Sephora’s Story of Success
Sephora and Maman Auguy, co-founder and president of the orphanage, in EMSF's Le Prince Orphanage's hair and beauty salon, which our Avenir Project family helped launch last fall! This hair and beauty salon is not only an incredible blessing to Sephora, but also a way for her to give back to the orphanage where she has grown up. Her work provides her a salary as well as extra income for the orphanage's sustainability!
Last January, I asked Sephora, one of the orphans at our partner orphanage in the Ivory Coast, if she would like to share her story with our friends and family. And she got the biggest smile on her face when I asked.
She is one of the oldest at our Ivorian partner orphanage right now, and she has become an inspiration and leader for her younger orphanage siblings. At the beginning of last fall, our Avenir Project family helped her get her start as a hair stylist and beautician as we helped launch the orphanage’s beauty and hair salon, situated along the outer wall of the orphanage. It’s grown impressively since its start.
One of the most beautiful things about Sephora and her orphanage siblings is how they delight in one another and each other’s successes. Sephora’s story is something to celebrate, and her siblings do. It uplifts them all.
I hope you’ll take a moment out of your day to read what she was so vulnerable and joyful to share:
Hi dear partners,
I am Sephora Yrode. I’m 19 years old.
Before coming to the orphanage, my life was not easy. I’ll explain it to you. First of all, I was living with my mother, my father, my brother, and my grandmother. In 2012, my dad passed away and things became complicated for us because it was my dad who did everything for us. In that same year, my big brother was going into 6th grade. He went to Abidjan to continue his studies. My mom, my grandmother, and I, we stayed in the village.
A few months later, my mother fell ill but God was gracious and she was saved. Then life was very hard for my grandmother and me. My challenge was going to school and working to take care of my grandmother and myself. Well, it’s thanks to the support of my big brother Siméon who had become a part of the orphanage before me. Since I stepped foot into the orphanage, a lot of things have changed, above all my life.
Maman Auguy has taught me so many things—how to forgive, to share, and plenty of other things and it’s thanks to her that I’m going to fulfill my dream. My current dream is to grow the hair salon, to also help orphans, and to travel all over the world. Thank you so, so much for your support and may God lift up The Avenir Project.
