Widows’ Land

In 2015, dozens of the widows of Living Spring approached church leaders with a plan. The women had pooled savings of $1,500, and they wanted to purchase a small piece of property 20 miles out of town in order to work the land and provide food for themselves and the orphans in their care.

This was a small amount of land and a great distance away, but for the women, the chance at ownership and self-sufficiency was well worth it. Many of them worked in the fields and gardens of nearby landowners, but they were offered only a small fraction of the harvest, and sometimes received nothing at all for their labor. Worse yet, with a low place in society and few people willing to defend them, some of them had experienced rape and abuse. Others had no employment prospects at all and struggled to provide food for themselves and the orphans in their care.

During this same period of time, two friends of Living Spring from the States (who would later be included among the founding board members of ABIDE) were visiting, and the widows shared their plans with them. The day before, the men had learned of an 11.5-acre parcel of land located ¼-mile from the church. The woman who owned it wanted to sell it to Living Spring at half its value.

While the price tag still far exceeded the amount the widows had raised, the opportunity for a self-sustaining partnership that would benefit the widows and orphans was apparent. Within three months, money had been raised by a pair of partner churches in the U.S., and the land near the church was purchased.

As for the widows’ $1,500? It literally became seed money, cultivating the land and providing seed to transform a fertile, but untamed property into a bountiful field providing food and nutrition.

This was a major initial step in transforming the overall health and well-being of approximately 600 widows and orphans. The idea? The thousands of hours of toil? The truly incredible results? All the credit goes to a group of innovative and hard-working widows.

Want to help the widows continue their efforts in providing for themselves and the orphans in their care? Contribute through ABIDE to the Fish Pond Project.