The apostle Paul writes in 2 Timothy 5:
Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, they should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God. The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help.
It is a responsibility of the church to care for what Paul calls a ‘true widow’ (2 Timothy 5:3, 5). For this reason, the G.O.D. East Africa Widow and Elderly Care Program in Uganda was created. In a region where daily living is already difficult, widows (which are many) often have unmet needs. In 2 Timothy 5:1-16, Paul gives instructions on how to care for widows in the community by giving qualifications related to their needs. Widows who have no recourse for marriage, have no family of their own to support them, have certain faithful qualities, and find themselves widowed in a more thoroughly social and desperate way -- these are to be financially and vocationally assisted by the church (2 Timothy 5).
The program taking off in Uganda is an extension of the widow care program developed and implemented in Nashville, TN. The EA Widow Care Program provides a way to identify and serve the widows that are most in need. The program is now underway thanks to cooperative Nabugo Annette, a faithful and discerning mother of 5 who has always held the plight of the widows close to her heart and responded as she could. Because of her involvement with the widows in her community, she was asked to be the Program Manager for the East Africa Widow Care Program in Uganda. She excitedly accepted. Keep reading to hear about where her sensitivity to widows comes from, how her involvement in the development of the program and training has impacted her, and the hopes she has for the widows in her community.
Q: Who are you and how do you participate with G.O.D Int'l?
A: I am Nabugo Annette and my husband Lubega Francis and I work with G.O.D Int'l. I am serving as the Widow and Elderly Care Program Manager.
Q: How did you become interested in helping widows?
A: It was some time back when I started learning God's Word that I started looking at the widows, especially those in need. I started feeling what they feel because I am a mother and I know what it takes to take care of the children, and how it can be difficult to take care of the family without a husband. So whenever I looked at the needs of the widows, I felt that I had to do something. Now when the widow care program for G.O.D. Int'l started, I was very much interested to participate.
Q: How do you feel about managing this program, and what does it mean for you to do this?
A: I feel blessed to be a widow care program manager because now I can fully direct my focus to helping the widow, and this time as a group of God's people working together to ensure that their needs are met. This means that God is using me to meet the widows' needs.
Q: Elizabeth Kagay (stateside program manager) and some other regional team members helped create training for the EA Widow Care Program. What did you learn from these training sessions?
A: The first thing is that although a widow is a woman who lost her husband, not every widow is a true widow. A true widow is the one that meets the criteria which Paul gives in 1 Timothy 5:1-16. The household of faith should take full responsibility for only those who qualify as true widows due to limited resources,
Q: Before a widow is determined to be a ‘true widow,’ EA leadership and cooperatives meet to talk about her specific case. We held our first meeting last month. How were you impacted by this time?
A: When I saw all the people who attended this meeting including our top leaders, it created in me a feeling that widow care is something very important in our calling as God's people.
Q: What are your hopes for the program and the widows who’ll be served?
A: My first hope is that the Lord may use the widow care program to correct the injustices which most of the widows and especially the true widows in our area are going through. That they may know that it is God himself who has remembered them to meet their needs through the house of faith. That they may be empowered and regain hope.
Q: How do you see the Lord using you to help the widows through this program, and how have you seen the Lord move?
A: As the Program Manager, I can see the Lord using me to organize other people in this calling to be able to see the needs of the widows. He is also using me to collect the necessary information and compile it in the database which will be helpful in our efforts to serve the widows. I can see the Lord move in that as we talk there is a program in place planning to serve the widows better, and through the service projects a number of widows have been helped.
Q: What have you learned about the widows you’ve been visiting in your community?
A: When I visit these widows I find out that they almost all have the same stories, especially those who are old. Two specifically come to mind; both of them shared that they got married at a very young age (13 and 15). The experience was not good in their marriages as childbirths were difficult. It involved hard work and severe gender inequality. Sadly, one is currently sick. Instead of her children taking good care of her, they are troubled by ongoing familial disputes that leave her unattended and vulnerable. I’m thankful we’ve come to understand her situation, and though she’s not considered a true widow, we’ve been able to care for this widow through various ongoing service projects. Thankfully, we have not met a true widow yet, and I say thankfully because that would mean a widowed woman would have been living in gross neglect. Annette and her team are vigilant in their pursuit to identify, assess, and meet the needs (as they’re able) of widows in their community while living out God’s call to ‘love your neighbor.’ Please be in prayer for Annette and her team as they continue to serve the widows around them.
Pictured above are some of the widows that Nabugo and her team visit. The East Africa Widow Care Program has provided widows with various services such as basic healthcare assessments and aid, rocket stoves for healthier, safer, & more efficient ways to cook, water cistern repair, and assisting widows with household chores such as cutting grass and sweeping their compounds, doing laundry, washing dishes, and fetching water.
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