By Priyanka Zacharias | International Partnerships Manager
Fozia, a 13 year old girl who came to Retrak after spending months separated from her family. She was born and raised in a rural community in the Oromia region. Her mother passed away when Fozia was very young and her father remarried another woman. As they were not getting along with her stepmother, her father sent Fozia and three of her siblings to live with their grandparents.
While she was staying with her grandparents, she attended school and had a good life with her siblings. But one day, when she was in the fourth grade, her father came to visit her. He told her that she was wasting her time there and that she should go to the city to find work and earn money. He deceived her into thinking that she could become very rich if she became a domestic worker in Addis Ababa. Fozia, inevitably, fell prey to her father’s lies. She moved to Addis Ababa where she became employed as a domestic worker. Her employer did not treat Fozia well, abusing her emotionally and physically. She did not give her sufficient food or provide care for her. “It was very hard, my employer was very cruel” she said. She was not only new to the environment but also, could not speak Amharic, the national language spoken widely in Addis Ababa but not in her home community. For these reasons Fozia stayed with her employer and did not try to reach out for help. One day, Fozia was accused of breaking a pot which she was not responsible for doing. Her employer threw her out on the streets and threw her clothes off the first floor window onto the streets. Confused and humiliated, Fozia started wandering around the streets of Addis. A woman selling goods on the streets found her and talked to her through a translator. After explaining her situation, the stranger took her to the police where she was then transferred to Kechene, a government institution. After assessing her information, they sent her to Retrak so she could reintegrate with her family.
At her stay in Retrak, she was one of the most disciplined, cooperative and respectful girls in the center. She received life skills, catch up education and the psychosocial support provided by Retrak. This enabled her to recall her education and advance in her studies. Retrak’s project officers traced her family and after months of separation, she was then reunified with her grandparents. Her grandparents were overjoyed to see her as they thought she had been lost forever! Fozia is now happily living with her grandparents and siblings where she is currently enrolled in and attending school.
In 2017, in Ethiopia, Retrak provided shelter in the centers to over 450 children, providing them with a safe place to rebuild their lives and start the journey back to family-based care. The work Retrak does is life-changing for children and families and we cannot do this without your generous support. Thank you for supporting our project in Ethiopia which helps us to work with more children like Fozia!
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