Many widows are living in extreme poverty.

The elderly in rural Myanmar are vulnerable and many live on the very edge of starvation. Elderly women, and especially elderly widows, are the most vulnerable. Read on to find out why, and what MyHope is doing to help, and how you can also help rescue these widows from extreme poverty and hopelessness.

The Causes of Poverty Among Widows

When young Kuki women marry, they must leave their own villages and go to live with their husband’s family in his village. The husbands have many rights, including property rights and control of the children. The women, on the other hand, have very few rights. This has been the culture for as long as anyone can remember.

When these women become widows, either because their husbands die or leave them for whatever reason, they sometimes have no extended family nearby to care for them. Usually their adult children will care for them, if they have the financial means to do so. However, when everyone is living in extreme poverty, another mouth to feed is not usually very welcome.

If the widows are young enough they can sometimes remarry, but that is not always the case. When a widow remarries, she again must leave the first husband’s village and family and go to live with the new husbands family. And since the first husband had control of the children, any young children must stay in that first husband’s village and family. Many young women do not want to give up their children, so they remain unmarried.

The poverty and unemployment rates in the rural villages are extremely high. Because of this, many young people leave the villages to find work in cities and other countries. This also leaves many women without a network of support as they grow old.

The end result of all of the above is that many widows are living on the very edge of starvation, and many of them die suffering from hunger, loneliness, and despair.

The Story of the New Pathway Home for Widows

When Dr. Nehkholal was living in the USA and studying for his doctorate, he made several visits to campuses of Christian Homes, Inc. (now known as Christian Horizons) - one of America’s largest, faith-based, not-for-profit senior living providers. During these visits he was shocked and amazed to witness the high levels of care and comfort that Americans provide for their senior adult family members. He had never seen or heard of anything like this in his home country of Myanmar, and he never even imagined that it existed anywhere in the world.

Each time he visited a new campus and spoke to the residents, he was reminded again of how the elderly lived back in the rural villages of his homeland. He became determined to do something to help care for the elderly in rural Myanmar, even though at that time he had no idea how that would ever transpire or what it would look like if it did.

He knew that in the villages, where everyone lives in poverty, there never seems to be enough food to go around. In these situations, the elderly will go without eating so that the younger members of the family can get the nourishment to go out and work to bring home food. This lack of nutrition quickly leads to them becoming sick, or worse. The elderly widows who have no family support are the most at risk.

After Dr. Nehkholal returned to Myanmar in December 2009, he was deeply involved in the many projects which you can read about on this website. However, at the back of his mind was always the dire situation of the elderly, and the elderly widows in particular.

In 2016, Dr. Timothy Phillippe, then the CEO of Christian Homes, and his wife, Mary Fern Phillippe, visited northwest Myanmar with Palal. What they saw in the villages, and especially what they saw regarding the living conditions of the elderly, impacted their lives and touched their hearts. They spent a lot of time discussing the situation and possible solutions. They returned to the U.S.A., determined to work with Dr. Nehkholal and MyHope to begin addressing the situation.

Thus was born the vision for the New Pathway Home for Widows.

Vision Becomes Reality 

After Tim and Mary Fern returned home they began sharing with their Board of Directors the needs which they saw in rural northwest Myanmar. As the board members discussed the situation, they quickly came to the conclusion that Christian Horizons could and would help the elderly in Myanmar in a very tangible way.

The Christian Horizons Board of Directors committed to providing the funds to build a small home for elderly widows in Tamu. There would be space for six widows from different rural villages. These women could live out the remainder of their lives in comfort, safety, and security, with all of their needs met. They would never need to worry about food, shelter, or medical care again.

Christian Horizons also committed to providing the monthly funds necessary to operate the home for the first twelve months.

Groundbreaking for the new home began almost immediately. As word began to spread about the New Pathway Home, elderly widows started showing up asking if they could live there. Several pastors called us and told us of women who begged them to find a way to let them live at the new home.

We designed the home with six bedrooms, with one widow per room. It quickly became apparent, however, that the women did not want to sleep in a room alone. They would pull their mattresses out into the main room and sleep together. Then we decided to allow six more women to come to live at the home, so that each bedroom would have two beds and two residents. This made the women very happy, and they no longer felt lonely at night.

Ready for More

We designed the New Pathway Home so that additional floors could be added on in the future. We always knew that there were many more women who needed a place like the NPH than we had the space to provide for. We also knew that there were younger widows with dependent children who needed a safe and secure place to live.

We had no idea when we would be able to add a new floor, since we estimated the cost would be about $25,000 and would require a major new fundraising campaign. Then, in May of 2019, to our great surprise and delight, one of our dear friends stepped forward with a extremely generous donation of $20,000 to be used for the New Pathway Home! That was only $5,000 short of the amount needed to add the additional floor. Praise God!

Construction on the second floor began in early October after all of the necessary permits were obtained and the rainy season was about over. As of this date (early January 2020) the walls are up and plastered, but the interior, including doors and windows, still need to be finished. Also, the rooms will need to be furnished before the widows can move in.

There are already several widows who have been selected to live on the second floor, and they are very anxiously waiting to come and live there. Unfortunately, we are still $5,000 short of what is needed to finish.

Will you please consider a generous donation to help us finish the second floor so that these desperate widows can move in? Any amount you can send would put us that much closer to finishing!

A Call to True Religion

The Apostle James reminded us that pure and undefiled religion is to care for orphans and widows in their affliction. (James 1:27)

There are numerous other Scriptures that command us to care for the poor, the needy, the afflicted, the homeless, the outcasts - all of whom could be called “the least of these”. (Matthew 25:40)

At MyHope we consider it a great privilege, as well as a tremendous responsibility, to meet the needs of poor widows. We can only do what we do, however, because of the help we receive from organizations like Christian Horizons and from individual donors like yourself.

We also know that there are many more widows out there who need help, and that we cannot provide that help without your help and support.

Each of the new widows that will live on the new second floor will need to be sponsored by an individual or family in the West. That sponsorship will provide everything these women need - food, clothing, shelter, medical care, and more.

This is our call and our challenge to you.

Will you help provide for the care of a widow (and possibly her children) so that she can live out her years in peace and safety, secure in the knowledge that she will never have to go hungry again? Will you help provide her with a comfortable bed so that she will never have to sleep on the cold ground again? Will you help provide her with medical care so that when she gets sick she can get the medicine she needs?

All of the above can be provided for about the cost of a daily cup of coffee.

$50.00 per month, about $1.67 per day, is all it costs to care for a widow in her distress.

If you are ready to heed the call to true and undefiled religion, click the button below and sign up to sponsor a widow at the New Pathway Home for $50.00 per month.

You can give for as long as you choose, but we hope that you will commit to giving for at least one year. If you wish, we can send you a photo of your sponsored widow, and a short biography describing her life situation.

You can also be assured that 100% of your monthly sponsorship will be used to care for your widow at the New Pathway Home. None is held back for administrative expenses.

If you are not ready to commit to sponsoring on a monthly basis, any amount you can give will be greatly appreciated. Click the Donate Now button to give online, or you can also send a check to:

Myanmar Hope Christian Mission
1104 206th St E
Spanaway, WA 98387