Friday I visited many widows, but this precious widow lives close to where I currently live. Marie Rose is 81 years old and she walked to meet with me in her bare feet and a sweet smile on her face. She shared how she has eye problems so her daughter in law came with her.

Marie Rose birthed 8 children, but 1 passed away of disease during the war along with her husband who passed away of disease around that time also. During the war it was very difficult to get any medical care and the rebels were targeting community leaders so they would target doctors. People were afraid to seek medical care during the 12 year civil war and after the war so many medical professionals had been killed. Burundi now has an estimated 3 doctors for every 100,000 patients, in comparison the U.S. has roughly 230 doctors per 100,000 patients.

I asked questions about Marie Rose’s home. She lit up talking about how grateful she is that Sister Connection built her a house and some generous person in America that doesn’t even know her would care to send money to provide her with such a home, now she stays dry when the rain comes. Marie Rose is unsponsored so she has no money to buy a blanket, a mattress or extra clothing. She has two fabrics and 1 t-shirt, she received those right after the war which was nearly 20 years ago. She sleeps on the concrete floor and she tries to stay warm with the 2 fabrics she has.

At this point all I was thinking was that I have many shirts and it was a short walk to get them and bring them to her. Why do I have so many shirts any way? She’s had the same shirt with holes in it for 20 years. I told Marie Rose I would be right back and I rode on the back of a friends motorcycle up the bumpy mountain to my house and grabbed a skirt and 3 shirts.

Can you imagine how she would respond to being sponsored? $40 a month and she would be able to buy food, clothing and get medical care when she needs it. Even living here in Burundi I still cannot fathom the depth of poverty, but also I cannot imagine how much $40 a month means to these precious women. It truly does pull them out of the pit of poverty. I realized I have never known a single night in my entire life that I did not have a blanket if I wanted to keep warm. So, so many of these precious people have only known the opposite, they have never known the warmth of a blanket a single night in their lives. What we have to give may be small, but it does make a big impact.