Selamawit's New Beginning
Selamawit Bazezew is a 25-year-old mother. She grew up in an orphanage in Adwa. During the war, she was brutally raped by three soldiers, an assault that left her traumatized and later pregnant. After a devastating abortion, she joined the TDF for a sense of protection, though she witnessed the horrors of war, losing many friends.
After the war, she returned to her aunt and had a daughter with a boyfriend who later migrated. Struggling to provide, she found support through Glimmer and REST’s project. She received 24,000 birr to start a grain trade.
Nowadays, her business has grown, allowing her to diversify into selling biscuits, beans, and raising chickens. She now pays her rent in advance and plans to open a silk shop.
“Glimmer and REST changed my life. Before Glimmer, we used to eat only roasted barley. When I first moved in, I only had a floor mat to sleep on. Now, with your God sent help, I profited from my grain trade and purchased a mattress and other materials. I eat as I wish, and I dress as I want to.”
She still struggles with an untreated fistula. Despite this, she feels her life has been transformed.