Widow Care
Many women living in sub-Sahara Africa are subject to a wide range of plights and deplorable conditions. This is intensified immensely following the death of a spouse.
Voice of Hope provides assistance to 80 women and their children or grandchildren in rural Kenya who find themselves in these conditions.
As widows move through their own experiences of grief, loss, or trauma after the death of a spouse, they may also face economic insecurity, discrimination, stigmatization, and harmful traditional practices on the basis of their marital status.
They struggle with food; at best, most live on the edge of hunger.
They struggle with insecure shelter. Having their land taken by in-laws and distant relatives is not uncommon.
They struggle with the woeful lack of access to adequate health care and consistently good education for their children.
Mothers, by their very nature, long to provide well for their children. Often, this is the biggest challenge our women face.
Sadly, due to the high incidence of premature death in adults, many of our women have buried children. Some have buried many children. This leaves an aging grandma to care for her grandkids.
An example of this is Grandma Margaret:
Margaret R. is a sweet woman who, at the age of 76 years, we’d expect to see loving her grandchildren from a rocking chair. Instead, due to the death of her son and the hardships her other adult children face, Margaret labours as a full time grandma to six of her grandchildren. While the task of providing for these little ones is daunting, Voice of Hope offers assistance, allowing Margaret to provide food and education for her family.