Two hours, two taxis, and two people walk up a long hill in the hot sun to the church where the women are waiting at two o’clock. The widows of Konoweka Orphans and Widows Hut studied the topic of prayer from Growing Strong with God in the Mom’s Ordinary Day Bible study series. We read Matthew 6:5-13 (I think, there’s no power and it’s dark so I can’t refer back to the notes) and studied the Lord’s Prayer in a line-by-line fashion.
The idea of small group anything is always fearsome to these ladies. They’ve been hurt and taken advantage of so much they don’t readily open up to others. Further, Ugandan culture dictates that women be seen and not heard. Yet we successfully modeled corporate prayer and worship, individual prayer and worship, and small group prayer and worship together. So many of the prayer requests were for things like food or “some small way” to get the startup money for any project we might suggest that would create income for the family. One lady asked how we can sell her mushrooms on the Konoweka website along with the handcrafts.
Betty – a very young, recent widow – came to me after the study and confirmed all that I’d learned about how widows are treated in Uganda. Her in-laws banished her and her son from the house where she lived with her husband. Now that he is dead, Betty is considered a liability and must be gone. What, she asked, is she supposed to do now? How can I even answer a question like that? I sometimes feel these ladies who are searching for some small hope are looking in the wrong place. I cannot solve all the world’s problems, but I know the one who already did. We prayed that each woman there would be surprised by hope. Please join us in believing God for his abundance to sweep over these women.