Meet the Artisan: Victoria
Victoria no longer waits for work to come to her. She goes out, introduces herself, and looks for opportunities. Whether it's cooking for a party or building her nail business, she keeps moving forward, determined to provide for her children and invest wisely in her future.
Before DuHope, she survived as a street vendor selling vegetables, work that is illegal in Rwanda and came with real danger. Police could arrive at any moment, forcing her to run and abandon her merchandise. Loss was constant, and safety was never guaranteed. With almost no capital, starting a legal business felt out of reach.
To get by, Victoria practiced prostitution alongside street vending. During this time she became pregnant and gave birth to her first child, a daughter born with a disability who needed constant care. The child's father left and never provided support. The emotional and financial weight was heavy, but Victoria kept working and kept caring for her daughter as best she could.
Years later, she had a second daughter, now seven and healthy. Providing for both children as a single mother grew harder by the year. Medical care for her first child was expensive and often out of reach. Victoria carried deep shame and fear, hiding her disabled daughter from neighbors to protect her from cruelty. Now sixteen, that daughter still spends much of her time indoors to avoid it.
Victoria joined DuHope after a friend told her about a woman helping others leave prostitution and become financially independent. The training she found there, handcraft skills, financial management, budgeting, Bible study, marked a turning point. She learned to save, to plan ahead, to manage what she earned. For the first time, she could consistently cover rent, health insurance, and daily expenses.
As counseling continued, it became clear how much Victoria had been carrying in silence. She eventually shared her story and let the DuHope community meet her disabled daughter. Her younger child came to work with her and played alongside the other children there, slowly opening a door that had been closed for years. Leadership at DuHope searched for medical support for her daughter, and while surgery was no longer an option because of her age, the effort itself gave Victoria something she'd rarely known: being seen and supported without expectation.
"For the first time, I felt accepted and supported."
Stability followed. Today Victoria builds multiple income streams at once. She runs a nail business, reinvesting earnings into supplies instead of spending on anything unnecessary. She cooks for parties and events, and rather than waiting for that work to find her, she markets herself directly, approaching established cooks and offering her skills.
"I do not sit still anymore. I go out and look for work."
That instinct, and her training in food service through DuHope, recently led somewhere new. Victoria and fellow DuHope artisan Juliette opened a small moto-bar style restaurant just down the street from the workshop. Their first customers were the artisans and staff who know them best, and the two now plan to serve lunch there every workday, cooking for the same community that once helped both of them find their footing.
Victoria can now pay school fees for her younger daughter, in Secondary One this year. She no longer sits still. She works, plans, and invests with intention, always building toward something better for her children.
"Now, I invest my money in building my future. Everything I do is for my children."
Reflecting on her journey, Victoria speaks of the first time someone cared for her without expecting anything back. The first time her child was accepted instead of hidden. The first time she felt financially stable and hopeful. Today she calls herself a happy woman, working hard for her children and believing in a better future.
Victoria's nail business, her daughters' school fees, a restaurant she now co-owns. None of it happens without steady support behind it. Hope Builders give monthly so women like Victoria have the time and training to build something that lasts.
Juliette & Victoria cooking together! The photo to the right is on their opening day of their restaurant.