Please allow me the honor of introducing you to my new friend Bini Singh. Bini is one of the 20 elderly rural widows in India with health problems whom Global Partners in Life is trying to provide for and encourage. She is not exactly sure of her age, nor does she have any shoes! Would you like to meet her?
Originally, our meeting was scheduled to be on the second floor of the building where we met. But we realized that due to her health condition, Bini could not climb the stairs, so we relocated our meeting to the first floor.
Bini lives in an area where 55% of the females are illiterates. Day labor is the most common work for the males, and the husbands aren’t able to — or simply can’t afford to — make any financial arrangements for their wives, in the event of their dying before their wives. Their only hope is the oldest male son, and if he isn’t able to or won’t provide for his mother, then she is in a horrible situation.
Unfortunately, Bini has a curved back and bad legs, so she struggles just to walk. She uses a bamboo stick to stabilize herself.
I will add another photo or two of Bini as she was giving up hope of attending our meeting on the second floor. Hopelessness is a common emotional state for the widows we met and are trying to assist by building a facility where they can live, have meals prepared for them, have a medical room, get counseling, and have a meeting room where they can have fellowship with others.
As you can see in the photo below, Bini couldn’t climb the stairs, so she just laid down to have a rest. She was exhausted from traveling to the meeting and she had a cool floor to lie on, so she took advantage of it! The photo was taken from the second floor looking down the stairwell.
Global Partners in Life, along with the help of our partners in India, plan to break ground on the above mentioned facility this summer. We are trying to raise additional funding to complete the building and give these poor widows a roof over their heads, running water, and a place to call home!
If you would like to contribute, please visit our web site at globalpartnersinlife.org.