Video

Rebecca: One woman, helping 2,000 widows

Rebecca is an amazing woman. She’s from Nigeria, where in the north eastern states, a terrorist, Islamic extremist group called Boko Haram have been causing havoc and devastation. In August 2016, Boko Haram’s leader vowed to eradicate Christianity in Nigeria. He said that militants will blow up ‘every church that we are able to reach… killing all of those who we find from the citizens of the cross’. The group have killed thousands of people, leaving many desperate widows and orphans behind, and forcing an estimated 2 million people to flee their homes.

In the midst of the fighting, Rebecca’s house was destroyed along with all of her family’s possessions. Her family fled to a town called Maiduguri. At a time when many international organisations were evacuating the area, and Maiduguri was effectively cut off from the outside world. But, Rebecca decided she needed to help those who were in even greater need than her. “We were all refugees at that time and we all needed help, but I saw that many widows needed more help than I did,” Rebecca says.

With financial support from a friend who lived abroad, Rebecca began distributing food and paying for medical care for some of the widows she knew. Her work soon grew, and when Open Doors workers heard about what she was doing, they began to provide her with financial support too. Today she has a team of volunteers who care for 2,000 widows, build simple housing and provide school fees for orphans. “Now with the aid of Open Doors I can give more help to the widows and orphans,” she says.

Watch the video above to meet Rebecca and some of the ladies she is helping.

Pray now…

• Praise God for Rebecca and other Open Doors workers and partners who are caring for our persecuted church family
• For provision and protection for displaced people in sub-Saharan Africa.