Three programs, one journey.
From a child’s first classroom to a graduate’s first storefront — each program is a step on the path from vulnerability to independence.
Collaborative Ventures
This is where the journey reaches its destination: young orphans complete intensive, hands-on trade training and then launch real, revenue-generating businesses they own and operate together.
Our flagship venture — a t-shirt printing cooperative — was built by ten teenage graduates who first came to us as children. Years of mentorship and education through our Child Enrichment program prepared them for the advanced trade training that followed. The equipment was funded by U.S. partners; the commercial storefront was granted by the local Ethiopian government, a vote of confidence that few organizations ever earn.
The printing cooperative at workEducation & Mentorship
For 327 children, we provide schooling, tutoring, and the “You Matter” curriculum — a program designed to rebuild the dignity that hardship strips away. Sponsorship here is a long-term relationship, not a transaction.
The results carry students further than a classroom: dozens reach secondary school, and a growing number move on to higher education and careers that lift their whole families.
The “You Matter” classroomMicroloans & Trade Skills
We treat a gift to this program as seed capital, not charity. Widows receive trade training and microloans to launch sustainable businesses — and they pay those loans back. Across all three locations, the repayment rate is 98%.
This is philanthropy with a return: every loan repaid funds the next entrepreneur, and the program’s budget grew 160% in 2024 as demand and capacity expanded together. Beyond individual loans, long-standing widows have launched four collective ventures together — a dairy cooperative, a poultry cooperative, a vegetable growing collective, and a sewing collective.
A widow-owned business