Empowering Rural Women with Vocational Skills

In the quiet villages of rural Liberia, dreams are often silenced by hardship. Katherine Johnson was just fifteen when she left her small village in search of a better future. Sent to a larger community to attend school, her dreams were quickly derailed. Instead of studying, she found herself selling goods in the streets for her aunt—school a distant hope, survival the immediate reality.

One day, Matheline was sent to sell on the campus of Give Them Hope School. Her eyes watched longingly as other girls, not much older than herself, walked into classrooms, books in hand, hope in their hearts. The staff noticed her, saw more than a girl with a tray of goods. They saw potential. They saw Matheline.

Compelled by her situation and spirit, the organization stepped in. They paid her school fees, provided her uniform, and gave her the chance every child deserves—the opportunity to learn.

Matheline didn't waste a moment. She studied hard, graduated from high school, and today, she is preparing to enter college—a bright young woman determined to rewrite not just her own story, but the story of girls across Liberia.

But Matheline is not alone. There are countless girls like her—bright, determined, full of promise—yet held back by poverty, gender inequality, and lack of opportunity. Girls like Matheline, who walk for miles to fetch water, yet still dream of becoming teachers, nurses, and leaders.

You can be the reason a girl like Matheline enters and stays in school, or receives a vocational skill that empowers her for life.

Together, we can break the cycle of poverty through education and vocational skills, empowering a generation of rural girls and women to rise.

Give Them Hope, Inc. invests in her future. Change the world, one girl or woman at a time. Your investment and support will produce many like Matheline.

Note: Give Them Hope, Inc. got the full permission from Matheline to use her photo in this report