Indian Women are suppressed and ignored and most neglected of the population. Only a few are literate. Others are illiterates or school or college dropouts. Its tragedy how others find advantage on the weak women. We have a ministry amongst these women. along with gospel we give instructions how to be a blessing to the family spiritually and physically. We have a plan for a Sewing Center in which we teach the various handwork, stitches etc. and sell the products, thereby the family gets additional income to the family and also enhance the dignity of women in the society. Please pray for the various needs of this project.

Widows Ministry

There are 35 million widows in India (1991 census) 10% of the total female population are widows. Every fourth household in India has a widow 50% of the widows are over 50 years. A sample study of 1994 shows that of the 88% widow who remained in the deceased husband's in village after his death. Only 3% shared the same hearth with her in-law also less than 3% widow lived with their parents. In the age group of over 60 years 64% are widows. Widows pension range from Rs 100/- Rs 500/-. On a 7 state rural widows study there were only 28% widows eligible for pension; 11% were actually receiving it.

There are approximately 20,000 war widows in India of the 62, 65, 71 and 99 aggressions. I want to present widows in India. It is very pathetic to see our Indian Widows. Ladies are put down so much they were not given much importance. Ladies has to work like a time machines, she has to do the all the work like cooking, washing, take care of the children. Men only do the office work and gets the money. If the women become a widow in olden days (before William Carey came) she was thrown into fire. (This rite in Indian culture is known as "Sati". They use to kill them, and the children were offered to the idols. William Carey brought a resolution and educated people that it is wrong to kill widows. Our government stopped killing widows. But our widows are not allowed to go out, they are not supposed to bless any occasions like marriages, birthdays, special occasions and they should not marry again, even if they are very young women. One of my grandmother's sister was given for marriage at the age of 6 years and she went to her in-laws house at the age of 11 years. Her husband died within a year. She became a widow at the age of twelve. She was not allowed to go out. She is not educated, She should not show her face in the morning hours to any body, she has to live all alone in the house. She cannot come out to the society and cannot mingle with anybody. I gave an example of the Indian women. But nowadays very few widows are coming out for jobs, some of them are educated.

We have valuable programmes for the women here. Every alternate month we have a get together for them and as well for other women. We give them the word and the food too. To some we offer old clothes (Which we collect from other women folk) and give them blankets or bed spreads. We try to show these widows a way for their livelihood by teaching them a work, such as stitching, embroidery, soft toys making and making house hold upholstery, you see the needs are many and resources are meager. These widows are encouraged to take a government test for diploma in all the above courses so that they are eligible for the loans given by the government or banks. We do have a stitching machine in the center but we need more. We want to give each widow a machine to make a living. They too attend the church and blessed by the Lord. Please pray for them.