Her name is Sanesh and she has two children. She has a very small business selling vegetables. She likes to help people. Even just going to their home and helping them with their housework, cleaning and bathing them. It is her passion to help other people. Once Sanesh started going to Tabitha Reach, she learned about love and helping others. She has more of a social life and she has someone to talk to and this has improved the quality of her life. She is happier and more joyful. At this point in her life, she likes to help people. She would like to help orphaned children. Love is the first thing in her life. Sanesh shares that if you don’t give out of love, you don’t get anything in return. She says that she is not patient, and she gets easily angered and sometimes snaps at her kids.

“I used to feel alone since I limited my interaction with other people and it was because I was ashamed of being poor.”

Through the second round of training provided by Tabitha Reach, Meseret said she learned to be confident, strong and a hard worker. Before she took the training, she was not engaged in any work that provided for her family. But now, she has more than one job to help support her family financially. Her goal is to save enough money to buy a sewing machine, but more importantly, to be a good role model for her 4 year old daughter.

Aynalem is a mother of five; three girls and two boys. Her husband was very jealous of her and had a drinking problem. He used to beat her every day and harassed his own children almost daily. She felt it necessary to divorce her husband in order to live in safety. She took the risk of raising her children on her own. In raising her children alone, she had to work different jobs since there was no support from her ex husband. Currently she is selling coffee and water from her front door, which hardly covers the family’s daily expenses.

Kasech was fourteen years old when she got abducted. She was married off to this much older man, which abducted her, because he agreed to provide gifts to her parents. Shortly after, she became pregnant with her first child at 15 and had another one a year later. Her husband drank often and would beat her. She fled to Addis leaving her son with her mother but took her daughter along with her to live with her aunt. She began working and attended school for several years. Life was still not easy living with her aunt. She thought getting remarried might be the only solution and remarried. She lived with her second husband for 15 years until he died four years ago. She had three children from him, two of whom died consecutively in their infancy due to a serious health issues the parents had, which was transmitted to the children during birth. Her youngest son is now living with her, although he is also affected by the disease. Both the mother and her child are taking medicine daily in order to survive.

Martha has 4 children. Her daughters are 16 and 10. Her boys are 8 and 5. Years ago the family moved to Addis hoping for a better life. But after some years her husband left the family, married another woman and moved to another city. Martha was heartbroken and life has been incredibly difficult since. She is thankful for the prayers she is getting from the church during these difficult times.

Martha says coming to the Tabitha Reach training center has been a therapy for her. Her children also come to the house every Saturday for bible study, play time and movie time, which they enjoy most. Martha chose the sewing training and has been regular with so much enthusiasm.

Mulu is one of the single moms at the Tabitha house in Ethiopia. She is very creative and a hard worker in order to care for her 4 boys. She has started selling eggs recently and we have become one of her constant customers. The cooking trainers, which Mulu is also a part of, has been making a lot of cuisines and cookies using these yummy eggs.

Kuri is a widow with two children.  She lives with her son and daughter in a room that is 6 ½ ft x 6 ½ ft.  Life has given her many setbacks.  At the age of 5, she was taken from her family to work as a nanny. She was not paid for this job and because of this never experienced a childhood.  Despite her many struggles, Kuri persevered.  She has worked as a maid, laundress and recently started her own business selling incense and edible powders.  She was struggling with knowing how to conduct her business and lacked the confidence that she needed to get it off the ground.  With the help of Tabitha Reach she is getting the needed support in learning how to set up her business and strengthen it.  She is learning better ways to communicate with her children and in business.  She has become a faithful and committed participant in the weekly mentoring and group meetings.  Kuri’s goal is to move to a better neighborhood so that she can improve her living arrangement and get her children in a better school.

Tena lives by the city dump and was blinded by a viral infection from the unsanitary conditions. This forced her 6 year old daughter to drop out of school to guide her. Our coach took her to the doctor and paid for the treatment that restored her sight. Her daughter is now back at school and Tena can continue training.