2. CONNECTED CHURCH
CHO

3. THE THIRD OPTION
January 2016

4. With little money and four children, Raim had no choice but to leave her children home alone whilst she went to work.
My name is Raim Leakena and I am 33 years old. I am a housewife, living with my husband. We have four beautiful children; three girls, and one boy.
Life seems to have always been a struggle. We have never had any money, and so my husband was often away working many jobs just to try and put food on the table. But with four children the money did not stretch far enough. Eventually I had to go and work too. This meant our children were left home alone to care for themselves.
My children are great and make me very proud, but being alone for many hours each day with no parents to look after them, they began to bicker with one another and cause trouble in the neighbourhood. I was so worried. I did not want my children to get into trouble, or be without parents, but I also knew I needed to put food on their table. Neither option seemed like the right one.

5. ‘I did not want my children to get into trouble or be without parents, but I also knew I needed to put food on the table. Neither option seemed like the right one’
I did not want my children to get into trouble, or be without parents, but I also knew I needed to put food on their table. Neither option seemed like the right one.

6. CHO’s skills workshops have been key in bringing Raim’s family back together again.
Seeing our struggles, a neighbour introduced me to CHO and suggested I look into one of their vocational skill training workshops. I soon learnt that there was a third option! Here I could learn to sew, and have the investment put into me to start my own business working from home. I am so blessed, I never knew people could care about a person so much. I am now running a thriving business, and am very confident I am able to provide for my family.
CHO has been key in the healing of our family. I did not fully understand the risk of leaving my children alone; that they needed parental love and discipline to thrive. CHO also taught me about the dangers of trafficking in our village, something I never knew about before. Now if I know that if I need to leave the children alone it is not safe to do so and I must make sure an adult is with them.
May God bless you all, and keep you and make his face shine upon you. Amen!

7. PRAYER
Please continue to pray for all those who attend our skills workshops. Pray that God would reveal his love to them each and every day.