From Selling Her Body to Selling Maize

In the quiet hills of southern Rwanda, a young girl named Velonic once faced a life no child should ever know.

One of seven siblings, Velonic grew up in a home where eating even once a day was uncertain. Her parents—faithful Sunday believers—did their best, but survival often felt out of reach. Despite her deep desire to stay in school, hunger and poverty made it impossible. With no money for food, let alone school fees, she dropped out.

“I didn’t leave school because I failed,” Velonic recalls. “I left because I was starving.”

In her desperation, Velonic was drawn into something far more heartbreaking. She began selling her body—just to survive.

“I felt disgusted, ashamed, and hopeless,” she says. “But I didn’t know any other way.”

Then God, through you, stepped in.

Through Heaven’s Family’s Education Ministry and Farming God’s Way (FGW) initiative, Velonic and her family were given tools not just to survive—but to thrive. Her father learned to farm with biblical methods. Their soil, once dry and unfruitful, began to yield a harvest.

Velonic joined a God’s Love Group, where she encountered the true hope of Jesus—and the embrace of a loving community. She went back to school, equipped not just with supplies, but with renewed dignity.

“I thank God because I have food now. I went back to school. I’m even helping myself and others,” Velonic says with a smile.

In fact, this season, Velonic harvested fresh maize and earned enough—30,000 francs (about $25)—to pay her own school fees for the entire year. She is now fully supporting herself and asked that the support she once received be given to another child in need.

“Because of what God has done for me, I want to give others hope too,” she says.

Velonic’s story is no longer one of shame. It’s one of strength, faith, and a future full of possibility.

Thank you for helping rewrite her story.

Because of your love, children like Velonic are returning to school, discovering Jesus, and becoming agents of hope in their own communities.