Cooking and sewing have given Mary many opportunities to help children and become self-sufficient

Mary’s New Clothes

A widow’s fresh start after great loss

Dear Friends,

Do you remember the first time you bought new clothes with your own money? Mary will probably never forget when this happened for her.

In her younger years, Mary’s life in Sudan consisted of gathering water and searching for firewood. She had never been to school, or even held a pencil! She then found a husband and bore 3 children—but in a land often rocked by violence, another Sudanese civil war broke out in 2013.

As the conflict spilled over into the lives of non-combatants, Mary’s husband and 3 children were killed. She was then able to flee to neighboring Kenya, along with 11 orphans, with the help of a courageous man named James. She helped care for the orphans once they were all safely in Kenya.

Eventually, Mary’s plight came to the attention of Cindi’s Hope, a partner of Heaven’s Family, in Nairobi. They needed help in the kitchen preparing meals for the girls who live in the dorm and attend Cindi’s Hope Academy—young girls who have also seen the face of tragedy and violence. Mary’s emotional wounds began to heal as she helped care for the girls—she once again had a purpose in her life that kept her from sitting alone, mourning the loss of her children.

Today Mary earns money as a seamstress assistant making uniforms for the schoolchildren and also works in the kitchen—blessings made possible by the Widows & Abandoned Women Ministry. When she received her first paycheck, we’re told she gave it all away as first fruits to the Lord. Upon receiving her second paycheck, she treated herself to her first new dress and shoes, and a trip to the hairdresser!

Mary doesn’t want to stop learning though. Her eyes have been opened to new opportunities; she wants additional sewing skills and would like to learn how to read and write in English!

Thanks to your generous gifts, women like Mary are able to see that there’s hope for their futures even after the devastating loss of loved ones. Mary says that she “didn’t know life with Jesus had so much to offer.”

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today (Genesis 50:20).

Blessings,

Bruce and Patty Harris
Directors, Widows & Abandoned Women Ministry