The Ripple Effect of Empowering Women: Isaac’s Journey from Refugee Camp to a Brighter Future

The Ripple Effect of Empowering Women: Isaac’s Journey from Refugee Camp to a Brighter Future

SBS Co-Founder and Board Member Emeritus Torkin Wakefield reflects on the lasting impact of empowering women and the ripple effects on their families and future generations.

In this story, Torkin shares Josephine’s journey, an SBS graduate whose determination and entrepreneurship helped create new opportunities for her grandson, Isaac.

A Reflection from SBS Co-Founder and Board Member Emeritus Torkin Wakefield

For many years, I have thought about how best to express my gratitude for the incredible support that has helped make Street Business School’s work possible. I want to give you a glimpse of our work through the lives of real people who seized the opportunity to lift themselves and their families out of grinding poverty.

I started thinking about the children of the women who get trained by Street Business School as confident entrepreneurs, and how they boost their children into bright futures.

I began to think about the impact of breaking generational poverty. I began to wonder what had happened to some of the children of our graduates.
Whatever happened to Isaac?

A Grandmother’s Courage and a Family’s New Beginning

I met Jajja (grandmother) Josephine in 2006 when she joined our program way back when Street Business School was a new idea we were testing at our sister organization, BeadforLife. Josephine was a Rwandan refugee, having fled her home when it was attacked during the genocide in the mid-1990s.

As she escaped, she grabbed her four-year-old grandson Isaac and his infant sister and rushed into the fields, hiding in the dark. She made her way carrying these two small children, traveling only by night until she reached the relative safety of a refugee camp in Uganda.

There, they lived in abject poverty along with tens of thousands of other Rwandan refugees who were resettled into camps. Her two grandchildren had very little schooling, and when I met them, Isaac, aged 12, was too old to return to regular schooling.

After graduating from the SBS program, Jajja Josephine developed her fruit stand business. She cleverly found a wonderful location for it between two upscale neighborhoods and soon had regular customers.

With her earnings, she decided to send Isaac to computer school.

Finding Isaac Again

So last week, I went on an internet search to find Isaac.

I reasoned that since he was working with computers, I had a good chance of locating him. And I did—in about half an hour. I even got his phone number!

When I called him and he heard my voice, he said:

“Hello Mum, I’ve been hoping you would find me.”

Here is what he told me.

He works for a very large telecommunications company, MTN. While still a teenager, MTN, recognizing his dedication and hard work, sent him to Oslo, Norway, for further training.

Then they assigned him to their Johannesburg, South African office, where he still works today.

He is married. He and his wife decided to only have one child so they could concentrate on him.

He owns his own house and two cars. He sent his sister to college and cared for Jajja Josephine until she passed away.

“I’m so happy Mum. I have no words to tell you.”

I wept with joy.

The Power of One Woman’s Opportunity

We know that when a woman living in poverty has the opportunity, she will boost her children with all her might.

Now, almost 100,000 people, mostly women, have graduated from SBS. Most of them have children like Isaac—youngsters who learn from their mothers and determine never to be poor.

They work so hard and succeed in breaking the bonds of generational poverty.

YOU make this happen with your love and support.

Isaac thanks you, as do hundreds of thousands of other children we will never know.

And as your friend, I personally feel your generosity and confidence in the work of Street Business School.

Onward, we go! Let’s reach more people together in 2026!

With love, affection, and appreciation,

Torkin Wakefield

SBS Co-Founder & Board Member Emeritus