Each of our Sunshine children could easily be the subject of such a movie. Every one of them is an overcomer, rising above circumstances that would cause most of us to give up. If a movie director were ever to ask me which of my children would inspire others, I wouldn’t hesitate for a moment to say, “Cecilia.” Cecilia is a young woman who has overcome more than her fair share of adversity, and she stands as a shining example of what it means to be an overcomer.
Cecilia was the first of our Sunshine children. In January 2014, her mother committed suicide after their father had been killed in a car accident. This left the then 12-year-old Cecilia in charge of her younger siblings, Madalena, 5, and Antonio, 3. After her mother’s death, Cecilia and her siblings were taken in by their uncle, their father’s brother. He told them upfront that all he could offer them was a floor to sleep on and a roof over their heads, but that was all. He himself was very poor. His only income came from selling plastic bags in the markets. He could not offer them any food, education, or support of any kind. Cecilia recalls laying on the cement floor at night with her siblings sleeping next to her, overhearing her uncle and aunt fighting over their presence in the house. The aunt did not want them there.
This is when we entered into the picture and heard of their situation. Thus was birthed the first of our Sunshine Homes where we create families by pairing together a widowed/vulnerable woman with four to six orphaned children.
From the start, we recognized a fighter in Cecilia. She would do whatever she needed to do to succeed in life. We have seen her demonstrate this time and time again over the past 11 years.
We enrolled Cecilia to study at a local private school, Cantinho do Ceu. She entered the school in grade 10.
In Mozambique, only 1% of the children who start first grade will graduate from grade 12. The educational system is very lacking in all ways and is ranked 160th in the world compared to other countries. Cecilia would have spent grades 1-9 in a very substandard academic environment. When she entered grade 10 at Cantinho do Ceu, she rubbed shoulders with the elite of her peers. She was studying alongside colleagues who had been privileged to a solid, private education. She was disadvantaged and would have been very far behind her classmates. But she did not let this stop her. She caught up, kept up, and graduated.
She then went on to university. When I first met her at the age of 12, I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. She said she wanted to be a lawyer so that she could help those in need and be a voice for the people who had no voice. Cecilia entered Universidade de Sao Tomas to study law. Her freshman year was a challenge for her, as it is for most college freshmen. It was no surprise to us that she worked and passed her first two semesters. Then came her sophomore year. It was February 2020…Covid hit and shut everything down only a week or two into her semester. She persevered on completing her courses online. For those of you in the Western world, “online courses” is an easy, doable way to study. Not so here in Mozambique. Lack of access to a computer, unreliable internet, and educators who do not know how to use alternative teaching and study methods make this type of study very challenging. But she did it! Covid has delayed her graduation for a year, but she did not let it stop her.
At the end of her sophomore year, her beloved house mother, Zelda, died very unexpectedly. Zelda had been mother to Cecilia and her siblings for nine years. They were a family, rooted and united together in love. Zelda loved and cared for Cecilia, Madalena, and Antonio and helped them to heal from the loss of their biological parents. She raised them to be of strong and upright character. She poured her life into them. She was the best of mothers. They not only loved her, they cherished her. Her death was a severe blow to them.
After Zelda's death, Cecilia wanted to be head of her family. We believed she was not ready yet. She had just turned 21 and still had two years of university studies to focus on. This was her priority. Having to care for the house, food shop, prepare meals, and raise her teenaged siblings would be too much of a distraction for her. So we brought in a woman to be the housemother. It did not work out well; to fill the shoes of Zelda was a lofty ask. It was going from bad to worse, so we moved this mother to another house with small children.
We then brought in a new woman to oversee the household; a woman who was older, more experienced, and stronger. We informed the children that they were to respect and honor her, and we informed the new house mother to hold firm. It was going exceedingly well and everyone was happy. About six months into the new house mother’s arrival, it was discovered that in her zeal to accept the position, she “forgot” to tell us that she had a husband and teenaged children! We counseled her and she understood that her responsibility was first and foremost to her husband and children, so she chose to return to her home.
Cecilia was now 23. We did not want to put her, Madalena, or Antonio through another loss. We felt she was ready to take on the responsibility for her family. We knew what Cecilia is made of, and we knew she would succeed. We also knew that Madalena and Antonio respect Cecilia and obey her. Their family had suffered enough trauma. It was time to let them be their own nuclear family.
It has now been a year, and the three siblings are doing great! Cecilia gets up and is off to her final class in the city each morning. Madalena and Antonio get up and go to tutoring in the morning and high school classes in the afternoon. They all contribute and do the chores at the house. We are always around to oversee and assist in anyway needed, but they never have needed us yet!
Covid was not the only potentially ruinous event to interfere with her goal to finish her university education and become a lawyer. The end of her most recent semester was disrupted by political and civil unrest that erupted in Mozambique after the elections in October 2024. Schools and businesses were forced to close for days and weeks at a time as the opposition party called for protests from the people. These protests turned violent and made it unsafe to go out. Students missed the far majority of their classes in November and December. When it came time for the final exams at the end of the semester in January, the students were forced to take the risk of going to school to take them so as to complete their courses. Even now, the situation is volatile. At the height of the violence, she looked at me with a helpless look in her eye saying, "First Covid, and now this?" Yet Cecilia, being Cecilia, forged ahead and has continued on.
This semester, Cecilia is not only completing her final required course but also working diligently on her thesis, which she’ll present in May. Can you guess the focus of her thesis? It’s about improving the care of orphaned and vulnerable children through family-based care—a subject she’s deeply knowledgeable and passionate about. Once she finishes this final class and successfully defends her thesis, she’ll be ready to graduate! We’re also securing an internship for her to help launch her dream career. I can’t help but smile when I think of all she’s faced and overcome. It’s truly a privilege to walk alongside this remarkable young woman. While her story might not make it to the big screen, she remains a powerful inspiration to all who know her—especially to the 33 other Sunshine children, many of whom now aspire to become lawyers, just like her!
