I
n 2014, we introduced you to Alexandra, a hard working, talented, mother to be, from the project Centro Yanay.
Despite Alexandra’s talents, she had many challenges growing up. At a young age, Alexandra was captured by the police for human trafficking. According to her life story she was abandoned by her mother, together with her five siblings. After being deceived and kidnapped, Alexandra was taken to the “Casa Acogida” (women’s shelter). At the shelter, she attended cosmetology classes, where her extraordinary talent was apparent to all who attended the classes.
This is when we met Alexandra. When she left the shelter at the age of 17, we gave her support so she could continue her studies in an informal school and work. Unfortunately, due to theft, she was not able to continue either of these. After this, we had her working at the beauty salon we opened for students to practice in. Supporting Alexandra at this point was especially important, because Alexandra was pregnant, and we wanted to give Alexandra the chance to help herself financially after child birth.
Less than 2 years later, and we are happy to share with you the wonderful news. Alexandra has now opened her own hair salon! Thanks to the valuable skills she learned from Carmen (the project manager at Centro Yanay), she is a successful small business owner. We could not be more proud of Alexandra for this amazing accomplishment!
