A Story to End 2020

A story of the resilience of a single mother in the most marginalised community in Nigeria, in the hardest year in history

Adewunmi and her daughter in front of their home - Abeokuta, Nigeria

It’s two days after Christmas and I’m thinking of Adewunmi, a single mother in Abeokuta Nigeria who is getting the opportunity to celebrate this season in laughter and joy despite the challenge that 2020 has been.

Her Christmas joy is because of members of our community who give to ensure women like Adewunmi can be successful and are able to feed and send their children to school.

Adewunmi’s 11 year old daughter in her primary 4 classroom

Adewunmi has a beautiful daughter who celebrated her 11th birthday on the 22nd of this month - just 3 days before Christmas. It may be difficult to believe this, but she hasn't heard from her child's father since she was three months pregnant. So, for 11 years, it has been all her. But 2020 was exceptionally hard, and the lockdown made things even worse.

She worked as a security guard for a private university in Ogun State where she was paid 20,000 naira per month but was laid off. I remember speaking with her and she showed me that all she had was 100 naira (26 cents). Her plan was to use the money to buy beans for her daughter then pray to God for provision.

It was at this point we launched our Covid Intervention programme for the most marginalised women. We help them understand fundamental Business principles like profit and loss and how to find and begin new businesses in their communities. Then we put cash in their hands to help them build.

A session of our women economic empowerment program

After our programme, Adewunmi identified that there were quite a few restaurants in her communities where eggs were sold. So she started selling eggs to restaurants in her neighbourhood. With the profit from her business, she's back on her feet and her daughter is well-fed and ready to learn in school.

To all members of the Sharing Life community: “thank you”. Thank you for supporting our work, for sharing our impact stories and getting your friends and family on board our mission of quality education and economic prosperity for low-income communities.

You may not have met this family, but you brought the laughter back to their hearts and the smiles on their faces.

Adewunmi and her daughter just before the morning run to school

It is stories like this that motivates us and push us to do more even when the journey itself is hard. In a pandemic, we know how difficult it is to be as generous with our time or resources. But now more than ever, we must show up for those women and families who have just N100 left and are praying for a miracle.

Thanks to every member of our community who gave their time and resources to make a difference in the lives of women and children in the most marginalised communities. In 2020 you were all miracles someone needed.

In 2021, we will reach even more family like Adewunmi’s, ensuring that they have access to economic opportunities and are able to feed and send their children to good schools.

Do you want to join us in making a mark? Make a year-end gift to help us do even more!