Meet Wintana (age 17), one of the young women in our sponsorship program. Wintana’s family was displaced due to the war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. They first lived in a shelter made of plastic tarp and then moved to a shed where they lived for over a decade. Her father left them during that time and later passed away. To provide for her three daughters, her mother worked hard washing clothes, collecting garbage, and cleaning homes. Nonetheless, finances remained so tight that she had to send her older two daughters away, one of them to work in the Middle East.
Eight years ago, Wintana’s mother heard about Hope In View’s sponsorship program and applied. After a one-year wait, Wintana was able to join the program, through which she received tuition help, clothing, school supplies, supplemental nutrition, medical care, and various kinds of social support. Now a grade 10 student, she gets yearly rewards for her excellent grades. Wintana wants to become a neurologist. She will start by studying nursing or laboratory technology, as getting into medical school is very competitive.
Meanwhile, the program has also helped pay for medication for her mom who currently needs surgery and helped them find better housing. Her mom’s self-help savings group, a required part of the sponsorship program, has trained her to start her own business. She currently sells spices in front of the government apartment building where they now happily live.