The Waymaker Trust is a grassroots women’s organization set up on March 18th 2020. The establishment of this organization is very much close to the heart of a woman called Lyna who has always had a dream for her people.
After working in Maraland for many years, her passion and sympathy for women in the rural villages grew. She knew how important they are in terms of raising kids (without any manual or instructions), managing family chaos and poverty, discrimination, and, unfortunately, they have very little capacity and opportunity to improve their lives to impact into their children’s lives.
There has never been an organization which supports or raises women’s matters in the region. Therefore, she thought she must try to start something with a few women from her community.
Follow the story of Lyna in the paragraph below;
Lyna was born in a small remote Mara village. She and her siblings grew up in a very poor family that relied on subsistence farming and struggled to make ends meet. Inspired by her devoted grandmother and by her mother who was also the village birth attendant, Lyna realized at an early age that studying was the best way for her to improve her own life prospects and those of the Mara people. When she was just 11 years old she left her family behind and walked all day to another village where she stayed in order to continue her education. She eventually attended High School in the nearest town but to get there she also had to travel by foot this time for almost a week carrying her food and possessions with her.
Her determination and resourcefulness then led her on another long and arduous journey to Bangalore in southern India where she enrolled at Theological College. For several years as well as studying hard she had to do cleaning work and a variety of other jobs in order to pay not just her own tuition fees but also the school fees of her young brother who was living with her so that he too could have the benefit of a good education. On graduation she became the first ever woman from her village to hold a Master’s degree in theology. She can speak 5 different languages and already has a wealth of experience within the charitable sector.
After working for a couple of years as a College tutor in Bangalore, Lyna joined another charity which similarly strives to improve living standards amongst the poorest people in Maraland. For more than 8 years as their Programme Manager she was responsible for the organization and supervision of numerous healthcare, education, food security and self-help projects. She also co-ordinated the relief effort in response to a regional famine and a series of natural disasters including severe floods in 2015 and Cyclone Mora in 2017. She is currently working for a UK charity that promotes and sponsors educational programmes for deserving overseas students.
The Waymaker Trust 