Riffat’s husband was killed when a suicide bomber attacked a church in Youhanabad, Lahore, on a Sunday morning in March 2015. Her sons Joshua (now 12) and Almitiya (now 8) still miss their dad, especially when they see other children with their fathers. Without her husband’s earnings, Riffat struggled even to feed the family. The local shop refused to give her food on credit, knowing her financial situation. But Riffat says the monthly food parcels she now gets from Barnabas make her feel like the widow whose oil and flour never ran out after she fed Elijah (1 Kings 17:8-16).
“My heart cries when I see my young children working alongside me,” says Samina, a Christian widow who works in a brick-kiln. The family have suffered much sickness, and her husband died of a heart attack. A daughter also died. One of the sons has seizures and Samina finds it increasingly difficult to handle him when this happens. When she herself is ill, she has to keep making bricks or the family would be evicted from the room they live in at the brick-kiln. “The monthly food package is a big blessing for us,” says Samina, “May God bless you. Amen!”
Working through our trusted church partners in Pakistan, Barnabas Fund is providing monthly food parcels for these and hundreds of other desperately needy Christian widows and their children. This means the children never have to go to sleep at night hungry. It also enables the mothers to send their children to school, which gives them hope for the future.
The Bible tells us: “The worship that God wants is this: caring for orphans or widows who need help.” (James 1:27, ERV)
By making a gift to Barnabas Fund, you can care for these widows, our sisters in Christ, who are in desperate need of help.
