The year-end Empower Hope campaign is an investment in three key funds with lasting impact.

This week, we are focusing on Empower Family: a fund to send 100 families through our family empowerment program in 2019.

Why do we believe so much in this program? Watch Chris Marlow describe the success stories, and then keep reading below to learn two of the 200 success stories of empowered families. 

Meet Mezgebe –

She has started a business selling injera (local bread) to local stores. She sells 70-200 per day at 3 birr each, with a profit of almost $100 per week! She has now started a savings account with 50 birr per week, and she has even been able to add on to her home. She has 3 of her own children and is helping one other child with school fees and other daily needs. She learned to make injera from her mother at 15 years old, and hopes to continue to pass down the tradition to her children and grandchildren. She dreams of one day opening a market shop as well, and she says, “now that I am empowered, my life is progressing”!

Meet Wudnesh –

She has started a business selling wood and charcoal. Prior to empowerment, Wudnesh and her 5 younger children were living in a “small, bad home” and did not have enough income to care for her family’s needs. With profits from her business, and a little help from her grown son selling his motorbike, she has been able to build and expand their home. Her income now allows her to take care of herself and her family, invest in the growth of her business, and put $16 every month in to savings! She even has a little money left at the end to spend on whatever she sees fit! Wudnesh hopes to build her own shop space in the future rather than renting, and is currently saving to buy her son a new motorbike so that he can start a business of his own.


Family empowerment makes a long-term difference not just for families, but entire communities. It’s a proven path to a year-end donation that will Empower Hope.