Caring For Widows and Orphans

by Rita Langeland

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (James 1:27 RSV).

Benny was 11 years old when his father died from AIDS in Tanzania. As the oldest son, he became the man of the family, trying to help his mother care for his 3 younger siblings, Stephen, Esther and Blessing.

Without job skills or any way to earn an income, Benny’s widowed mother felt hopeless. She also had learned that she was HIV positive and wondered what the future held for her fatherless children. Would they end up in an orphanage because she was unable to provide for them?

Hidden With Christ Ministries became aware of this widow’s desperate situation just months after the death of her husband. With a desire to see the family stay together as long as feasibly possible, HWCM began providing monthly financial support to feed the family of five and supply other basic needs for the children.

Over the past two and a half years we have watched with joy the restoration and miracles of God that this family has experienced. A church from California stepped in and built the widow a house which she now owns outright. Because of this miraculous provision of housing, she has been able to keep all of her children together, instead of farming the children out to orphanages or extended family, which often happens in cases like hers.

Benny has turned 13 and is ready to enter Secondary School. The private school he will attend is in Moshi, and is the same one that our 3 girls from TOA will be attending. It is too far from the town where his family lives to commute each day. So Benny has come to live at Treasures of Africa Children’s Home during the school week so that he can continue his education. His sweet spirit and respectful manner is a wonderful example to our older boys and he is a joy to have at TOA.

We are blessed to have been given the privilege to fulfill the admonition of James 1:27 and minister to orphans and widows in their affliction. God has used it to turn their sorrow into joy. Thanks to all of our Hidden With Christ donors, this is the kind of ministry that your donations help to fund!