Ever meet someone who just makes things happen? Maybe he/she is a pro networker or excellent multitasker or just drinks a ton of coffee.

Ever heard of someone who just makes things happen in the middle of a rural village? Without social media, without the connections, without resources, without coffee (gasp). Just tons of grit and determination.

That’s Precious Chisangano. This woman.

She lives in Muchochoma Village (where we’re about to open our brand new facility!). She graduated from our skills-training program in 2017.

Those two sentences seem matter-of-fact, but let’s break that down a bit:

-Muchochoma Village: a rural village 3 hours outside Lusaka, the capital city; a former self-proclaimed “beggar village” as the poorest of the poor in the region before we started our training; a farming community; the “typical” village with mud brick and grass thatch huts; primarily accessible by ox-drawn carts

-Graduating from our skills-training program: for a woman in the village to graduate from our program, it takes extra grit. She is already responsible for tending to her family’s farm plot and working the land. She’s responsible for raising the children, few of whom are able to go to school. Yet she finds time to attend class regularly, learn how to sew and how to run a business, create 5 custom garments without patterns, and jump on a CiH bus to Lusaka to graduate. A lot, right? It is.

Precious did it. She graduated. And she used that momentous occasion as a launch pad for her dreams. Some may say that her life will never change because she lives the village life. But Precious believes otherwise.

She wants to be a businesswoman.

Instead of waiting for our next microloan cycle to get the capital needed to purchase a sewing machine, she went out (literally) and MADE IT HAPPEN.

She went out into the nearby forest to join others from the village in harvesting charcoal. She took the hundred-pound logs, cut them down, put them into 50 pound bags to sell on the roadside, and sat outside in the blazing sun to sell her handmade bags of charcoal.

We had no idea. But that’s how she wanted it. She wanted to make it happen because she knew she was capable and strong and smart. Goodness is she smart.

Precious sold enough bags of charcoal on the roadside to buy her own machine. SHE BOUGHT HER OWN SEWING MACHINE, folks!

The start of her own small business. Her dream becoming a reality. She is now making custom garments and school uniforms for customers from nearby villages. She plans to open her own stand to showcase her beautiful work.

Precious says,

My family will have a better life now than before.

Instead of patting her own back for MAKING IT HAPPEN, she says thank you. Thank you to her teachers and to each one of you who supports Clothed in Hope.

Thank you for empowering Precious to see what she’s capable of - big, wonderful, incredible things. A new path for her family. A fresh start.

Precious with her VERY OWN SEWING MACHINE! Her smile - that’s what it’s all about.

Want to jump in to provide skills-training to even more women like Precious in Muchochoma Village and in Lusaka? We’d love to have you! Join our HOPE Club to provide life-changing opportunities and write stories of HOPE with us.