Beneficiary: Rita Wakim
Fund Date: 03/2022
Age: 47 years old
Family members: 4
Skills and experience: 17 years experience in sales
Life is tough, but so are we... we were given this life because we are strong enough to live it.
Rita is 46 years old, married to Saher Wakim, with a son (Eyad) who studies civil engineering and a daughter (Maya) who studies commerce and economics.
The family lived in Al-Qusayr in the countryside of Homs where they had their own house and a three-floors clothing store full of merchandise. Their business was very prosperous which enabled them to have a good living, little did they know that they were on the cusp of a drastic change in their lives.
Unfortunately, the town of Al-Qusayr was one of the first places that the war struck and affected; the losses were horrible and many innocents have died during the clashes, the residents cared only about survival without taking any of their belongings or even clothes.
Rita and her husband were one those people who wanted to save their children and flee to a safe place. In 2011, they fled their hometown and settled in Jaramana, the countryside of Damascus where they were informed that their house was destroyed and turned into rubbles, their store was looted and all the goods were stolen. They were depressed but thankful for their lives at the same time, after all of those violent incidents.
Despite all they went through, Rita's faith was strong and she encouraged her husband and children to start from scratch in a new house, a new city.
With some savings, they rented a small shop in Jaramana for kids’ clothes. the income was enough to cover the basic daily needs and their children’s education, but not enough to improve the work or buy more goods so Rita shifted into undergarments which were more demanded. After the corona pandemic, prices increased rapidly and her project was about to collapse.
However, giving up was not an option, as soon as she heard about our Micro Projects, Rita applied and was supported with the necessary goods to ensure the stability of income for the whole family.