I Came to Learn New Skills and Found the Confidence to Build a Brighter Future By Floribelle
I joined VODW simply wanting to gain more knowledge and sharpen my skills. It sounds like a modest goal, but as a domestic worker balancing long hours of care for others, carving out time and courage to learn something new is its own quiet act of bravery. I walked in curious, unsure exactly what to expect, and walked out, more than two years later, transformed in ways I could not have predicted.
Across ESOL, IT, Body Mind and Wellness, and Financial Literacy, I built a toolkit for life that went far beyond the classroom. I learned how to handle money wisely, an especially meaningful skill for someone whose income has often had to stretch further than it should. I also picked up new technology skills, tips that opened up a digital world that once felt out of reach. With every class, my confidence grew alongside my knowledge, until I found myself more alert, more present, and more aware of my own capability than I had ever been before.
I am clear that these lessons were not just interesting, they were genuinely useful, shaping my everyday life and my plans for the future. I can already feel that the skills I have gained will lead me toward a brighter future, and there is a quiet certainty in how I talk about what I have learned, the certainty of someone who has tested new knowledge against real life and found that it holds.
Graduation day brought its own kind of joy, one I can only describe as cool, fun, and almost speechless, the kind of moment where words fail because the feeling is simply too full. My gratitude toward my teachers is generous and specific.
I thank them not only for sharing their knowledge but for making learning feel enjoyable, and I hope these sessions continue to grow even stronger for those who come after me.
That hope for others is where my story reaches beyond myself. I want to be a good role model, to keep gaining knowledge I can apply to my own life while also lighting the way for other domestic workers considering whether classes like these are worth the leap. My journey reflects exactly what VODW's broader advocacy is built on, the belief that domestic workers deserve more than just a wage. We deserve the tools, the confidence, and ultimately the rights, from the freedom to change employer without restriction to the right to settle and build a lasting life in the UK, to shape a future on our own terms.
My story is a reminder that growth rarely stops once it starts. Each skill I gained fed the next, each class opened a door to another, and now I stand ready to keep improving, one lesson and one brighter day at a time.
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