From Despair to Dignity: Roza’s Journey of Hope
From Despair to Dignity: Roza’s Journey of Hope
by Life Center Ethiopia (LCE)
July 15, 2025
My name is Roza Birara, and I am 17 years old. I am currently in grade 8. I live with my mother and siblings. Each of us has a different father. Our mother has raised us on her own. She is living with HIV, and she was once bedridden and unable to care for us. There were days when we survived only by the kindness of neighbors, offering us whatever little food they could spare. We had no food, no medication, and no stability.
We had no hope until Global Orphan Relief and Life Center came into our lives.
Before their support, my mother used to lie in pain, unable to move. Her condition was made worse by the lack of medication and nutrition. She couldn't afford medicine, and we couldn’t afford school. Our daily life was filled with fear and hunger. I truly believe that it was only God who sent you to us.
Since we began receiving support from Global Orphan Relief, everything has changed.
Now, I am attending school regularly and learning without interruption. I laugh and play like other children. My mother is taking her medication properly. Her health has improved greatly, she is clean, strong, and joyful again. I’ve seen light return to her eyes. She smiles now, and she can stand on her feet.
I can’t express how thankful I am. First and foremost, I thank God, our Creator. Then I thank Global Orphan for thinking of our pain and choosing to stand beside us. Your support didn’t just give us food or medicine, it gave us hope, dignity, and a chance to live like other families.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart. You saved our lives.
Supporting these widow-led households is imperative for these children to succeed in life and important for sustaining good health, emotional stability, and is a demonstration of God’s goodness. The children that we support with our partnership Life Center Ethiopia, are served through our Home-Based Care Initiative.
We serve in Sekota, Ethiopia, in partnership with Life Center Ethiopia (LCE), and have done so since April 2022. With the help of LCE, we target widow-led households where the children are more disadvantaged than the average household in Ethiopia. Today we work together to serve 25 orphan children, and will grow this partnership as resources are available.
GO! & Life Center Ethiopia Food Distribution for Orphan Children in Sekota, Ethiopia
LCE helps orphans, vulnerable children, and widows by leveraging a home-based family model. The children that are supported live in a home with extended family or a widow and other orphan children.
Mulu Woldetinsae, Founder & Executive Director, has been serving in this capacity from LCE’s home-base in Colorado for over ten years. Based on her own personal circumstances, Mulu experienced the challenges of not having a husband in her household when living in Ethiopia, as her husband Tamrat Layne was detained as a political prisoner for twelve years in 1996 after serving as Prime Minister of Ethiopia. From this personal tragedy she serves orphans and widows in her country of origin from a place that most of us have not experienced.
Sekota, also spelled Sokota, Sakota, Soqota (in Amharic: ሰቆጣ; formerly ሰቈጣ) is a town in northern Ethiopia. The name is likely from the Agaw word sekut, "fortified village." It was also reported that the Tigray Defence Forces controlled Sekota in Amhara on 16 August 2021. Government forces then retook the town on 22 December 2021, in the most recent conflict in Ethiopia.
Sekota is in the area known as the 10/40 Window. According to the Joshua Project, the 10/40 Window is the area of North Africa, the Middle East and Asia approximately between 10 degrees north and 40 degrees north latitude. The 10/40 Window is sometimes referred to as "The Resistant Belt" and includes the majority of the world's Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists.
Global Orphan Relief (GO!) has been serving orphaned children since 2005, and as a result of this effort, children, widows, families, and entire communities are transformed through our Home-Based Care initiative. The care provided creates a ripple effect through communities as we demonstrate God’s love for His people.
You may send support or other correspondence to Global Orphan Relief, 16352 Prairie Farm Cir, Parker, CO 80134 or you may give also give electronically at Home-Based Care Initiative or you may give on this website at the upper righthand corner under ‘Donate’ and choose Home-Based Care under the Fund designation.
Movement of FAITH | Voice of HOPE | Act of LOVE
Global Orphan Relief is a Christian relief agency serving Orphans in need and a recognized U.S. public charity, tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3). All donations are tax-deductible to the extent of the law.