in building construction and masonry.
After graduating from UDS, he taught electricity at Dean's Institute and worked as an independent contractor serving Marshall and Brewerville communities. Heather asked why those two cities are outside of Monrovia. He said they are the fastest-growing cities because people want to live in residential areas to raise their kids. He then explains how Monrovia is the commercial and political center of Liberia. Also, his contracts involve solar installation since these two communities are not on the grid.
Theophilus has a BIG dream of teaming up with others to build a power plant in Liberia that includes renewable energy options. They discussed how Liberia has ample sunshine, wind, tidal, and garbage. These are great renewable energy sources.
In part 1 of 6, Theophilus shared his big dream to build a power plant to electrify the country. Note: we apologize for the video not showing Theophilus and Heather but enjoy the conversation.
Click the image to play the video.
In part 2 of 6, Theophilus talked about his mentor, Kelvin Fomba, Co-Founder & Director of Liberia. He shared how Mr. Fomba is very passionate about transforming Liberia. Theophilus commented that Mr. Fomba is always thinking of new ways of doing things and continues to strive to learn and do more.
In part 3 of 6, Theophilus shared how he became an independent contractor after graduation. Most of his contracts are in Marshall and Brewerville, the fastest-growing cities outside of Monrovia.
In part 4 of 6, Theophilus explained how learning a trade is gender inclusive, makes you independent and confident, and raises your status in the community.
In part 5 of 6, Theophilus shared how UDS focused on applying what you know. He shared how some trade schools graduate people without giving any practical training preventing them from being employable.
In part 6 of 6, Theophilus recommended UDS to his fellow Liberian Youth. Again, he stressed how UDS is gender inclusive and encouraged women to learn trades like an electrician. He shared how UDS focuses on application and the opportunity to join their instructor on a contract.
Heather asked Theophilus what he liked about UDS and he answered the following
Family inclusion - everyone is welcome no matter who they are
Getting students interested in and eager to learn a trade
Providing a good learning environment
What could we improve? His answer was to digitalize our training such as virtual classroom instruction. He is aligned with our plans. We installed a new WiFi service on October 10.