Sponsor a Family

Cecilia Sitima, Malawi

When a case worker from Opportunity International visited Cecilia, she poured out her heart, sharing her dreams of a better life. Putting three meals on the table was a constant worry for Cecilia and her husband and three children. Their humble house lacked doors, making cold nights unbearable.

Once she was accepted in our program, Cecilia dove into business management training—determined to change her family's fate. Her monthly food stipend ensured her family had food to eat while learning how to navigate her businesses. She decided to raise goats for her primary business that would provide a long-term income stream. When they became ill, she leaned on her business training and mentors in the program to learn how to overcome this challenge.

For her secondary business, she decided to sell produce and dried fish, but her ambition could not hold her back—she also started a brick molding business to create multiple streams of income for her family.

Cecilia is a symbol of prosperity in the community. With the help of Opportunity International and caring sponsors like you, she is transforming her family’s future, one step at a time.

Eliza Fabiano, Malawi

When Eliza's husband left, she was faced with the reality of raising 6 children in a village where jobs were almost nonexistent. They were hungry each day, couldn't always afford to go to school, and suffered through rains that poured through their thatched roof.

She relied on odd jobs like fetching water or making clay bricks, and she said she often cried in the night wondering how she would change her life.

When Eliza joined Opportunity International's business training program, she was eager to invest her energy in her new business: goat farming stand. She built the pens with her own two hands and brought the goats inside her home every night to protect them from thieves. Her second business, a small grocery stand, is now set up outside her home to serve travelers on foot through the village.

Eliza was thankful to join a savings group through the program, which offered a community of entrepreneurial women a space to learn financial skills together.

Eliza's business are thriving! She is feeding her children every day and sending them all to school; her next priority is to replace the roof with aluminum for better protection for her family.

None of this would have been possible without funding from sponsors, like you, who give faithfully to guarantee there are opportunities for women, like Eliza, to learn and grow and to take their dreams of a better future for their families and turn those dreams into reality.

Lonney Chimbiya, Malawi

Lonney has always been determined and resilient in the face of challenges, but when she found herself caring for her six children, alone, in a rural part of Malawi, she was faced with tough choices. Her small garden barely produced enough to feed her family, and she couldn't find enough work to pay tuition for all her children—she had to ask her son to stay home.

Lonney couldn't have asked for a better time to learn about Opportunity's business training program. She knew this was the opportunity she had been waiting for. Once accepted, she received a food stipend that took care of their daily most urgent need, and then she began to feel something she had long forgotten: hope.

After talking it through with her older children, Lonney decided on pig farming as her primary business because it would be profitable quickly, but also eventually be self-sustaining. She also started a side business of selling doughnuts, which provided an immediate cash flow for their day to day needs.

Lonney's diligence and dedication paid off. With the skills acquired through Opportunity International's livestock education and business training program, and the support of dedicated sponsors like you, she was able to grow her farm and eventually diversify her livestock, adding a goat, rabbits and chickens. Lonney's oldest son was also able to return to school. Next she is making improvements to her home that will create the warm, safe, and clean environment she has dreamed of for her children.