Acan Evaline

ACAN EVALINE was the first of seven children born in her family. During the time of war her father abandoned her mother and all the children with the last one being a small baby. She was only able to go to school through Primary 3. Only a few days after dropping out of school she was abducted by the rebels. She was forced to live in the bush with the rebels for three years only doing what she was told for survival. When the war was over, she was able to leave the bush and figure out what a normal life would now look like. Evaline was unable to return to school, so she got married. That was the year 2000. She had one son before her husband passed away. She was heartbroken after the loss of her first husband and was worried about how she would make it living a single life. Evaline was able to remarry in 2002 and they continue to have a life together. Even when they are faced with challenges and life isn’t easy, they carry on together and have now been married for over 20 years. Evaline sometimes thinks of herself as a loser when she thinks back on her life because she couldn’t study and how that and the war made it difficult to see a way to have something good for herself. She hopes and prays that her children can have a better life and future. She and her husband, Charles (who is a deacon at Living Stones Church here at Abaana’s Hope), have one child who has made it through Senior 4 in school and now is doing agricultural work. Their second child is a girl and is home right now feeling like she cannot study more at the moment until there are more funds. They hope for her to do a trade at the institution once they figure out the struggle for the fees. They have several more children in school; one in Senior level classes and another studying at Kinene Primary School. There are also two children in P1 and P2 at Living Stones school with an additional child at home who is not yet school age. Evaline has been with Life Beads for 4 years and is thankful for a job that offers help for their family and discipleship.