#69 Damaris

Dam­ar­is is a young, ener­get­ic woman who reached out to Mama Afrika in 2023 for sup­port in set­ting up a second-hand shoe shop. Her situ­ation is chal­len­ging: As a single moth­er, she is unable to care for her son herself—he is grow­ing up hun­dreds of kilo­met­ers away with his grand­moth­er. At the same time, she bears respons­ib­il­ity for her unem­ployed siblings.

To test her determ­in­a­tion, Dam­ar­is ini­tially received €20 in start-up cap­it­al for her first pur­chase of shoes. She demon­strated com­mit­ment and perseverance—not only in this ini­tial chal­lenge but also dur­ing a sub­sequent intern­ship. Then, a new oppor­tun­ity arose: Through col­lab­or­a­tion with the Kenyan NPO Swahili Pot Hub, she was able to start train­ing as a sew­ing machine oper­at­or. With great enthu­si­asm, she seized this new chance and is now work­ing towards build­ing a stable future for herself.