|
By Anna Beth Wildman
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27).
Many of these names have been changed.
 Cheryl Pridham fills the tank to give the Pridhams’ house running water. Read more ...
 Dorm rooms, eight by eight feet, can house up to 11 people but usually hold less. Nigerian widows face grim futures because their in-laws have the right to their sons’ possessions.  Donna Pridham displays the green soap the women make. When Grace came to the Samaru Widows’ School, she could not talk about her family life. Donna and Cheryl Pridham, SIM missionary sisters on staff at the Samaru Widows’ School, eventually learned that Grace had a son still in the EMS hostel. The sisters traveled to the hostel to visit two other children, but recognized Noah while they were there—he looked just like his mother. The school informed the Pridhams that Noah’s bill was two years overdue. Now Noah was ready  This kitchen, outside the widows’ quarters, is a roofed fireplace for the women to cook food. “What happened to Grace’s pension?” the EMS headquarters asked. Crying hard, Grace told the whole story. A man in the EMS office spoke up. “I will pay half of one year of Noah’s schooling. The hostel will wait until the rest is year of Noah’s schooling. The hostel will wait until the rest is eventually paid. This way, Noah can graduate.”
 The women learn to sew with manual sewing machines. Many staff members are widows. Three weeks ago, a staff member’s husband passed away. She commented, “I wonder what’s going to happen to me.”
When Patience came to teach at the Widows’ School, she had just gone to school in Igbaja. Patience came with nothing except her old school uniform. Her late husband’s parents had a death-grip on her two children (ages seven and eight). The parents were ready to kill the children before giving them up. A group in Jos advised Patience how to get her children back and was willing to go to court for her. The relatives finally gave in. While Patience teaches Bible classes at the Widows’ School, her children, Loveand Emmanuel, are in secondary school.  SIM helped fund this wall, which encircles the entire compound and protects the school from land disputes and armed robbers. Widows from such crushing family situations sometimes have emotional blocks that keep them from learning. Others struggle with learning disabilities, dyslexia, or poor eyesight made worse by poor lighting in the classrooms. The Widows’ School needs funds for its building projects. It also needs a nurse and instruction about how to diagnose learning disabilities. The school needs prayer for finances and a nurse. Nigerian church leaders also need prayer; they sometimes have enough sway to restore widows’ children to them, or to at least encourage the widows. Please pray that exploitation of widows will not be accepted as a cultural fact, but that pastors and church leaders will continue to see that this is wrong. In order to increase awareness about the widows’ plights, professors write books, preachers preach sermons, and the church observes a “Widows’ Week” to pray for widows and educate church members. The goal is to encourage the widows. As the Pridham sisters noted, “For [this] to change, it’s just going to take some time. And in the rural places, change takes longer than other places.” The Samaru Widows’ School encourages change by providing widows like Grace, Mercy, and Patience with higher status through education. God’s Word is restoring broken hearts and changing widows’ lives for eternity. |
