Cast off Refugee to Dignity Filled, honored Mom of 3

Marta escaped to Ethiopia from a neighboring country with her 2 children in May 2014. Since she was 9 months pregnant when she fled, she ended up giving birth to her 3rd child while enroute. Fleeing refugees find a very perilous journey, but her travel became extra complicated because of her new born baby and a lack of food.

Finally she arrived in Addis Ababa and came to Kore’. But, she faced a new challenge – she had no place to stay and started to live outside of someone’s home, homeless for over 3 months.
They did not have anything except the clothes that they were wearing. They were relying on alms from individuals in order to eat. One day a neighborhood woman appealed to Embracing Hope to intervene for this family.

After they became a beneficiary, EHE took major actions to address the immediate needs of the family. Staff assisted Marta with finding a house to rent and then paid her rent until she could find work and start paying it herself. The whole family was also served lunch every day at the day care center to provide them with nutrition.

EHE also provided basic needs for the family such as clothing and shoes for the whole family , blankets, mattresses and other household needs.

The children started at the Embracing Hope School and Day Care where they now had a safe place to grow healthy. At the same time Marta was receiving the counseling and encouragement that she needed in order to settle in to her new environment and get started in work.

Over time Marta settled in and started working as a cleaner and cooker for different individuals. She is now earning enough to feed her family, pay her house rent, and to send her older child to a school. She is so excited to be living a better life now and to have her children in Day Care and School. In addition she has saved 1800 ETB in her savings account.

When Marta and her family came to Embracing Hope they were in a desperate spot – displaced , homeless, despairing and hungry. She had no hope of anything ever improving. Marta has said that if she was not able to get EHE’s support at that time, she believes that her newborn Child would have died.

Thank you for your partnership which has allowed Marta and her children to experience life today and to have hope for tomorrow.

*Names have been changed to protect the identity of this family.