From birth, Francis* life was plagued by adversity. As the 11th child, by the age of 5, she had already lost 6 of her siblings. Due to extreme poverty, her parents didn’t expect her to live past five.

As a young child, she loved playing with her friends and going to school, but she was forced to drop out and work as a housekeeper.

But life continued to deliver more blows. At the tender age of 15, Francis had to leave Nyanza Lac and search for work across the border in Tanzania. She thought she would be working as a nanny, but soon after arrival, her employer started sexually trafficking her. During the day, she would nanny, and at night, he would take her and force her sleep with strange men in exchange for money. 

She couldn’t bear it anymore, so she decided to run away. But that life had deeply affected her; it caused depression and a mental breakdown that led her to live on the streets of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania for 3 years.

She thought her fortunes had turned for the better when she met and married a man who seemed to be kind. Sadly, after the wedding, he and his family became physically abusive towards her.

Francis couldn’t take it anymore, so she decided to leave and return to Burundi to her parents, pregnant with twins. After giving birth, she had no choice but to rely on God to care for this new family.

Just a few months after her return, she heard about Together for Development Birashoboka (TfDB), which trains people at risk in sewing. With nothing to lose, she approached Ephraim, the leader of TfDB. “I saw so much destitution,” Ephraim shares. “At just 22 years old, Francis had lived a miserable life. I knew I had to first treat her psychological wounds.”

Francis went through trauma healing sessions with several other women before joining a sewing class. But without any income to support her twins, she found herself returning to survival sex. When Ephraim learned of her situation, he didn’t judge her. Instead, he helped her with a loan and a sewing machine.

Francis and her former classmates run a tailor shop, and she also contributes as a teacher to new students in the programme. Her work with other women at Together for Development has completely changed her life. She now earns a steady income and can support women who have had similar experiences, as well as others who have faced difficult moments.

Thanks to TfDB, Francis and her children live in a good home, after TfDB built her a decent home.

Her greatest desire is to raise her twins in a loving and stable environment, which she never had a chance to experience.