“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction.” (James 1:27)
And that is exactly what you are doing: meeting widows in one West African nation right where they’re at and empowering them to become self-sufficient, valuable members of the workforce.
Imani is an elderly widow whose adult children have all but abandoned her in old age, but Imani is resourceful and started a small restaurant to support herself. After workshopping her tentative business plan with BGR partners, she realized that there were some major financial issues that needed to be fixed and ultimately decided to revamp her budget with help from BGR. After talking through some ways that she wanted to reinvest in her community, Imani started using her restaurant to help feed families in poverty—even training other widows to start small restaurants from their own homes!
Imani told our partners that she never dared to hope for the kind of help she received and had only dreamt of escaping her suffering. Now, Imani’s business is booming, and she has a new support system as a result!
An entire group of widows like Imani were able to attend a BGR workshop where funding and feedback were provided to better their business plans and, as a result, there are now storefronts that sell shoes, bottled water, fabric, rice, and fried plantains all throughout the region!
For a group of women who may normally be looked down on in that society, this opportunity to become self-sufficient is a Godsend. This empowered community now not only have financial safety nets, but also a new group of friends to love and encourage one another in their efforts.
Thank you for helping these women know their worth and become independent business owners!