“It’s not far.” Should you ever hear a Burundian speak these words you can count on your destination being a minimum of 30 minutes away still. The windows were down in our SUV, but the air was hot and humid flowing through still. We were near Lake Tanganyika driving north through a region of the country called Cibitoke. We had been driving for about 3 1/2 hours and according to our translator it wasn’t much farther.

We turned from the paved road onto a small, dirt path with huge ravines made by the recent rains. Josh drove slowly, and we stopped at a church to pick up a pastor. The pastor squeezed in the backseat with the boys and I and we continued slowly bouncing down the dirt path. We continued to sweat and I began to wonder if when we arrived Neil was going to get out of the vehicle and throw a fit from being so hot and so tired of riding in the car. Or maybe it was me that was going to throw the fit.

After another 15 minutes on the bumpy road we stopped, basically parking in the middle of the road, because there wasn’t really a side of the road. It felt great to get out and stretch for all of us and within 1 minute we were surrounded by local kids and even adults, wondering what in the world the muzungu (white people) were doing in their neighborhood.

We walked a short distance and arrived at the front door of a sweet 84 year old widow name Cassilde. I could see Neil was getting annoyed by the 15 or so locals staring at us and I prayed quickly that he would be able to enjoy this visit even though he was exhausted and at 6 doesn’t understand so much of what is happening. I asked Cassilde many questions and I was blown away when I was told how long she has been waiting for a sponsor. I was sure our translator got the numbers wrong, but sure enough this widow has been waiting since 2011 for a sponsor. I was deeply stirred when I realized I was working for Sister Connection at the time and I received her profile from the field and I made her a U.S. profile. My boss at the time, Denise taught me to pray over every widow we made a profile for, so I’m positive I made Cassilde’s profile and I prayed that God would bring her a sponsor.

This sweet woman has been praying ever since that someone would rise up to help her. As we stood there in her barren home Josh looked at me and said, “let’s sponsor her.” In 2011 I sat at a computer in the middle of Indiana and I made a profile for a widow named Cassilde who lived in the middle of Africa. I prayed for God to provide someone to sponsor her, she has prayed too and 13 years later I stood in Cassilde’s home and witnessed God answer. When the translator finished explaining to Cassilde that our family wanted to sponsor her she immediately rose from her chair and embraced me with every ounce of emotion she had. I cried, she cried and we were all pretty sure she was never going to let me go.

We prayed with Cassilde and as we departed her home Neil wanted to give little plastic helicopters to the local kids. He and his brothers put them together and taught the kids how to fly them. I thanked God for using those 3 precious and tired white boys to bless a neighborhood.

There are 1,083 widows praying today for a sponsor. It’s too many. My heart breaks for them and is heavy for them. They have received a home through Sister Connection which is a huge blessing, but they’re struggling to feed their families and if they get sick they have no means to get the care they need. It is near impossible for us in the Western world to understand their circumstances. These are women who are not able to join a program in Sister Connection that teaches them a trade and helps them work toward self sufficiency. For Cassilde she is 84 and her eye sight is bad, she cannot work anymore. Other widows were injured in the war or have health issues that keep them from being able to become self sufficient. It is a long term commitment potentially, and it may be a sacrifice to sponsor a widow for many years, but there is no doubt in my mind that every month that money the widow receives is life giving and life changing.

Today I pray every sponsor would somehow feel the embrace of their widow and orphan like I experienced from Cassilde.