By Jennifer Hughes-Bystrom | CEO Springs of Hope Foundations
After a very long 12 months of hard work and sacrifice, our young ladies have graduated. There was a great deal of excitement in the week leading up to graduation but on the day of graduation, many tears of joy and sadness were shed as we all came to the realization that this brave group of young women who had become part of our family for the past 12 months would be leaving us for good. As the certificates were awarded each student made a very moving speech, expressing how much their lives had changed during the time they were with us, how much they have learned and how very grateful they were to be given this life-changing opportunity...More tears...followed by beautiful singing, dancing, and celebration.
During the 12 months this group was with us they not only learned every aspect of tailoring, our volunteers also taught basic computer skills which included preparing individual resumes, creating their own personal email account and sending an email with an attachment. I know this sounds very mundane to most of us, but the ladies had not touched a computer when they first arrived. With shaking hands and sweaty palms, the young women were introduced to a whole new and exciting experience that would not only be a huge confidence builder for them, it would also be a great help when setting up and running their own business. By the time they left, they were quite confident and always eager to take their turn at the laptops.
We still have 8 ladies living with us who will graduate in December. Next month a new group will also join us for 12 months. All of this is possible because of you and your very generous and continued support. Empowering one woman not only makes it possible for her to feed, support and educate her family, the trickle-down effect will continue for many future generations.
If you would like to continue to help us support the ladies, please spread the word by sharing this report on your Facebook page.
Asante Sana, thank you so very much.
Jennifer Hughes-Bystrom
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
