Boru first met Mary Dailey Brown in 2000, while he taught at a rural school in Ethiopia. He translated for Mary as she led a kids’ club for five days during a short-term mission trip.
Mary and Boru stayed in touch through the years. Boru advanced to become the school principal, then city manager for the local government, and eventually he became the regional director. In 2022, Boru applied for a grant from SowHope to assist 80 vulnerable women with small business training and provide them with either goats, sheep, hens, or sewing machines. The women live in an area beset by constant tribal conflict where they face cyclical challenges of violence, inflation, and food scarcity. The project provided the women with increased income and greater food security for their families. Once that project completed, Boru applied again to provide for 120 impoverished rural women heads of household displaced by disastrous flooding. This project was similar to the first, and allowed Boru to purchase small animals, farm tools and seeds, and trained the women in sustainable income-generating strategies. One project participant was Wudinesh, a 42-year-old mother of five children. Her only source of income came from her husband — about $6 a month. She received five hens and training from Boru to start a small business. Now, she sells eggs and makes about $20 a month. At the end of the project Wudinesh said, “To me, a wife is the property of her husband. We grow up hearing and practicing feminine roles. A boy grows with a sense of control and independence with a business mentality, while women grow with a motherhood mentality. There is nothing paid for all our home chores. Now, I can’t believe what you have done by giving me these hens as my property to generate my own income. God bless you!”

