Pushing Forward

Amanda

In the office, there’s this slip of a girl named Amanda. She’s small, probably just a little over five feet. But her tiny frame is belied by a big personality. She’s full of jokes – the spontaneous kind, not of the knock-knock variety. Her voice can be loud if she wants it to be, which makes it impossible for anyone to miss her in a room.
Amanda works as a Junior Team Lead at Better Edits. When asked to describe her work, Amanda uses a lot of words that other 25-year old girls would use: her job is “challenging and interesting”; “I am happy with what I’m doing”; “the work environment is friendly”.
 
But these words represent more for Amanda than it does for other people. They are a testament to how she has changed the course of her life.
 
“The Better Edits family has motivated me to become a better person. My willingness to give my children a bright future motivates me; I want them to be proud of me.  Five years from now I still see myself working at Better Edits with a higher position, more savings and having our very own house.”
Rescued from the trash
The first challenge that Amanda overcame occurred when she was a baby. Her mother threw her in the trash when she was just three months old. Fortunately, a woman from the public market found her and took her in. But, she passed away when Amanda was a year old. She stayed with various people, often having to find food for herself. When she was 19, she found herself pregnant. The relationship ended because the man – drug dependent and irresponsible – did not want the child.

Vendors Area

Sold in to prostitution by a lie of salvation

Jobless and alone, Amanda met a German who she thought of as a “savior”. He promised a job and support for her and her baby. “I believed him because I was desperately looking for someone who can take care of me,” said Amanda.

But, those promises turned out to be bait and the savior, a pimp. He forced Amanda into sex work, selling her to other men. It was a terrifying situation. She did not know where to go. She did not know what to do. So, feeling powerless, she complied.

It was when she got pregnant again, this time with a girl, that Amanda realized that she had to get away. She feared for her baby. The thought of her daughter experiencing what she went through overcame any doubt she had. Despite being penniless and afraid, Amanda reported her captor to the authorities.

The past does not define my destiny
 
She ended up at a shelter for women and was introduced to other groups who helped her develop skills she could use to create a better future. She graduated from a Job Readiness Training program and was sought ways to support herself and her children. It was then that she encountered Better Edits.
 
If Amanda’s journey were a river, it would be the kind that snakes through the landscape, twisting this way and that. It would not murmur and instead would slash through rock and slate to carve out its own path. Sometimes she takes a wrong turn, by circumstance or by her own mistake.
 
“Once, I got derailed from achieving my goal,” Amanda said. “But by an act of grace, Better Edits gave me another chance of which I am very thankful.”
 
But like a river, Amanda moves forward, never back. She says, “whatever happened to you in the past will never define you as a person. It will never be the basis of what you can’t and can do today.”
The past does not define my destiny
 
She ended up at a shelter for women and was introduced to other groups who helped her develop skills she could use to create a better future. She graduated from a Job Readiness Training program and was sought ways to support herself and her children. It was then that she encountered Better Edits.
 
If Amanda’s journey were a river, it would be the kind that snakes through the landscape, twisting this way and that. It would not murmur and instead would slash through rock and slate to carve out its own path. Sometimes she takes a wrong turn, by circumstance or by her own mistake.
 
“Once, I got derailed from achieving my goal,” Amanda said. “But by an act of grace, Better Edits gave me another chance of which I am very thankful.”
 
But like a river, Amanda moves forward, never back. She says, “whatever happened to you in the past will never define you as a person. It will never be the basis of what you can’t and can do today.”