Let’s Shelter The Widows
Albert Bogle
August 07, 2017
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It’s a few years now since I visited India but I like to keep in touch with a number of people who I believe are making a difference. People who are standing with some of the poorest children on earth and enabling them to turn their own lives around. I’d like to introduce you one couple Grace and Paul Moses
Many years ago due to a family tragedy they started a small orphanage called Sangita. Today they have over 90 children in their home and many of them are reaching the age where they are ready to take up professional occupations. What started out of small rented house has blossomed into a wonderful suite of beautifully designed purpose built buildings serving the needs of children with a future.
In caring for the children Grace and Paul discovered another ministry alongside the orphanage one which cares for widows. Many women who have been widowed, who live in remote villages, and who belong to the lower caste communities, find that they can be left abandoned by their families because it is thought that having a widow living alongside your family will bring a curse or bad luck. Such women when they become widows are shunned and they seek refuge among other widows.
There are over 400 widows who live within walking distance of the Sangita home. Their accommodation is very sparse. As the land belongs to the government they are not allowed to build permanent fixtures. However they can build traditional temporary shelters. These are made of thatched leaves. Building roofs for widows has been an ongoing ministry of Sangita Charitable Trust for the past eight years. Grace emailed me this week to say It is now time to re-thatch another 22 of these homes before the weather changes.
To improve the safety and quality of the structure preventing snakes and other animals invading their shelters tin sheet walls are becoming very popular and effective. The cost for each shelter amounts to £250.00
If you would like to help in anyway by making a small donation towards a shelter or paying for a shelter would you send an email to me at albertbogle@churchofscotland.org.uk and I’ll forward the bank details. This is in order to safeguard banking details.
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