You Can Sponsor a Widow!

Today, August 30, 2013, the Prayer and Praise Guide for Sister Connection lists the following request:

Pray for more sponsors for those widows and orphans who wait. Although we have 622 households sponsored, SC has over 500 widows and orphans in its fellowship organization waiting to be sponsored.  

Sister Connection provides sponsors for widows in Burundi, people who give $30 a month to help them with food, schooling, clothing, and medical expenses. It is a wonderful ministry, with 100% of contributions going directly to the designated widow.

You may know that Sister Connection also builds homes for widows and their families. It costs just $600 (US) to build a home and it is, without doubt, a great blessing to each of the 1117 families that have received a home or are waiting for their home to be built or repaired. But even if a widow has received a home, where her family is safe and comfortable, unless she has regular income, she will still struggle to feed, clothe, and educate her children.

As the prayer request above states, there are 622 widows sponsored by Sister Connection, but 500 more are awaiting sponsorship. Today I want to introduce you to three of these women. They are all older women who have been widowed for many years. A couple of them struggle with sickness, making it more difficult to care for the daily needs of their families. Each of them lives in a house built for them through gifts from Sister Connection, but they do not have sponsors to help them with their daily needs or to pray for them personally.

Anesiya was born in 1958 and lost her husband in 1986. She has one son.

Viola was bor in 1945. In 1969 her husband abandoned her. She is the mother of two grown children and the guardian of two other children, ages 6 and 11.

Monique, born in 1949, lost her husband in 2004. She has six children, one of whom is in 5th grade.

The following is a quote from a Sister Connection document:

Because widows are traditionally considered to be worth next to nothing in Burundian culture, they find themselves unwanted, and disregarded by their neighbors, and find it difficult to provide themselves with even the basic needs: food, clothing, shelter. Children without a father are considered to be orphans in Burundian society and they are commonly rejected and struggle to continue an education because of responsibilities within the home. Your gift of sponsorship would help provide [a widow] protection for her family within the community as well as basic needs.

Today, August 30, hundreds of Sister Connection prayer partners are praying for the many widows who are still waiting for sponsorship. Perhaps the Lord would like to answer that prayer, in part,  through you.

If you would like to become a Sister Connection sponsor, click here. And if one of these three women grabbed your heart, please request her as your sister.