God spoke the vision for the Widows Home in 1996, but it seemed too impossible.
As our staff kept praying, God raised up all that was needed, even tho it took 10 years until the latest dedication April 2007. After much spiritual warfare, we thought the vision had basically died; but then God resurrected it!!
We broke ground in 2001, & finally mostly called it finished April 2007, although there were still lots of mistakes to fix.
It is such a miracle; never let go of God, for He is so faithful.
Plot of land where the Staines Widows Home will be built.
Photo taken from the other end of the property.
The building shown here is the office. This structure was built quickly and in a more ordinary way (similar to many other buildings in the area) to have an operating location building on hand for use. The widows home itself however will be built using very high specifications of quality, much better than other typical buildings in the area.
Friendly hired workers busy getting the office building done.
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” – James 1:27
This shows the beginning of construction on the widows home property. This was the start of the administrative building while the home itself will be much larger and built on the large area shown in the property photos.
We have a beautiful piece of land, donated to us to build a widow’s home. Then we needed to start building the home itself. We needed foundations, walls, doors, and windows, but first of all bricks. Thanks to you, willing to help us this vision has come true.
In 1997 God spoke to us about the widows of Varanasi. He told us to build a home for them where they can live in dignity and where others can come and earn a living by doing income generating projects like sewing, pickle and jam making.
The widows home property is located in Sarnath, just outside of Varanasi. Varanasi is one of India’s most holy cities. Thousands of pilgrims come to this city to bathe in the river Ganges, to wash away their sins. The belief is that if you die in this city, you will go straight to heaven. This is one of the reasons why so many widows are here.
Another reason is that many of those who come here on pilgrimage leave their widows behind, so that they don’t have to take care of them anymore. Because of this the city is filled with widows living on the streets, having no one to care for them. There is an estimated 10,000 of them. They earn a living by begging, working as “maids” or by prostitution.
Some widows have lost their sanity due to the desperate situation they are in. Consequently, the city is defiling itself, because it is not doing the will of God. He wants us to take care of the widows, so they can lead peaceful lives.
Our vision is to help these widows. In the next 10 years we want to employ 1500 widows. We want to house 50 widows who are in desperate circumstances, and provide for them and their children often accompany them. We will equip them with skills so that they can earn a decent income and experience the hope that they never had. This will take time. We need a lot of staff, finances and knowledge. To begin with, we want to run seminars and Christian training courses alongside our regular activities in the home, until it is ‘full’ of widows and our vision is completed.
Sarnath Photo Tour Links Photos of Sarnath Town & Zoo Sarnath Ancient Ruins Dhamekh Stupa by the ruins
Varanasi Photo Tour Links Varanasi (Old City) Traffic & People More Varanasi old city photos Narrow Alleyways in the Old City of Varanasi Varanasi Bathing Ghats on the Ganges River (part 1) Varanasi Bathing Ghats on the Ganges River (part 2) Photos of Flooding in Varanasi by the Ganges River Sales of Hindu Idols in Varanasi Sadhus on the Ghats Water Buffalo bathing at the Ghats Varanasi Cantonment Area
