A mother of two overcoming every subtle challenge in life

Etagegn Degualem is a mother of two children who are struggling to overcome every subtle challenge life has brought and continue pushing forward to see a brighter future for her family. Etagegn has tried a lot and has been engaged in different kinds of income generating activities such as knitting and selling socks on streets, despite her challenge to move freely because of the problem in her leg problem. However, everything she tried couldn’t change the family’s life and sometimes failed to provide food for her children and it was getting worse from time to time.

Etagegn joined then the Family Preserving and Empowerment program that Bethany Christian Services is implementing in Ethiopia. She stated that the services such as Basic business skills, parenting and life skills trainings which were rendered for her, strengthened her and made her believe that her family will have a better future. She said that along what she has been receiving through the program, the prayer of Bethany’s family, over her family, brought an abundant blessing to her family and work. After receiving the business skills and other related empowerment trainings, Etagegn started to see ways of enhancing the household income and continues believing in herself and started identifying the potential resources she might use. She joined a credit association that was initiated by the families involved in the FPE program and accessed loan to engage in the sheep fattening activity as a means of household income in addition to the very small income generated by her husband as daily laborer. Currently, her two children Behailu and Mehiret, are attending grade nine and a kindergarten respectively; and she testifies that the family has improved both economically and socially because of the FPE interventions. She is involved in the animal fattening business and has up to 12 sheep. She also has a plan to switch to poultry business for her leg problem doesn’t allow her walk long distances as she looks after the sheep.

Etagegn is a strong-willed woman who doesn’t easily give up on herself to all challenges she has faced and never use her physical problem as an excuse to stop working. She keeps believing in herself and hard work. She is a living testimony for all families who are living in the same condition and have been struggling to overcome challenges in life including disability.