Would you want a "bad omen" in your house? "When my husband died, my entire family rejected me; they did not love me," she said. Sadly, this is the case for many widows throughout South Asia. They are considered a curse, so no one wants to have them around. Cast out of their homes and left to fend for themselves, these desperate women usually end up on the streets with nothing.
"I was completely alone. ... No one would give me work so I had to beg. ... I had nothing to eat, nothing to wear. I was completely senseless and didn't know anything. . ." Netramani said.
Many of these widows will travel to what is called the "island of widows" in West Bengal. Thousands of women live here simply because they were abandoned when their husbands died. Their agony is plain to see, and often they commit suicide because there is nothing they want to live for. They have no hope.
Gospel for Asia is reaching out to these beautiful women by teaching them how to provide for themselves with sewing machines, placing their children in schools, and sharing with them that Jesus loves and cherishes them.
