'Look back, walk forward'

Fashion: The models of Amani ya Juu took and unusual path to the runway | Zoe Sandvig

Brian Tropiano

In 2006 Gladys Achieng of Kenya had an illness that left her temporarily paralyzed. It took her two months to learn to walk again. This fall the 28-year-old and nine other women from Amani ya Juu—an African organization (see WORLD, Dec. 8, 2007) that offers help and healing—traveled around the United States. They walked fashion runways to unveil Amani's new clothing line and tell their stories of suffering and hope.

Most of the women have survived extreme poverty, disease, and famine. Achieng, orphaned at 15, came to Amani five years ago and slowly became willing to talk about her past during small group prayer gatherings. She went to secretarial school, worked as an office manager at Amani—and now she's learning to be a model: Designer Lynn Windmeyer calls her "a natural beauty with lots of confidence."