When Michelle and I talk with Tanzanians, we usually get corrected grammatically anywhere from 5 to 10 times about our Swahili. in any given conversation. every. single. day. So, we felt like it was time for Round 2 of language! Over the last two weeks we have been spending 4 hours in the classroom learning how to improve our Swahili from that of a small child to that of a teenager... or so it feels like! 

Picture with our teacher, Godson, on the last day of class.
Yes, we look so tired after 4 hours of studying, but doesn't he just look so happy?!?

The biggest accomplishment came one day when we realized that instead of saying "chakula hii ni tamu sana" we can now say "chakula hiki ni kitamu sana." Okay, read those again. Not many changes at all, but it makes a world of difference here, especially to the Tanzanian ear. 

For those interested in learning Swahili, that phrase means, "this food is very delicious."

June 23rd is International Widows Day and since we have a widows project with the Maasai, I wanted to send out some resources to encourage prayer and support of widows today.  ~ James 1:27 - Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for...widows in their distress...


CMF WIDOWS PROJECT

The Widows Project

• Country: Tanzania
• Project Type: CHE, community development, Microfinance

ABOUT THIS PROJECT

Selei was the fourth wife of her husband, so when he died recently, as the youngest widow, she was left with nothing. She now has no husband, no livestock and no land to farm. She also has no way to generate income to feed her four precious children.  

Thanks to the ministry of the Oloserian church, Selei now has two things she didn't have before: faith in Christ and hope for the future through her involvement in The Widows Project.  Selei is one of 30 widows selected to participate in The Widows Project with the purpose of elevating the quality of life of destitute widows, increasing the involvement of the local church in caring for widows and caring for orphans by caring for widows, as many of these widows are caring for their orphaned grandchildren.

Using a Biblically based training program and small group accountability, each widow receives a year’s worth of food and basic necessities, customized business training and seed funds to start a sustainable, income generating business to support their families and send their children to school. 

While there are many confusing verses in the Bible, one verse is clear: “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress. . .” (James 1:27, NLT).  For only $300, one widow can be cared for in a way that will enable her to care for her family in the future.  Your gift today can make this possible for Selei and other women like her.

Beautiful Salei

THE LOOMBA FOUNDATION

International Widows Day

International Widows Day takes place every year on 23rd June. It was initially launched by the Loomba Foundation at the House of Lords in London in 2005. The date, 23 June, was chosen because on this day Shrimati Pushpa Wati Loomba, the inspiration for the Foundation, became a widow. 

International Widows Day (IWD) is a global day of focus for effective action to raise awareness and help widows and their children around the world who are suffering through poverty, illiteracy, HIV/AIDS, conflict and social injustice. There are an estimated 245 million widows and 500 million children in the world, together with their family members the number is well over a billion people. Through no fault of their own they lose their husband or father and continue to suffer for the rest of their lives through stigma, discrimination and poverty.

On the 22nd December 2010 at the 65th UN General Assembly, the United Nations recognised 23rd June as International Widows Day.

Why the UN recognised International Widows Day:

Why the UN recognised International Widows Day – 23rd June

• 245 million widows and over 500 million children suffer in silence worldwide
• Over 115 million widows live in poverty struggling to survive
• Many of these women and their children are malnourished, exposed to disease, and subjected to extreme forms of deprivation
• Widowed women experience targeted murder, rape, prostitution, forced marriage, property theft, eviction, social isolation, and physical abuse
• 1.5 million widows’ children in the world die before their fifth birthday
• Children of widows face horrors such as child marriage, illiteracy, loss of schooling, forced labour, human trafficking, homelessness and sexual abuse
• HIV/AIDS, armed conflict and poverty are amongst the most prolific causes of widowhood
• Persecution and abuse against widows and their children is not a crisis limited to the developing world, large groups of widows can also be found in Europe, including Russia and Central Asia
• Widows in developed countries face social isolation and commonly live with severe insecurity and poverty due to lack of affordable health care and employment

GOSPEL FOR ASIA

On June 23, Gospel for Asia missionaries will hold special programs in honor of International Widows' Day. Continuing their everyday efforts to help some of the most abused and neglected women of Asia, missionaries will provide free medical checkups, meals, income-producing animals and other gifts to let these women know Christ loves them. Learn more about our outreach to widows on June 23 and throughout the year.

myGFA - Transform a Widow's Bleak Future

By raising funds for widows, you can help women at the bottom of society have a chance to experience God's love in both word and deed. Find out more about our myGFA widow's campaign tool.

International Widows' Day Photo Contest

June 23 is International Widows' Day. Take a few moments to check out nine thought-provoking photos of some widows in South Asia, and then vote for your favorite photo.

Pray for the Widows of South Asia

Many widows in South Asia endure lives of poverty and utter hopelessness. They yearn to know that someone loves them. Here are a few ways you can pray for the widows of South Asia.

Video Clip from "Veil of Tears: Hope Is on the Way"

Watch a short clip from "Veil of Tears: Hope Is on the Way" that shares the story of Netramani, a widow in South Asia.

INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE MISSION

Today is International Widows Day and we believe widows deserve a defender. Just last week, our staff in Uganda stopped a powerful man from throwing Mary out of her tiny home. Now safe, she told us, “Thank you for fighting this fight for me!” 

Let’s END property grabbing & violence

I Once was Lost, But Now I’m Found

Have you ever had that moment when you realize you lost something really, really important? Well that happened to me last week. I lost the one thing, the one thing, that I should never, ever lose. It’s this key, you see, this really important key. The one key I have that doesn’t have a spare. This key opens up a filing cabinet that is in my office here in Tanzania. In this filing cabinet are many important things such as: all the cash for our center, the keys to all the other filing cabinets, my wallet with my money and my driver’s license, and just about everything else I need to do my job as the FBA here!! So, I lost this important little key that has no spare and unlocks the most important lock in my life. Or so, this is how I felt after realizing that I had lost this little key.

The filing cabinet that contains my life!

It’s times like these when I’m praying and everyone around me is praying and I’m searching and everyone around me is searching, but I’m not finding and they’re not finding, that I start to doubt whether I will ever get this little key back. I wish I could say I had the unwavering faith and hope that missionaries are “supposed to have.” But, I started to doubt whether God was listening, whether He cared about this little key that is so seemingly important to me, or whether He was trying to teach me some lesson that I would have much rather learned another time, without the stress of losing something. But despite all these creeping doubts, I kept praying and I kept searching because that is what He says to do. In Matthew 7:7, Jesus says, “Keep on asking, and you will receive. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you.”

And let me just say, this persistence is hard stuff, especially when it would be soooo much easier (and faster) to just break the lock. But, I had to weigh the options of breaking it and receiving instant gratification versus not being able to lock up all those precious items like cash and keys again because no stores in Arusha (to my knowledge) sell replacement locks for filing cabinets!!   

Missionary Lock Pick Set:
We did try picking the lock, though! But, regardless of how easy the YouTube videos say it is,
 read these words: IT IS NOT EASY AT ALL! Believe me. We tried. For hours. And hours.

But then it happened, as we began the organized search, God answered our prayers! WE FOUND THE KEY! Actually, it was so neat the way God used one of the kids on our center, Caeden Limiero, who had be praying big prayers, to spot the key under a clump of grass. The joy, excitement, and relief I felt at that moment was incredible.  

Caeden and I posing together after I hugged and kissed him 100 times!
See the background there? That is our corn field and we are standing in a
patch of grass, sticks, and leaves...  See the key in my hand? Not really.
Yeah, look closer. It is tiny, and this little guy found it!

To sum it all up, we serve an awesome God who cares about lost keys, but more importantly He cares so deeply about lost people. Luke 15 contains three parables of things that are lost – a sheep, a coin, and a son. In all three, the finder rejoices with such excitement that he calls friends and neighbors to share in his joy. Scripture tells of the celebration in heaven when one lost sinner repents and turns to God. Like the words of Amazing Grace, 'I once was lost but now am found!' (And now, so is my key!) 

Weekend with the Maasai

This weekend, Michelle and I traveled out to the bush along with our two summer interns, Lauren Kolenda and Sarah Underwood. Saturday was filled with all sorts of new lessons for us. This month, Michelle had organized for two local nurses to come do physical exams for all the widows and orphans in our program. We learned very quickly just how scary getting weighed and measured could be for some of our little kids who had never done something like that before, not to mention the finger stick at the end to test for HIV/AIDS. So, we quickly changed strategies and invited some of our older, braver kids to come in first and go through the process while our littler ones watched. Once they knew what would happen, things went a lot smoother! We also continue to learn that we need to change our expectations here, especially in the area of time. Half way through the day Michelle leaned over and told me that even though she had allowed for a 3 hour delay, she had expected that we would be able to get through everyone. However, as we assessed the progress, we knew that wasn't going to be the case. Instead, the nurses saw half the children and we walked away from the day realizing that was a huge accomplishment! We'll just be inviting them back next month to see the other half and our widows!


Sunday was a day I will forever remember. We stayed overnight in the bush and were told that church the next day would be a baptism service as 7 women had decided to get baptized. We arrived in time to witness the making of their baptismal. Some men had dug a deep hole in the ground and secured a blue tarp with large stones inside to hold the water. Then began the filling process. Buckets of water had been transported by a BUV (Business Utility Vehicle), the product of the ministry of our CMF counterparts, Scott and Annelle Price, working in Tanzania through Business as Mission.

Maasai Baptismal

Next, we went into the church where the seven women were gathered to ensure they understood the biblical reason for baptism and to confirm their decision. Part of this process for the Maasai includes choosing a new name because they are becoming a new creation in Christ. As the women went around saying their new names, one in particular made me light up.  One of the women had chosen to take the name Nashipai, which is the Maasai name I was given and now go by when I'm in the bush. It means "Always Happy", which fits me pretty well most of the time. Gathered around the baptismal, we sang and praised God as the women were baptized, only instead of seven, we had nine as two more decided to be baptized as well!

Click here to see a video of the new Nashipai's baptism in the bush!

After church, we all piled into the car for the 2 hour drive home. Only on the way back it wasn't just the four of us... instead it was 15! We squeezed in to make room for the widows and orphans committee who came back with us to our training center in Arusha. They are here for three intense days of learning together what God's Word says about taking care of the oppressed and how they are going to address the problem of oppression of widows in their communities!

Driving back home - 3 up front and 12 in the back! We belted Disney songs together the entire way!! I think the Maasai riding in the car probably didn't know what to think about us! :)