Build aHome fora Widow
Give the gift of a new home to a widow and her orphan children.
There are over 258 million widows across the world who are living in extreme poverty and in desperate need of aid.
Women, many newly married or elderly, lose their husbands to war, crime, disease and extreme poverty. They are left with the duty of providing for their family. Many widows live in cultures where women are not educated and men are the sole breadwinners of the family, so when a woman becomes a widow, she has no skills to make a living from.
You can be the one to support a widow.
To make matters worse, in many cultures widows are denied their rights. They lose their home and property due to a lack of inheritance entitlements. They are exposed to sexual violence, isolated from the community and labelled as an ‘untouchable’. Children of widows are mistreated by association.
You can be the one to protect a widow and her children.
As a result, widows and orphans fall deeper into poverty with no prospects of having a better life. They live in houses made of scrap material, like mud and sheets of steel. Families of 8 or 9 are crammed into one small room which serves as their home, their kitchen and bathroom with makeshift beds all in one area, increasing the risk of disease and ultimately, death.
You can be the one to give a widow and orphan family a better life.
£5000 will help us build a new home for a widow and her orphan children. Each home is fitted with a kitchen, bathroom and toilet, and bedrooms. We also include blankets, bedding and cushions to make the family feel at home and provide regular food parcels.
A new home will help a widow care for her children better. It will give the family confidence and help fight the stigma attached to widows and orphans. You can alleviate the burden of a widow and be the one to give her children a better future.
Khatoon is a 46-years-old widow who lost her husband seven years ago. She has three young orphaned children and it was a huge challenge for her to take care of her children alone.
She told our local team, “Providing for your children as a widowed woman is not easy, my husband was a carpenter and provided for us. After his death we were thrown out from our in-law’s house. A local member of the community built a tin shed where we lived for three years, we didn’t even have a washroom.”
Khatoon’s husband was the protector of the family from external harm. Living in an insecure shed and with constant worry about keeping her children safe was heartbreaking for Khatoon. She said, “I'm a mother, my heart cries seeing my children struggling… I was desperate to do something for my children, but everything I tried seemed in vain and there was no help available.”
Orphans in Need have now constructed a new house for Khatoon and her children. Their new home has a separate bathroom, kitchen, living room and bedrooms for the whole family. They are given clean water to cook and drink, electricity, soft furnishings like blankets, bedding, and cushions to make them feel at home, regular food parcels and much more.
She told our team, “The sadness is over, we feel like we are in heaven, and I can’t express our happiness in words. Thank you.”