Zulfa
My name is Zulfa. I was born in the southern part of Ethiopia. I left home at a very young age when I had to flee from a terrible situation that was happening in my home with my father beating my mother and me. I fled to Addis Ababa city hoping to find a job. At that time, my older sister was working as a maid in Addis Ababa and the family she was working for needed additional help. For as long as I can remember I continued working as a house maid for different families. Some were good to me, and others were evil. I’ve been physically, verbally and on one occasion sexually abused, refused meals, and slept in terrible conditions for several years.
At some point, wanting to start something of my own, I stopped working as a house maid. I got married in 2007 and moved to Sendafa. I strived to change our lives for several years trying different things, but the poverty did not seem to lift. I’ve baked injera, pastries, worked in a retail shop, owned a small tea shop for a few years and even a small restaurant. But with children, health problems and several other hardships, it was difficult to grow. My husband had a wood shop that went bankrupt and due to health problems he was unable to work for several years. For the longest time, the financial burden has been on me. We have 4 children now, ages 15, 11, 9 and 4.
I got in contact with PAAV through a lady called Nigist who was previously supported by PAAV. About 6 months ago, the PAAV team heard my plan to restart my injera business and they provided the funds and business training. Since then, I’ve been able to grow the business and my family is a lot more stable now. I’m thankful for their support.
My major challenge right now is my eyes. Making injera traditionally is a long and tiring process. The cooking is done with firewood and the smoke hurts my eyes. My eyes have become very irritable due to the smoke. It had gotten to a point where I was going to lose my sight. It only got better after a long treatment. My hope is to get electricity into my home so I can use an electric injera maker. PAAV is helping with that.
I would love to grow my business and see it thrive for the sake of myself and my children. I’ve always dreamed about two things. One is owning a large supermarket, and the second is growing my injera business to a large company that creates job opportunities for many through mass production and export. It is my prayer to see those dreams happening. I won’t rest till I get there.
