Is Breaking the Cycle of Poverty for Widows Possible?

In some parts of the world, breaking the cycle of poverty for widows can be one of the most difficult issues to uproot. For centuries, widows have been one of the most vulnerable groups for a variety of reasons, including cultural norms, lack of marketable skills and routine marginalization of the unrepresented.

For instance, even a young mother in South Asia who is widowed is likely to be shunned by the general community. There is a common belief that she is responsible for her husband’s death, and she is often viewed as cursed.1 If her family was already living near the poverty line prior to her husband’s death, a widow’s circumstances become immediately more difficult without the support of others. She is most likely not educated or skilled as while her husband was living, she likely would have been focused on caring for the children at home rather than on earning an income.

Widows are at a serious disadvantage to finding a way forward in these circumstances. Their immediate, though certainly not only, need is to have a source of income. This is where organizations like GFA World can help change the trajectory of a widow’s life.

Through GFA World’s widows’ ministry, local missionaries care for and support widows, who are often on the outskirts of their communities. They also empower widows to support themselves and their children through resources such as vocational training and income-generating gifts such as sewing machines or farm animals.

One of the most important things a GFA missionary can do for a widow is to bring the love and grace of Jesus Christ into her life, to tell her she is valued and cared for by the God of heaven. She is welcomed into the local congregation of believers, where she can once again have community, an essential part of our human existence.

Click here, to read more about this article.

Click here, to read more blogs in Gospel for Asia.Com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Our Attitude Towards Suffering

Image
In 2 Timothy 2:3, the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy, “Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” Everyone, at some point or another, faces suffering, the soldier especially. However, it is not so much what we suffer, but how we suffer that matters. The way our heart responds to suffering is crucial, because by it we will either advance or become stagnant. To suffer like a good soldier is to willingly endure all for the sake of the call. To suffer like a bad soldier is to grumble when difficult situations and hardship arise. Instead of throwing our lives into what God has called us to, we can try to hold on to our lives, wanting to get away with as little suffering as possible, paying as little price as possible. We have forgotten that we are under the orders of our Master and that we willingly gave up our lives. Christ’s Example of Suffering Christ lived with the expectation of suffering. Throughout the Gospels, He repeatedly referred to ...
Read more

What Is the Poverty Cycle?

Image
The question, “What is the poverty cycle, or cycle of poverty?” is one that must be answered to address and end poverty across the globe. Put simply, the term refers to the trend where the vicious effects of poverty and deprivation pass from one generation to the next, with no seeming way out. [1] Someone born into poverty has fewer opportunities than their wealthier peers. They must focus on survival above all, leaving little room for anything else. One illness can wipe out a family’s savings, but the unclean water sources and lack of protection available to them invite sickness. Walking to retrieve water can be time-consuming yet must be a daily priority, and many children must work alongside their parents for the family to afford food. Thus, school is often a far-off dream. Having had few opportunities to acquire skills, the kids grow up to repeat the cycle of poverty with their own children. This story was all too familiar for Nalah. His father worked in the tea fields, trying to e...
Read more

Where Can I Learn How to Break the Cycle of Poverty?

Image
There are many methods for how to break the cycle of poverty which one can learn about. From education assistance to income-generating gifts like sewing machines or farm animals, there is hope for families who have been poor for generations. GFA World works in communities in all these ways through sponsorships and gift distributions, and one by one, we see lives changed as families escape poverty. Raina’s life had been dominated by poverty. She was part of a highly underprivileged people group that faced discrimination and deprivation from others in the region. Despite that, Raina had been able to attend school up until tenth grade, but she discontinued her education when it became too much for her parents to afford. Rather than receiving her certificates of completion, she had to join her parents in the field to earn money to put food on the table. After she married Ander, Raina continued to work in the fields to supplement his income with her own. In search of better job opportunitie...
Read more