Ms. Lian Tiem and Sui Par

Dear Friends,

For the past five years, Lian Tiem, a 60-year-old widow, has lived at the Handicapped Care Center, a Heaven’s Family-sponsored orphanage for polio-stricken children in Kalaymyo, Myanmar. Lian has been blind for 12 years. Her teenage daughter Sui Par, also a resident at the orphanage, watches over her.

When I met Lian this past November, she was sitting quietly by herself on the floor of the orphanage while all the children sang Christian songs and played games. My heart went out to her.

During our visit, the director of the Handicapped Care Center asked us a favor on behalf of Lian and Sui Par. He wanted to know if Heaven’s Family could empower them to become self-supporting and move into their own rented house. He estimated that they would need a grant of $675 to help them to purchase a hand loom and thread for making clothing, as well as buy some pots to do their own cooking. Sui Par knows how to weave from her training at the orphanage, and she estimates that she could earn about $40 a month using her skills. That would be enough for her and her blind mother to be self-sufficient.

The plan made sense to us, and since we’ve known both Lian and Sui Par for years, we gladly agreed. Although we prefer to help widows become self-sufficient through offering them small-business micro-loans, we felt that in this case a grant would be better. A micro-loan may be appropriate later if Sui Par wants to expand her business.

Through Heaven’s Family’s Christian Widows Fund, we’re lifting many poor widows from poverty around the world, through both grants and loans. Your gifts are making those blessings possible! Thanks so much.

For our Sisters,

Peter Wray
Director, Christian Widows Fund

Fanice, Lydia, Daniel, Cynthia and Cecilia, standing in front of their tin rental home in a Nairobi slum

Lydia never dreamed she would be a widow. She had just given birth to her fourth child—a long-awaited first son named Daniel. And then it happened. Her husband, Peter, died unexpectedly of heart failure. Lydia found herself alone, trying to raise their four children by herself.

Lydia, a trained beautician, would take work at any hair salon that gave her an opportunity, but she was only able to bring home about $12 per week. The single room she rented for her family cost $31 per month. There wasn’t much left over for food and other necessities.

The government of Kenya provides free primary education for all children, but Lydia’s oldest daughter, Fanice, was just starting secondary school, and the fees were $435 per year. And Lydia’s twins, Cynthia and Cecilia, would be out of primary school in a few years.

Some days Lydia couldn’t find work. And there were even a few days when she had no food to feed her family. During those times, her church family helped her as best they could out of their own poverty, but it still was never enough. Lydia found herself struggling against hopelessness and despair. She prayed for the Lord to help her open her own hair salon, but she knew it would take a miracle. Her pastor wrote to me and asked if Heaven’s Family could help Lydia with a grant to start a saloon (not the type of small business that Heaven’s Family usually helps widows start!). Further investigation revealed that he meant to write “salon” rather than “saloon”!

God heard Lydia’s prayers. Because of gifts to the Widows Fund, she received a grant to open her own hair salon. Her clientele is now growing, and she is prospering. There is food for her family every day. In her gratitude, Lydia wrote “I give thanks to the Heaven’s Family for helping me out of sorrow and tears.” Thank you for caring.

Lydia in her new shop with one of her clients

We have been transitioning the Widow’s Fund for the past few months so that we cannot only help trustworthy Christian widows in very poor nations with grants, but low-interest loans as well. We believe this is a way that we can better steward the funds entrusted to us while economically empowering widows. We now have three Widow’s Micro-Banks in Kenya, and soon will have more in three other countries. I love it when I see God’s plans come together! May He be glorified by our deeds!

Becky Servant
Director of the Widow’s Fund

Nzohabonimana Eudia

Nzohabonimana Eudia (pronounced Zo-ha-bo-nee-ma-na Ay-yu-dee-ah) was one of the women who attended our leaders’ conference over the weekend in Bujumbura. Everyone calls her “Mama Deo,” and I’m thankful for that, as that is much easier than calling her Nzohabonimana Eudia. She’s 40 years old, but doesn’t know her birthdate. Her parents, being illiterate, only told her the year of her birth. Like 75% of the other women in Burundi, she can’t read. By looking at her, you would never suspect that she’s a powerhouse for God.

Mama Deo’s husband died 12 years ago from a heart attack, leaving her with 4 children to care for. She lives in a village of about 5,000 people in Rugombo Province. Only a few people there own cars, and only one person owns cows. Everyone grows their own food.

When believers first shared the gospel with Mama Deo, she was resistant. Her husband had just died. Where was God? It was not long after that, however, when an inoperable tumor was discovered in her womb. She allowed local Christians to pray for her healing. Each day after that she felt the tumor shrinking, until after 7 days it was gone. She gave her life to Jesus.

That was about 11 years ago. Mama Deo began attending a Protestant church in her village, but didn’t find true spiritual life there. After attending for 5 years, she felt that God gave her a prophecy for the pastors that they should repent and be born again. They responded by excommunicating her.

Wounded, she never attended another church and just stayed home and prayed with her 4 children. Prayer became a central part of her life.

Fast forward to 2 years ago when Mama Deo met an on-fire pastor named Pascal Niyigaba (who was also at our conference this weekend) from her same province. Pascal had been a former influential lay leader in the Roman Catholic church, but was excommunicated when he began questioning certain unbiblical practices. Since his excommunication, he has planted 4 churches in homes. Mama Deo was thrilled to find a like-minded saint who could teach her, and Pascal began to disciple her with the help of a book titled, The Disciple-Making Minister. (Mama Deo eventually obtained her own copy, which one of her children reads to her.)

Mama Deo never learned that God doesn’t use women to build His Kingdom, and the Lord began to use her in a healing ministry. Sick people started coming to her for prayer, and they often left her little house healed, or were healed within days. Her reputation grew, and in the past 2 years hundreds of people have streamed to her little house for healing prayer. These days, she told me she prays for at least 20 people every day. She never accepts money from them, lest people think that healing can be purchased from God. She tells every sick person about Jesus and calls them to repent of their sins. If they are healed, she instructs them to go home and tell everyone their testimony as well as the gospel.

Hundreds have been saved. Scores of churches have been planted. Mama Deo told me that those churches have no one to lead them, and she has no way to get to them. So she prays for them.

I asked her to tell me about some of the most amazing healings she has seen. She told me about a “crazy man” named Daniel who was delivered, restored, saved, and who has since planted 6 churches in his region.

Then she told me about the time some people brought a dead body to her house.

In a village about an hour from her, a man fell over as he was walking along, saying something had bitten him. He started losing consciousness, and 2 hours later, around 6 PM, he wasn’t breathing. It was concluded that he was dead, and his family members tearfully began preparing for his burial, deciding to bury him around 11 AM the following morning. That next morning, however, the dead man’s daughter, who was a believer, and who had been healed of barrenness due to Mama Deo’s prayers, walked an hour to Mama Deo’s to ask if she would pray over her father’s dead body. Mama Deo agreed because the day before during a prayer meeting she had heard a voice tell her, “I have a special prayer meeting for you tomorrow.”

So the dead man’s daughter walked back to her village and told her story to her family. Very reluctantly, and just to satisfy her, they agreed to carry her father’s body to Mama Deo’s house. They arrived there around 3 PM.

Mama Deo and her group of prayer warriors prayed over the body for 2 hours. Finally, Mama Deo lifted the body up, stood it on its feet, and commanded it to walk in Jesus’ name. The body coughed! Then the dead man opened his eyes and said, “I was dead! I was on a long, dreadful journey!” Mama Deo led him to Christ. He later moved to another province to preach the gospel there.

Even if the man wasn’t actually dead, it was still a pretty good story I thought! Mama Deo told me 2 other stories of people who were resurrected that were almost as amazing as the first one.

Because she’s so popular, Mama Deo has been persecuted by church leaders, who accuse her of splitting their churches. They’ve reported her to local authorities for having unauthorized church meetings in her house, and she has even been accused of practicing witchcraft and human sacrifice. Consequently, she’s twice been put in jail for a few days, and the authorities have locked up her house until she can obtain legal permission to continue her ministry.

Now she, her children (ages 22, 20, and 17—one is deceased), as well as 4 orphans whom she’s been caring for (ages 20, 17, 15, 11) have been forced to live with other believers who open up their homes. Mama Deo continues to pray for the sick in various locations, working undercover. I was so happy to be able to promise her $400 from Heaven’s Family’s Widows Fund to help her rent her own house, plus some additional money via our Widows Micro-Bank to help her and her children start a business that can sustain them. It’s not every day that you meet someone like Mama Deo.

From witchcraft to Christ, Procaire Bucumi is enjoying true life in Christ. Pictured here with her sixth child, Dusenge Pacifique

Procaire Bucumi lives in Kayanza Province of Burundi in the agricultural village of Musave. She was married to a witchcraft doctor, and legally, she still is, although they are now separated. Procaire converted from witchcraft to Christ a little over a year ago through a woman of God who continues to disciple her. I spent time with her today to listen to her story.

Procaire’s husband was not pleased with her new life—a total turnaround from witchcraft to Christ—especially when she told him that God does not want him to make his living practicing witchcraft. He argued that if he stopped his profession of his witchcraft, they would all starve for lack of an income. She countered that if he repented, God would bless them and take care of their needs somehow. He ultimately accused her of driving his customers away, and he angrily drove her and their six children, ages 1 to 14, out of their home, taunting her by saying, “Let’s see if your God will take care of you now!” Her husband has since provided her and their children with no support and has a woman living with him. He still practices witchcraft.

A neighbor, a single mother with three children, was the only one who would open her home to shelter Procaire and her children. But there were two problems. That neighbor’s house consists of only two small rooms, so it is a tight fit for two adults and nine children. Moreover, the woman who opened up her home makes her living as a prostitute, which often reduces the living quarters to just one room for ten people. Worse, Procaire has found herself being accosted by drunken men who frequent the house. The woman with whom she lives has tried to pressure her to earn some much-needed money by also selling her body. However, coming from withchcraft to Christ, Procaire knows that she is a new creation in Christ and that her body is His temple.

Procaire is also a disciple of Jesus Christ (as are all true believers). In the last year, she has led six others to Christ, and together, they are going door-to-door spreading the gospel in their village of 3,000 people. Each of Procaire’s disciples have led three to five others to the Lord, and they all regularly meet to pray, admonish and encourage one another.

Procaire told me that one reason that people have rejected her and her message is because they think she is a prostitute, as she lives in a prostitute’s house. She also told me that her three oldest children, all of school age, have had to drop out of school for lack of school fees. And they simply don’t have enough food to eat.

I had the feeling that Procaire was one of the reasons I’m here in Burundi, and since her husband taunted her by saying, “Let’s see if your God will take care of you now!” I thought we ought to help him see what Procaire’s God would do. So I gave her some HF funds to meet her immediate food needs and get her three children back in school. I also decided that I would yield to the long-standing request of the director of Heaven’s Family’s Widows Fund (my wife, Becky), and change the name of that fund to the Widows and Abandoned Mothers Fund. With that, I was able to promise Procaire $400 so she can pay six month’s rent on a house of her own and purchase some domestic necessities. On top of that, through our just-established Burundi Widows Micro-Bank, I was also able to offer her a $400 loan to start a small shop in order to support herself and her children.

Procaire told me that she knows that as she seeks first God’s kingdom, He will supply all that she needs. Amen.

The Lord protects the strangers; He supports the fatherless and the widow; but He thwarts the way of the wicked (Psa. 146:9).

In some African countries, the acquired wealth of a man belongs to his parents and male siblings at his death. If there aren’t any male siblings or parents who survive him, his wealth goes to his male relatives. His wife and children do not have a claim on any of the material possessions that were gained by their husband and father. The widow does have the option of marrying a brother or male cousin to keep the wealth in the family, but if she refuses, she is cast out and left with nothing. Of course, many Christian widows will not become a second wife or marry a nonbeliever. This was the story of Philagona.

Philagona was married to Wafula for ten years and had three beautiful children—two girls, Diana and Daisy, and one son, Davis. Tragically, in 1999 Wafula contracted a severe case of malaria and died. Philagona and her children found themselves homeless and penniless. (I will never understand how a grandparent could take the home and belongings of their grandchildren and leave them destitute, but this is common in some African nations!)

Philagona and her grandson outside their one-room home

Philagona took any small job she could find just to put food on her table. For shelter, she rented one room of a building made of dung and clay. Primary school is provided by the government in Kenya, but secondary schools cost money, so her daughter Diana had to drop out because she couldn’t afford the school fees.

With the help of a few caring friends, Philagona took a course in sewing and tailoring. Her dream was to open up her own shop and sew women’s clothing, men’s suits and table cloths. As the saying goes, "It takes money to make money." Philagona didn’t have any money, so her dream seemed impossible.

Thanks to you, however, Philagona now owns two sewing machines and rents a business place where she started her own tailoring shop just last month. Her shop will provide for all the needs of her growing family, and she is already thinking of ways to expand her business to hire some other needy believers!

Philagona is so happy with her new sewing machine and shop

Truly, God has made a way for Philagona and her family, creating a river in the desert. Thank you for helping to make Philagona’s dream a reality!

In the past nine months fifty-six widows have been helped in five different nations because of your compassion. Thanks so much.

To Jesus belongs all the glory,

Becky

Learn more about how you can help widows through Heaven’s Family.

Tawng Kye, a widow in Myanmar, smiles because of the help she received from caring family members like you

Dear Friends,

Because of your gifts to the Christian Widows Fund over the past twelve months, I want to update you on what your compassion is accomplishing. Because of you, many widows are thanking God!

Over the past few months, I’ve been working with about fifteen pastors in four different nations helping very needy Christian widows with one-time grants to start small businesses. There are so many who have been praying and asking the Lord to help them, suffering in situations that are hopeless without God’s intervention. I’m so thankful for how many we’ve been able to help so far.

One of those widows is Tawng Kye, age 58. She lost her entire family and every earthly possession during Cyclone Nargis in 2008. Daw Tawng Kye was a Buddhist before the cyclone. One of our national missionaries brought life-saving food for the starving people of her village and also preached the gospel to them. Tawng Kye quickly believed as she witnessed the love of God demonstrated before her.

The makeshift shelter Tawng Kye built for herself with what she could gather after the cyclone

The small house we were able to build for her through gifts to the Disaster Relief Fund

And now through the Widows Fund, we’ve helped Tawng Kye with a small duck business that will provide her a sustainable income. To God be the glory!

Tawng Kye is just one of many widows who are rejoicing lately because of Heaven’s Family’s Widows Fund. I’ll be telling you about other thankful widows in the months ahead.

Serving together,

Becky Servant

Our day started with an email from a Canadian friend who had read in this blog about our Burundian friend Bienvenu, who sold his refrigerator in order to pay for the surgery of one of his regional leaders. She wanted to provide him with a new fridge! Bienvenu was overjoyed when he received her email with the news.

After breakfast we visited a tiny medical clinic, Centre Medical vis la Gloire, the vision of Dr. John Musabao and his wife, Dr. Neema Kavugho (wives don’t take their husbands’ surnames in Congo), and a pastor friend, Isaac Mwanaume. The clinic buildings sit right behind pastor Isaac’s church. Operating on a budget of about $600 per month (given by the poor saints at pastor Isaac’s church), doctors John and Neema provide medical services to the poorest of the poor, such as war widows and orphans (of which there are thousands in Goma) and those living in the local refugee camps.

Dr. John Musabao, his wife, Dr. Neema Kavugho, and their nurse staff, standing in front of the clinic

Dr. John gave us the quick tour of the six rooms of his clinic. I couldn’t imagine undergoing surgery in Dr. John’s operating room until he showed me what was the original O.R. The old one was so dark that they sometimes performed surgeries by the light of cell-phones (electricity is not consistent in Goma). The new O.R., which is a concrete-block room, has a corrugated tin roof with one panel that is clear plastic directly over the operating table, allowing plenty of light into the room.

Dr. John’s microscope was broken and unusable, his pharmacy was sparsely stocked, and his surgical instruments were very limited.

In one of the patient rooms we met a woman who had her appendix removed a few days earlier. Her little son was staying with her. Dr. John told me that everyone who comes through their doors hears the gospel, and many respond.

I pray there is someone reading this who is connected with the medical world who might receive a burden to help doctors John and Neema, who could be enjoying a very comfortable life using their talents elsewhere, but who have chosen to devote themselves to the poor in the name of Christ. I am thankful that we were able to make a $500 contribution from the Critical Medical Needs Fund before leaving Goma, but much more help is needed.

In the early afternoon, we made our way to the home of our host, Simeon Muhunga, where we expected to meet with five Christian widows to talk about helping them start small business with assistance from our Widows Fund. When we arrived, sixty widows were waiting for us, as word had gotten around the some muzungus were coming to help widows! (They were only a small sampling of Goma’s war widows.) Becky and I ducked inside Simeon’s house and discussed what we should do. Learning the most of the widows lived on $10 to $25 per month, we decided to give each one $10 in exchange for a smiling portrait, and Simeon would later select a few to receive micro-loans for starting small businesses. At least we could make a start at serving them and trust God to help more.

Just after I took the photo below of the thirty-five widows who milled around afterwards, they started singing and dancing for joy because of the small gifts they had received. Eastern African women often make shrill, vibrato yelps to express joy in worship, and heaven hears them for sure!

Oh happy day! Our hope is to provide all these Congolese Christian widows with micro-loans to help them start sustainable small businesses.

Below are some portraits that Becky took of a few of the individual Christian widows. Feel good as you enjoy their smiles, and remember their faces, as they’ll be thanking you in heaven.

— David

Malira Butaitirwa. The scar down the middle of her forehead and nose is a tribal means to enhance beauty.

Nyota Byaombe. All her children were killed in the war, and she is caring for her grandchildren.

Ponga Rehema. Her husband died of AIDS, leaving her to raise five children.

Therese Kahindo

Azama Mazambi. She had already received a small business loan from HF, and sells charcoal.

Jeanne Apoba, age 22

Maene Mukanorwa

Mukene Lukowae, a tiny little woman

Jackton Wekesa, of Covenant Kids Home, knows the secret is in the clothes a man wears….

We spent the first part of the morning today at Covenant Kids Home, an orphanage we’ve assisted for several years through our Orphan’s Tear division. We’ve faced some challenges over the past year due to trust issues with the directors of that orphanage, but we’ve been hanging in there for the sake of the children while we try to work things out. I generally try to hide all the headaches that we face in the ministry of Heaven’s Family, knowing that you probably have enough headaches of your own. But we do face challenges that sometimes tempt us to throw in the towel.

I took portraits of all the children for their sponsors and future sponsors, while Becky handed out candy canes and stuffed animals. It was nice to see many familiar little faces, and to see how the kids had grown since I last visited them three years ago.

Linet Amondi

Tony Otieno

With my old pal, George Otieno, whom I held three years ago while my son, Stephen, filmed us for video that we made for Orphan’s Tear. George has a great smile. Photos like this one always make me think that white skin is ugly.

In the afternoon, Becky and I again visited house churches planted by HF-sponsored national missionary Erick Situmah. In fact, we visited seven of them during their Sunday gatherings—all of which are in a slum area outside of Kitale. I don’t think it is possible to imagine the living conditions unless you see it for yourself. As I sat in the tiny, single-room mud huts crowded with lovers of Jesus who were very poor, I kept wondering how I could possibly describe it to someone in my home country.

Below are two photos that show the outside and inside of one of those homes while a church gathering was in progress. This particular home was not inside the crowded slum area, but very nearby:

Later in the day, Becky met with seven widows who were featured in our February magazine. They’ve joined together in business to store and sell corn with a grant from our Widows Fund. Most were won to the Lord through Erick’s ministry. Tragically, one of the youngest widows in that group, Dorcas, died last month after our article was already published. The surviving widows have agreed to make sure that Dorcas’ children receive her profits when they sell their corn in March. Here’s their photo:

In the evening, we caught our flight back to Nairobi, ready to leave tomorrow morning for Tanzania. Thanks for your prayers — David

Two young students, twin sisters, who attend an indigenous Christian primary school that we visited this morning

Today began with a visit to yet another indigenous Christian primary school that was started by a friend of ours, a widow named Naomi Nyongesa. Naomi has planted thirty-six house churches in her region of Nairobi. Her Christian school that we visited this morning is for children from several of those house churches, most of whose parents cannot afford to send them to any school.

Their “school building” is a windowless tin shack with two doors that provide some ventilation. Some of the children were obviously malnourished. Naomi told us that she would like to provide the children with one meal each day, but they can only afford to give the children water. Her school would be another worthy project for the Christian Education Fund that I mentioned in yesterday’s blog.

We spent the rest of the morning visiting Christian widows whom we’ve helped start small businesses through the Christian Widows Fund. Becky, who directs that fund, was particularly blessed to meet widows whom she had previously only seen in photos sent by their pastors. Most live in tiny one-room tin apartments along with three or four children. But all were so thankful for their business grants and expressed interest in receiving micro-loans to expand their businesses.

Some of the widows told us that when they lost their husbands, their husbands’ families immediately confiscated all their possessions, which they justified by claiming that his property was their inheritance. Such greed is apparently culturally acceptable in parts of Kenya, even though it results in the utter destitution of widows and their children.

Around mid-day we headed for the Nairobi airport to catch a flight to Kitale, near the Ugandan border, where we assist an orphanage and have, in the past, served refugees after tribal warfare and post-election violence. We discovered that our flight to Kitale had been cancelled, so the airline flew us to Eldoret to get us within a two hour’s drive. Eldoret made international news during Kenya’s post-election violence for appalling indiscriminate slaughter of innocent people. A group of Christians were burned alive as they took refuge in their church building. As we drove through Eldoret on our way to Kitale, it was hard to imagine that the throngs of people whom we saw walking along the road and in the marketplaces were capable of such evil. Only God knows what lurks in the hearts of those who have not been born again.

Below are a few photos from this morning. Thanks for your continued prayers. — David

A cute little student at Naomi’s Christian school and pre-school

Not everyone was happy to have their photo taken this morning!

Becky with widow Esther Wamjiru, standing in front of her clothing and variety shop, started with a grant from our Widows Fund

Widow Irene Wangeshi standing in front of her dirt-floor house, where she lives with her three children. It is as deep as it is wide. Irene will soon open a green grocery store with her grant from the Christian Widows Fund.

Widow Lydia Karora with her son, Daniel. Lydia has three other children. She just received a grant from the Widows Fund and will soon be opening a beauty salon.