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Wubit (23), in Ethiopia, is enthusiastic for the sewing project that’s changing her life. Photo: Barnaby Skinner
For 23-year-old Wubit, whose family of three has been hit hard by pandemic restrictions in Ethiopia, your incredible support for an innovative mask-making project is beginning to offer a glimmer of hope for the future.
The sounds of quiet conversation and the rhythm of sewing machines gently fills this small room in Ethiopia’s capital city of Addis Ababa. Through a Covid mask-making project you are supporting with local Trócaire partner TLH*, the women behind the machines hope it will be the sound of their futures through the new sewing skills they are learning. 23-year-old Wubit Abelo is among them.
When coronavirus reached Ethiopia, Wubit began to despair. Access to basic household items was reduced, transport shut down, and the ability to buy and sell changed dramatically as local markets closed. Wubit lived in fear of the health risks to her three-year-old son Anania, and to what might happen if her family was left with no income. There is no government support for them.
Wubit (23), in Ethiopia, is enthusiastic for the sewing project that’s changing her life. Photo: Barnaby Skinner
Then in this time of worry came an unexpected opportunity. A new market that was previously unavailable –mask-making –plus training and sewing machines to use, gave Wubit and her family a glimmer of hope. For the past four months the TLH mask-making project has become a modest but vital source of income to Wubit.
Like so many around the world, Wubit is scared that Covid will prevent her from living her life to its fullest. And while she can’t afford a sewing machine of her own (here they cost around €600 each), her dreams are firmly set: to have her own business making cultural dresses by her own hand, to make sure herson can have a good education, and to provide for her family.
Wubit knows she has the chance to be part of the TLH project because of generosity like yours, and she’s very thankful of that fact. Yet when she asks if Trócaire supporters could please keephelping, it isn’t for herself: it’s for other women who haven’t had that same opportunity.
