Widows Feeding Widows: Reconnection in Burundi, Africa
Imagine you’re driving down a dirt road with the windows open. Red dirt blows through the opening and coats your skin as you hear excited shouts from the little children playing on the side of the road. You’ve made it to Burundi, Africa.
Burundi is the Heart of Africa, situated south of Rwanda and in between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. Over the years, Burundi has consistently been ranked the poorest country in the world. There are few economic opportunities for Burundians.
Burundi faced many years of civil war, resulting in the deaths and disappearances of over 300,000 people. Many of those people were men, which meant the country was left with a large population of widows and orphans.
Widows and orphans don’t have it easy in Burundi. When the husband dies or leaves, the widow is left without possessions. Even the home she lived in with her children can be taken by the husband’s family. Many widows end up homeless, penniless, and hungry.
Sister Connection was created in 2006 (after the conflict ended) by a Burundian woman named Butoyi Joy Buconyori. She saw that the widows were suffering, and she felt called to do something about it. In 2006, Sister Connection started with monthly sponsorship of a few widows. Now in 2024, Sister Connection has over 1,000 sponsored widows, and their goals have expanded from what they were in the beginning.
Sister Connection wants to see widows and orphans become sustainably self-sufficient. To accomplish this, there are 4 key programs: homebuilding, sponsorship, vocational training, and micro-enterprise.
Sponsorship is an important step in the journey to self-sufficiency, and it is a program that benefits not only the widows, but their families and their communities as well.
Imagine driving down a dirt road in Ngozi (Northern Burundi). You’re bouncing in your seat from the potholes and random debris, in awe of the Burundians riding bikes while carrying products and materials on their heads (imagine bundles of coal, fresh vegetables and grains, mattresses, and more!). The van ventures off the beaten path to an isolated dirt road. Down, down, and down the road you go. When you see a crowd of people singing and dancing, you’ve reached a Batwa village.
The Batwa tribe is the smallest of the three tribes in Burundi. They live on small and remote reservations. Due to the discrimination they’ve faced, the Batwa are wary of allowing visitors onto their land. However, over the past 17 years, Sister Connection has built a relationship of trust and respect with the Batwa people.
Once a year, coinciding with Sister Connection’s camps for widows and orphans, Sister Connection staff and volunteers travel to a few Batwa villages in Ngozi to do a food distribution. These visits are met with singing, dancing, and the brightest smiles to ever be seen.
In 2024, Sister Connection staff and volunteers went to 3 separate Batwa villages. At the final village, they visited the home of a Sister Connection widow named None Eugenie. Eugenie’s home was built by Sister Connection in 2022, but she had yet to find a sponsor.
Eugenie met the team with a shy smile and many waves. Through the translators, she shared her story.
She shared that she’s been a widow for more than 12 years. Eugenie gave birth to 11 children, but 10 have since passed away. She is left with one child and one grandchild that live at home. She is their sole guardian and provider, but Eugenie is elderly and often sick. It’s not easy for her to work and earn money.
When asked when she last ate, Eugenie took a few minutes to recall. Eventually she told the team she ate sometime the day before, and that she usually eats one meal a day a few times a week. That answer is one that Sister Connection is used to hearing from the unsponsored widows, of which there are over 1,000.
The team let Eugenie’s words settle over them, and someone had a question. How was Eugenie getting food when she couldn’t work very much?
The answer came in the form of two other Sister Connection widows in the village.
Eugenie told the team, who leaned in to catch her every word through her translator, that two of the sponsored Sister Connection widows in her village give her some of their food.
Widows feeding other widows with what little they have themselves.
Sister Connection staff were able to find the two widows who fed Eugenie. Those widows are Uwitonze Rose and Mukeshimana Joselyne. Rose has been sponsored for three years, and Joselyne has been sponsored for one year.
The question on everyone’s mind was, why did they decide to share their food?
Rose and Joselyne didn’t hesitate to say they were taught by Sister Connection’s Discipleship Pastor, Pastor Ephraim, to share what they have with those that have even less. They shared that wisdom with smiles on their faces.
Rose and Joselyne spent years as unsponsored widows themselves. When they started to receive sponsorship, they decided to share that joy with Eugenie.
Eugenie did not remain an unsponsored widow. In fact, a sponsor had committed to her sponsorship before the visit to her home. Through a translator, Eugenie’s sponsor shared the news with her.
Her smile and joy at learning she was a sponsored widow was matched only by those in line for food distribution.
Sister Connection sponsors bring hope for the future into the homes and villages of widows and orphans. Will you consider becoming a sponsor today? More information can be found at the links below.
Contact Us – hello@sisterconnection.org