We thank God for SGA’s compassionate ministries, not least the support of widows. The Widows’ Project began about twenty years ago, when Trevor Harris, a former SGA General Director, was reflecting on God’s Word in Job 29 v 13 which speaks of making ‘the widow’s heart to sing for joy’. Since then, thousands of widows in Central and Eastern Europe, and Central Asia have been helped. Pensions there are often small, and basic commodities like food, fuel, medicine, and doctors’ appointments can cost so much.
SGA helps four types of widows –
Elderly ladies, whose husbands have died through natural causes; Younger ladies, who have lost their husbands through accident or illness; ‘Conflict’ ladies, whose husbands died in war; ‘Outcast’ ladies, those whose husbands expel or abandon them due to their conversion to Christ. In Muslim settings conversion often leads to such abandonment.
During last winter, SGA helped several thousand widows across Eastern Europe and Central Asia. It is expected that the number of widows requiring support this winter will hugely increase, especially in Ukraine, due to the prolonged war. It is a blessing to report on such a ministry as each of these ladies has a story to tell.
Rosa is among the poorest ladies in Tajikistan. She lives in a mountainous region with her son and three grandchildren – her daughter’s children – without a bathroom or running water.
It is icy cold in the winter, and life is always tough, but she never gives up. She tells of her former enthusiasm for communism, of her work as a nurse for over 40yrs, 12 of these in Afghanistan. She was on the run with her husband and two children during the Tajik civil war in the mid-90s, before returning home. There her husband died after a long illness.
God opened the doors for Christian missionaries who are now bringing needed humanitarian aid to her region. Missionary ‘S’ visits from time to time and Rosa rejoices. “With him, blessings truly come to our house”.
The missionary encouraged her to memorize a verse from Acts (16v31), and deeply moved, she said, “Now I have learned it: Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you and your household will be saved!”