Twenty widows celebrate in houses built by Good Samaritan

Widows, who lived in deplorable conditions, will celebrate this festive season in decent houses built by a Good Samaritan.

Until Tuesday more than 20 widows were living in ramshackle houses, abandoned or expelled by their in-laws. The plight of widows is a nationwide problem; often their land is grabbed. 

They also received 2,500-litre water tanks so they can harvest rain, and supplies.

The water tanks will sparing them from trekking for dozens of kilometres in search of the rare commodity.

Reverend Wanjiku Gachungi, a California-based preacher, built the houses for them.

While handing over the keys to the widows ,she said she was happy to have uplifted lives of women languishing in poverty.

Gachungi has been doing this kind of charity work in Nyeri, Kiambu, Murang'a, Kirinyaga and Laikipia for more  10 years.

“I have so far built more than a 100 houses, donated a similar number of 2500-litre plastic water tanks and built chicken coops for the widows," Gachungi said.

She said she raises the money from friends and well wishers living abroad through her church conference that undertakes projects in Kenya.

"I have been interacting with widowed women and I can tell their lives are full of problems because they are often looked down upon by the people they live with," she said.

Hannah Resebei, a beneficiary from Kiambogo village in Laikipia county, said she had been living in a grass-thatched mud-walled hut that leaks when it rains.

Resebei lost her husband during the 1997 tribal clashes in Transmara, Narok county.

Gachungi, who implements the projects under The Mizpah Ministries International Widows Project, said she has been using home fellowships to identify the most vulnerable widows.

She brings them together and selects the neediest.

(Edited by V. Graham)