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In a bid to make life easier for the less privileged around them, as well as “teach them to fish for themselves, the House on the Rock, Port Harcourt, last Saturday donated a mini-bus, over 30 grinding machines and other items to 200 widows from its surrounding communities.
Also thrown into the mix for the widows were palliative bags for each of them, containing bags of rice, beans, garri and other food items.
Senior pastor of the House on the Rock, Port Harcourt, Pastor Lanre Oluseye, in an interview, told newsmen, that every society has stratas and the less privileged, especially widows, are at the bottom rung of society.
“Widows are particularly a big issue for me. Reason is because of all the society thinks that surrounds being a widow.
“Some of them have no support, no means of livelihood. And because we are a church, I can’t think of a better way of helping them. I mean Jesus said, what is true religion if not to be father of the fatherless and husband of the widows.
“That is why we have put together this program, to reach out to the widows, to let them know that Jesus remembers them, and we remember them,” he said.
Pastor Oluseye urged other well-meaning individuals and organizations to come to the aid of widows, orphans and the less-privileged, while reminding the widows that “pity is not a strategy for sustenance.
“Pity cannot be sustained. How many people will pity you. So it is more beneficial to you as a widow to find something to do so that you can sustain yourself.
Pastor Uche Onochie, the pastor in charge of the Army of David, Heritage Foundation Partners, the ministry in the church which oversees the widows outreach programme, said the Bible injunction to look after the widows “is a commandment we take.
“We say ‘Christ, Christ’ but how will you know the love of Christ. This is the love of Christ. God cannot come down and help a man. He must help a man through another”.
Onochie said the aim behind the Army of David’s outreach however, is “not just to do the religious thing. We want to help these widows to earn”.
He said the aim is to get the widows to “learn to fish,” to learn skills necessary for their sustenance, and also equip them for a better personal and business life through the provision of grants, soft loans, commercial use, such as grinding machines, min bus and financial advice.
“The whole idea is to earn something. The things we are giving them are expected to be used for commercial use,” he said.
The Partners ‘director of the Army of David, Mike Olumide Johnson, said all of the 200 widows “will have a gift that they will take home. But beyond that, we have some that they will have to win by raffle.
“We have 82 raffle items, including a min-bus, grinding machines – electric and manual, coolers, wheelbarrows and industrial cooking pots.
“We have a pack for them all. In each pack, we have one bag of rice, bag of beans, bag of garri, cooking pots, wrappers and Bible” he said.
Some of the beneficiaries, Victoria Monday, Owhonda Comfort and Love Nkem Wobidike, were full of praise for the Pst. Lanre Oluseye-led House on the Rock, adding that the gifts will enable them to provide a better life for their children.
