Marta, a 20-year-old girl, was born in Andasa, a small village near Bahir Dar. When she was old enough to go to school, she joined a primary school in the village just like other girls did. Unfortunately, she lost her father while she was in the second grade.

 Her mother began brewing and selling a traditional alcohol called tella to raise Martha and her other five children.

Eventually, Martha moved to Bahir Dar in order to pursue her education as she reached grade six. With the support of her mother, she rented a house and started living in the city. To supplement her livelihood she started working as a daily laborer during the weekends.

Two years later, her mother could no longer support her and she was summoned back home. But Martha refused to comply with the order. She dropped out of school and started working as a waitress in one of the bars in Bahir Dar. She found it difficult to support her family and pursue her education with what she was earning. Nonetheless, she tried her level best to save from her meagre income and to pursue her education as well as supporting her family. She was then forced to engage in commercial sex for a while to increase her income and support her family. She continued working for five years despite experiencing horrendous sexual, psychosocial, and physical abuse and exploitation in her day-to-day life.

Eventually, she came to learn about FSCE and its program from her friends. She ran into a committee responsible for this and got registered at FSCE for rehabilitation and reintegration. In March 2011, Martha joined a safe home to obtain the rehabilitation and reintegration program benefits. While taking the rehabilitation services, Martha chose to take training in driving Tri-Motor Cycles [Bajaj] and managed to establish her own livelihoods.

While taking other rehabilitation services, she pursued the same career and obtained Taxi-1 driving license. After six months, Martha reintegrated with the society, employed as a Taxi-1 (Bajaj) driver with a daily income of 80.00 birr. She has now done this for about a year. Martha says her income has now grown to 100.00 birr per day, which amounts to 3,000.00 birr per month. Now, Martha is leading a comfortable life away from an abusive environment. She also manages to spare some of her income to support her family. Martha has resumed her education and is promoted to grade 10 through the Alpha University College Distance Learning Program. Currently, she has saved more than 9,000.00 birr in one of the banks in Bahir Dar. Moreover, she has also registered to upgrade her driving license to level three, which might cost her more than 10,000.00 birr.

Looking back at her past, Martha confirms that it was the rehabilitation and reintegration program that has enabled her and her family to live a more decent and comfortable life. She also wishes to be able to support other disadvantaged girls who live under abusive and exploitative circumstances.