Mary is the sixth born in a family of seven children. Her father abandoned them, leaving his wife and children in a rented room to fend for themselves. Mary’s mother was not employed and had very little resources with which to care for her children, so the older siblings moved out of the house and started their own lives at an early age.

Mary and the other younger siblings live with their mother, who still struggles to support them. She digs in other people’s gardens for food but struggles to afford school fees. She works hard and is able to provide food for her children but not much else.

Mary is a prayerful child, whom her parish priest always sees at church during school time. She also loves to narrate stories her mother helps her with. Fr. Achilles (her parish priest) reached out to CARITAS in hopes of finding support for this bright young girl. She has a lot of potential, but just needs support from a sponsor so that she can attend school and have an opportunity to follow her dreams.

Without sponsorship, Mary will have to simply help around the house fetching firewood and water until she is old enough to move out. This generally entails finding an older man around the village who hopefully will not abandon her. To stop the cycle of poverty, Mary needs to be in school so that she can find meaningful work when she graduates. She can then hopefully have a better family life and even support her mother and other siblings.