In 2002, the Lord spoke and put a burden on the heart of Bishop Robert Makona to help widows who are desperate, hurting and suffering in poverty, disease, hunger and are neglected and rejected by many people.

There are thousands and thousand of widows in the four nations of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and D.R. Congo, who need help to survive longer and care for their children. Manu of them, have lost their dear husbands to HIV/AIDS. The widows, some of which are elderly, and others very sick or dying, the majority are impoverished and struggling to meet their own needs and their children. The orphans are losing opportunities for schools, health care, growth and development, nutrition and shelter and mainly their right to a decent and fulfilling human existence. The children when their mothers (widows) are unable to provide because they are elderly, sick or dying they decide to go on the streets to rob people, sniff glue, look for food in the city garbage and go into prostitution.

In many nations when a husband dies, the widow has no voice or power on the property of her late husband. Many tribes have elders with a chairman of that tribe or can, decide what they will leave and what they will share and leave the widow with nothing as they disperse on the third day. Some widows loose a lot of property, e.g. land, cows, furniture, and any goods to the relatives of the husband. They leave them in despair and suffering in poverty to raise the children. The growing demand for care and support for widows has strained traditional coping mechanisms. Many widows who are positive with HIS/AIDS spread the virus through prostitution looking for ways to earn an income for their own needs and their children’s. Unless a serious step is taken or put in place to care and support these widows in these nations, HIV/AIDS will continue to spread and is spreading rapidly affecting the economies and loosing manpower. It is time to take action to stop the pandemic in Africa.

When you and myself take a step today, we can make a big difference in these widows lives. We can use the tools and resources that God has given to us and save lives for eternity. One day will come, when the Lord wills ay to you, “I was a widow, blind, hungry, thirsty, naked, in jail and you helped me. Well done my servant, enter into the Kingdom.”