A number of years ago I had a great opportunity through my church and the non-profit organization Bright Hope World to visit Uganda, Africa. While there I learned that if a woman is married and somehow her husband dies, the husband’s family immediately has the right to all that the deceased husband owned and the widow and children have no rights. So sometimes the husband’s family takes possession of everything (their home, food, clothes, furniture, transportation, etc.) and evicts the widow and children onto the street with literally just the clothes on their back. In Uganda, they do not have our social security or welfare system so the widow is on her own to care for herself and her children. So while we were there we came into a relationship with some local missionaries who felt God calling them to help these wonderful women. As a result, they began a widow’s micro-loan program to empower these widows so they can begin their own small business. This gives them the ability to begin generating an income to feed their children, provide a roof over their heads, pay for their schooling (the parents have to pay for all grades, they do not pay for it via their taxes like we do here), etc.
As a result of the relationship we began with these missionaries, my church began a long-term partnership to support them so they can continue helping the widows. There are approximately 90 widows in the program in two different cities. I’m VERY excited to walk with them and help support them over the foreseeable future. The program needs continuous funding because there are more widows who want in the program than what the program can support so there is a waiting list. On top of this, inflation is very high there so the value of their dollar decreases significantly each year, so it requires additional funds each year in order to maintain and continue and grow the program. So each year I support my church in raising funds to help off-set inflation and help grow the program. To learn more about this you can talk to me directly or visit the following links: Lira Widow Program and Mbale Widow Program