Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Love Lives!

“…the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Galatians 5:6


Over the last several months I have fallen deeply in love. My whole heart and mind have become consumed with the very nature of love. With some fear and trembling, I have ventured deep into love’s unknown territory past the superficial love so common to our world and into the vulnerable places I once feared to go. In doing so I had to leave everything I had once used to protect my heart and instead continue the journey completely naked with only the great lover of my soul to protect me. It was risky to so completely expose myself to pain, heartache, and disappointment knowing that I could easily be wounded and scarred for life. So many times, I thought about turning back. I wanted to run at top speed and go back to that place where I wore the protective armor around my heart. Yet every time fear tried to beckon me back to safety, Jesus held my hand tight and walked me into love’s deeper places. I began to see that love is wider and deeper than I ever imagined and at its core exists a fierce wildness that cannot be tamed. It is both intoxicatingly beautiful and incredibly powerful. You are completely vulnerable, yet in that vulnerability there is great peace. It isn’t safe, but it is tender and full of compassion.

Chris Tomlin sings a song entitled, “The Way I Was Made,” in which he emphatically sings, “I want to love like I’m not afraid.” That lyric found a home in my heart as I realized how well it communicated my deepest longing about this love that I have been experiencing. I want to love without fear…knowing the danger, but not fearing it. Knowing that love is the place where God’s spirit resides and where fear has no real power. Knowing full well that I will, at times, be wounded, but knowing in an even deeper place that the author of love will heal those wounds or use those scars to increase by capacity to give and receive His great beautiful love. So I began to sing louder and louder… “I want to love like I’m not afraid. I WANT to LOVE like I’m not afraid. I WANT TO LOVE LIKE I’M NOT AFRAID!!” Then I went out to love and be loved.

I love Jane and Jane loves me. I met her over a year ago and at our first meeting I was taken aback at how sick she was. She was no more than 90 pounds, frail and emotionally distraught. Her skeletal frame labored to breathe. Every few minutes she spit mucus into her handkerchief. AIDS and TB had taken residence inside of her and were wreaking tremendous havoc leaving her a mere shell of the person she once was. She was too sick to work, so her children were drinking tea or watered down porridge to stay alive. I remember her standing in front of me, shaking, sobbing, and begging the other widows to help feed her children. I had never seen such raw despair. I had never seen someone so sick and in so much misery. My first reaction was to step back, however shameful that is to admit, I wanted to run from it, to close my eyes and erase that painful memory from my mind. Fear gripped my heart and whispered in my ear, “Don’t get close to her. It will be uncomfortable for you. She will become a burden to you. She will beg from you constantly. She will die someday….can you really handle that? Are you strong enough to watch someone die? If you get close, you will be the one who is responsible for her care or for her children. Can you really handle that responsibility? Your life will become consumed by her problems. If you help her once, she will wear you out with her constant needs.” Once fear begins to speak, his voice is relentless. Somehow he knows all your deepest concerns…the ones you are too ashamed to say out loud for fear of looking selfish or uncompassionate, yet are the very things we consider to be protective measures to ensure our heart’s health. Fear’s voice was loud that day and I listened to it. I gave just enough money to look compassionate, but emotionally I kept my distance. All the while patting myself on the back for protecting myself from her deep misery.

Later, when my mind settled and fear decided that his work was done for the day, a still small quiet voice whispered another message in my ear, “I tried to show you love today. I tried to show you how big and beautiful love is, but you refused to see it. Fear lied to you and you believed him. There is nothing more beautiful than to love and be loved, but to experience it you have to stop protecting your heart…you have to stop weighing the cost…you have to stop imagining the pain it may cause you…instead you have to trust in my love for you…trust that I will protect you…and trust that love is worth the cost you may have to pay.” Immediately, a feeling of shame washed over me, I had come to Uganda to learn how to love like Jesus loves and instead I had refused the opportunity to love the woman Jesus loves. I cried that night over my own weakness and selfishness, but a small seed was planted that day in my soul…a small courage began to bubble up…with deep trembling I decided to reach out for the hand of Jesus and let him teach me how to love.

A couple weeks later, I went to visit Jane at her home. As I approached her small concrete home, I trembled with nervousness. Could I really love someone…I mean really truly love someone this desperate? It took her a long time to come to the door and when I saw her, I couldn’t help but notice her frailty and deep despair. Part of me wanted to run, but this time I reached out my hand, smiled and followed her into her sitting room. At first the awkward silence made my heart race, but finally she began to speak to me. She thanked me for coming to visit her and asked me some simple questions about my family. To this day, I credit her for drawing me into friendship. She took the first step towards me.

Soon, we were talking. I began to relax and notice how soft her eyes were and how well she spoke English. Since she had first inquired about my family, I then asked her about hers. She looked intently down at her hands and began to speak softly. Jane’s parents had both died leaving the responsibility of raising her younger siblings to her. Her husband had died of AIDS leaving her infected, pregnant and alone to raise her soon to be 4 children. Suddenly huge tears rolled down her cheeks and instinctively I reached out to hold her boney shoulders. After Jane gave birth, her health deteriorated dramatically and she hovered near death for 3 months. Her husband’s family took the children while she was sick. No one thought she would survive, so his family told the children that she was dead. They took everything in her house and divided it among themselves never believing that she would recover.

She looked up at me and through her tears she emphatically said that God had saved her from certain death. She prayed constantly when she was in the hospital asking God to bring her back to health and back to her children. Then one day, the doctors told her she was well enough to go home. She was still very weak, but she no longer needed to be in the hospital. Immediately upon leaving, she went to find her children. Her husband’s family looked at her as if seeing a ghost and her children were terrified to see the mother they were told was dead. She tried to take her children back home, but soon realized that she had no home to return to…everything was gone…the pots, the pans, the furniture, her clothes and even the pictures she had saved of her and her husband. Jane was now breathing hard and having trouble talking, so we ended our visit. I prayed for her and asked God to heal her body and to heal her wounded heart. As I walked away from her home, I felt deep compassion for her and a longing to see her again.

Over the next year, I went to her home almost every week and at times several times a week. We talked about everything from Ugandan politics to her first kiss under the mango tree. I learned that she loved to cook…something she learned from her late mother and that she has an incredibly artistic eye. She loves creating the beaded jewelry because it gives her an outlet to create true works of art. In quieter moments, she revealed that she deeply loves her children and wants to give them everything she possibly can. It is incredibly painful for her to know that she may never live long enough to see her children graduate from high school, get married or have children of their own. She feels deep guilt over the inevitability of leaving them orphans. Being an orphan herself she knows intimately the pain they will pass through. She was overwhelmingly grateful for the sponsor I found for her children. Now she was resting easier knowing that no matter what happens to her, her children will still be able to go to school. I also began to share my own joys and sorrows with her. I told her intimate things about myself. I let her know me deeply and completely. Sometimes, I cried over my own pain as she held me and prayed with me. Suddenly, I realized one day that I loved her…I really truly loved her.

About a month ago, my friend Joyce called. She told me that Jane was suffering from a severe case of malaria. Since Jane is HIV positive and is also being treated for TB, I knew it was serious. My heart broke because I love her and just couldn’t imagine my life without her. I started to cry and pray for my friend. Then I went to her house to see her. As I approached her small concrete home, I heard Joyce softly singing to Jane while she bathed her 90-pound body. “Jane, I’m here,” I said outside the door. Joyce told me to come on in and get some juice ready for Jane to drink. I know Jane’s house well. I have been there so many times and I had just spent the previous Sunday afternoon there having lunch, laughing and talking about just about everything under the sun. I poured the juice and readied her small bed for her. Joyce held Jane close as she walked her to her bed. Jane was shaking with fever. I gave her the juice and held her while Joyce got her medicine. While we sat there I prayed for her and told her that I loved her. “I love you too,” she said weakly. Then we laid her down and I covered her with her blankets. While she slept, I knelt beside her bed and prayed for her healing. All I could think was “my friend is sick, my friend is sick. Oh, Jesus, I love her. Please, please heal her.” Tears welled up in my eyes, as I couldn’t imagine loosing this woman I have come to know and love. The next day Joyce took her to the hospital where she received some other advanced treatment. I called her and she called me many times in the 48 hours she was there. Finally, she came back home and slowly began feeling better.

Last weekend, she came to my home so that we could be together one last time before I go back to the States. When she arrived, she was tired and coughing. I gave her some tea and she lay down on the floor to rest. After she rested a bit, she opened the bag she brought and pulled out two beautiful dresses she had made for me. My eyes sparkled and I squealed with joy. I was so surprised. She laughed and told me that she wanted to do something to show how much she loved me. I hugged her and told her how much I loved her too. Then she laughed and said, “Okay, we are all girls here. You try them on so I can see.” I quickly stripped off my clothes and put on these uniquely African dresses. I felt like a princess. A huge smile spread across her face and she clapped her hands. “Oh, oh, you look beautiful, my daughter. Just beautiful!” I felt beautiful, more than that…I felt wrapped in love.

My love for her is real and deep. She is an amazing woman full of wisdom, love, patience and great courage. She is compassionate and unbelievably generous. Yet I know that she lives with an incurable disease. One day AIDS will take her from me and I will mourn and not be comforted. I will scream in agony and shed a thousand tears. It is a deep pain that I know is coming. It is a wound that will pierce a tender place in my heart and I have nothing to protect myself. Everything I once feared will come to pass, but not in the way I thought. Now I consider it pure joy to pay medical bills for my friend. I am elated to take care of her children and give them what they need to survive. Yes, I will watch her die, and it is more painful than words can express, but the love I have experienced with her is worth it. She is worth it. This love between us is powerful, beautiful, intoxicating, uncontrollable and incredibly tender. It will leave me with a scar, but I am confident that God will use it for his glory. Even though Jane will die, love will live.


Update on the Widows:

This week has not been easy for many reasons. I have lived a roller coaster of emotion in the last week…joy, pain, sorrow, anger…you name it, I felt it. Luckily, God is stable and a good rock to depend on. First, the land we were so hoping to purchase this week was lost. Another buyer came and was willing to purchase the whole 20-acre plot…we were only able to purchase 5 acres. So, we are back at square one! I know God has a plan for these ladies he loves, so I am just trying to be patient.

Secondly, I am leaving next week for the States and I am incredibly sad. I really love these women and it is so hard to imagine a week without seeing them. My heart just feels so broken and wounded. Please pray for our separation. It will not be easy for them or for me. However, I need to go back and earn more money. I can’t live on nothing, so back to work I go. On the other hand, I am excited to see my family and friends. I also have other personal things I need to take care of in the States, so I know God is bringing me back…not forever, but for a little while. I take comfort in the fact that I know I will be back! The ladies and I are having a party tomorrow (Thursday, August 7) to celebrate our time together and to give me a joyful send off. I am really looking forward to it!

I am thrilled however to announce that I have hired a brilliant, compassionate Ugandan Acholi woman to take my place in the ministry. Her name is Suzanne Anyeko and I am confident God will do great things through her for these women! It gives my heart great peace to know that Suzanne will be here loving these women while I am away!

Emergency fund: I was able to help 2 women this week. Lovincer received money for an emergency trip she needs to make to visit her sick mother in the village and Joyce received money for medical treatment. This emergency fund truly does “fill the gap” for women who are desperate. Thank you so much to those of you who have donated! If you would like to donate to this fund either visit our website www.dorcaswidows.org/ or contact Lisa Tschetter at lisatschetter@comcast.net

Beaded Jewelry: This week the women filled two orders; which totaled 600 beaded necklaces. We were able to pay 25 women for their work! It has been a reason for great celebration as these women want to work—they want to be able to care for their families. Please pray that God continues to provide business for these women! If you want to order necklaces, please contact Carol Daly Vogt at dalyvogt@hotmail.com

School Sponsorship: The second term is ending this week and children will be coming home from school. If you are paying school fees for a widow, please contact Lisa so you can send money for the upcoming 3rd term. Trough our sponsors we were able to send 13 children back to school this last term! Many of those children had been at home as their mothers had no money to pay for school. When I tell these children that they now have a sponsor and will be able to attend school again, they jump up and down, smile, and hug me tight. I wish you all could be here to experience that kind of gratitude. If you are interested in sponsoring a child of one of our widows, please contact Lisa Tschetter at lisatschetter@comcast.net

Land & Housing: It is our hope to purchase 3 acres of land to build a widow’s community. On this land we want to build 30 homes where the ladies can live rent free in order to help them achieve self-sufficiency. We have already raised $20,000 to purchase the land and are now raising money to build the homes. We are still looking at properties and hope to finalize a purchase in the next couple of months. If you are interested in learning more about this project please contact Carol Daly Vogt at dalyvogt@hotmail.com or check out our website at www.dorcaswidows.org/

Love Lives!

“…the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Galatians 5:6


Over the last several months I have fallen deeply in love. My whole heart and mind have become consumed with the very nature of love. With some fear and trembling, I have ventured deep into love’s unknown territory past the superficial love so common to our world and into the vulnerable places I once feared to go. In doing so I had to leave everything I had once used to protect my heart and instead continue the journey completely naked with only the great lover of my soul to protect me. It was risky to so completely expose myself to pain, heartache, and disappointment knowing that I could easily be wounded and scarred for life. So many times, I thought about turning back. I wanted to run at top speed and go back to that place where I wore the protective armor around my heart. Yet every time fear tried to beckon me back to safety, Jesus held my hand tight and walked me into love’s deeper places. I began to see that love is wider and deeper than I ever imagined and at its core exists a fierce wildness that cannot be tamed. It is both intoxicatingly beautiful and incredibly powerful. You are completely vulnerable, yet in that vulnerability there is great peace. It isn’t safe, but it is tender and full of compassion.

Chris Tomlin sings a song entitled, “The Way I Was Made,” in which he emphatically sings, “I want to love like I’m not afraid.” That lyric found a home in my heart as I realized how well it communicated my deepest longing about this love that I have been experiencing. I want to love without fear…knowing the danger, but not fearing it. Knowing that love is the place where God’s spirit resides and where fear has no real power. Knowing full well that I will, at times, be wounded, but knowing in an even deeper place that the author of love will heal those wounds or use those scars to increase by capacity to give and receive His great beautiful love. So I began to sing louder and louder… “I want to love like I’m not afraid. I WANT to LOVE like I’m not afraid. I WANT TO LOVE LIKE I’M NOT AFRAID!!” Then I went out to love and be loved.

I love Jane and Jane loves me. I met her over a year ago and at our first meeting I was taken aback at how sick she was. She was no more than 90 pounds, frail and emotionally distraught. Her skeletal frame labored to breathe. Every few minutes she spit mucus into her handkerchief. AIDS and TB had taken residence inside of her and were wreaking tremendous havoc leaving her a mere shell of the person she once was. She was too sick to work, so her children were drinking tea or watered down porridge to stay alive. I remember her standing in front of me, shaking, sobbing, and begging the other widows to help feed her children. I had never seen such raw despair. I had never seen someone so sick and in so much misery. My first reaction was to step back, however shameful that is to admit, I wanted to run from it, to close my eyes and erase that painful memory from my mind. Fear gripped my heart and whispered in my ear, “Don’t get close to her. It will be uncomfortable for you. She will become a burden to you. She will beg from you constantly. She will die someday….can you really handle that? Are you strong enough to watch someone die? If you get close, you will be the one who is responsible for her care or for her children. Can you really handle that responsibility? Your life will become consumed by her problems. If you help her once, she will wear you out with her constant needs.” Once fear begins to speak, his voice is relentless. Somehow he knows all your deepest concerns…the ones you are too ashamed to say out loud for fear of looking selfish or uncompassionate, yet are the very things we consider to be protective measures to ensure our heart’s health. Fear’s voice was loud that day and I listened to it. I gave just enough money to look compassionate, but emotionally I kept my distance. All the while patting myself on the back for protecting myself from her deep misery.

Later, when my mind settled and fear decided that his work was done for the day, a still small quiet voice whispered another message in my ear, “I tried to show you love today. I tried to show you how big and beautiful love is, but you refused to see it. Fear lied to you and you believed him. There is nothing more beautiful than to love and be loved, but to experience it you have to stop protecting your heart…you have to stop weighing the cost…you have to stop imagining the pain it may cause you…instead you have to trust in my love for you…trust that I will protect you…and trust that love is worth the cost you may have to pay.” Immediately, a feeling of shame washed over me, I had come to Uganda to learn how to love like Jesus loves and instead I had refused the opportunity to love the woman Jesus loves. I cried that night over my own weakness and selfishness, but a small seed was planted that day in my soul…a small courage began to bubble up…with deep trembling I decided to reach out for the hand of Jesus and let him teach me how to love.

A couple weeks later, I went to visit Jane at her home. As I approached her small concrete home, I trembled with nervousness. Could I really love someone…I mean really truly love someone this desperate? It took her a long time to come to the door and when I saw her, I couldn’t help but notice her frailty and deep despair. Part of me wanted to run, but this time I reached out my hand, smiled and followed her into her sitting room. At first the awkward silence made my heart race, but finally she began to speak to me. She thanked me for coming to visit her and asked me some simple questions about my family. To this day, I credit her for drawing me into friendship. She took the first step towards me.

Soon, we were talking. I began to relax and notice how soft her eyes were and how well she spoke English. Since she had first inquired about my family, I then asked her about hers. She looked intently down at her hands and began to speak softly. Jane’s parents had both died leaving the responsibility of raising her younger siblings to her. Her husband had died of AIDS leaving her infected, pregnant and alone to raise her soon to be 4 children. Suddenly huge tears rolled down her cheeks and instinctively I reached out to hold her boney shoulders. After Jane gave birth, her health deteriorated dramatically and she hovered near death for 3 months. Her husband’s family took the children while she was sick. No one thought she would survive, so his family told the children that she was dead. They took everything in her house and divided it among themselves never believing that she would recover.

She looked up at me and through her tears she emphatically said that God had saved her from certain death. She prayed constantly when she was in the hospital asking God to bring her back to health and back to her children. Then one day, the doctors told her she was well enough to go home. She was still very weak, but she no longer needed to be in the hospital. Immediately upon leaving, she went to find her children. Her husband’s family looked at her as if seeing a ghost and her children were terrified to see the mother they were told was dead. She tried to take her children back home, but soon realized that she had no home to return to…everything was gone…the pots, the pans, the furniture, her clothes and even the pictures she had saved of her and her husband. Jane was now breathing hard and having trouble talking, so we ended our visit. I prayed for her and asked God to heal her body and to heal her wounded heart. As I walked away from her home, I felt deep compassion for her and a longing to see her again.

Over the next year, I went to her home almost every week and at times several times a week. We talked about everything from Ugandan politics to her first kiss under the mango tree. I learned that she loved to cook…something she learned from her late mother and that she has an incredibly artistic eye. She loves creating the beaded jewelry because it gives her an outlet to create true works of art. In quieter moments, she revealed that she deeply loves her children and wants to give them everything she possibly can. It is incredibly painful for her to know that she may never live long enough to see her children graduate from high school, get married or have children of their own. She feels deep guilt over the inevitability of leaving them orphans. Being an orphan herself she knows intimately the pain they will pass through. She was overwhelmingly grateful for the sponsor I found for her children. Now she was resting easier knowing that no matter what happens to her, her children will still be able to go to school. I also began to share my own joys and sorrows with her. I told her intimate things about myself. I let her know me deeply and completely. Sometimes, I cried over my own pain as she held me and prayed with me. Suddenly, I realized one day that I loved her…I really truly loved her.

About a month ago, my friend Joyce called. She told me that Jane was suffering from a severe case of malaria. Since Jane is HIV positive and is also being treated for TB, I knew it was serious. My heart broke because I love her and just couldn’t imagine my life without her. I started to cry and pray for my friend. Then I went to her house to see her. As I approached her small concrete home, I heard Joyce softly singing to Jane while she bathed her 90-pound body. “Jane, I’m here,” I said outside the door. Joyce told me to come on in and get some juice ready for Jane to drink. I know Jane’s house well. I have been there so many times and I had just spent the previous Sunday afternoon there having lunch, laughing and talking about just about everything under the sun. I poured the juice and readied her small bed for her. Joyce held Jane close as she walked her to her bed. Jane was shaking with fever. I gave her the juice and held her while Joyce got her medicine. While we sat there I prayed for her and told her that I loved her. “I love you too,” she said weakly. Then we laid her down and I covered her with her blankets. While she slept, I knelt beside her bed and prayed for her healing. All I could think was “my friend is sick, my friend is sick. Oh, Jesus, I love her. Please, please heal her.” Tears welled up in my eyes, as I couldn’t imagine loosing this woman I have come to know and love. The next day Joyce took her to the hospital where she received some other advanced treatment. I called her and she called me many times in the 48 hours she was there. Finally, she came back home and slowly began feeling better.

Last weekend, she came to my home so that we could be together one last time before I go back to the States. When she arrived, she was tired and coughing. I gave her some tea and she lay down on the floor to rest. After she rested a bit, she opened the bag she brought and pulled out two beautiful dresses she had made for me. My eyes sparkled and I squealed with joy. I was so surprised. She laughed and told me that she wanted to do something to show how much she loved me. I hugged her and told her how much I loved her too. Then she laughed and said, “Okay, we are all girls here. You try them on so I can see.” I quickly stripped off my clothes and put on these uniquely African dresses. I felt like a princess. A huge smile spread across her face and she clapped her hands. “Oh, oh, you look beautiful, my daughter. Just beautiful!” I felt beautiful, more than that…I felt wrapped in love.

My love for her is real and deep. She is an amazing woman full of wisdom, love, patience and great courage. She is compassionate and unbelievably generous. Yet I know that she lives with an incurable disease. One day AIDS will take her from me and I will mourn and not be comforted. I will scream in agony and shed a thousand tears. It is a deep pain that I know is coming. It is a wound that will pierce a tender place in my heart and I have nothing to protect myself. Everything I once feared will come to pass, but not in the way I thought. Now I consider it pure joy to pay medical bills for my friend. I am elated to take care of her children and give them what they need to survive. Yes, I will watch her die, and it is more painful than words can express, but the love I have experienced with her is worth it. She is worth it. This love between us is powerful, beautiful, intoxicating, uncontrollable and incredibly tender. It will leave me with a scar, but I am confident that God will use it for his glory. Even though Jane will die, love will live.


Update on the Widows:

This week has not been easy for many reasons. I have lived a roller coaster of emotion in the last week…joy, pain, sorrow, anger…you name it, I felt it. Luckily, God is stable and a good rock to depend on. First, the land we were so hoping to purchase this week was lost. Another buyer came and was willing to purchase the whole 20-acre plot…we were only able to purchase 5 acres. So, we are back at square one! I know God has a plan for these ladies he loves, so I am just trying to be patient.

Secondly, I am leaving next week for the States and I am incredibly sad. I really love these women and it is so hard to imagine a week without seeing them. My heart just feels so broken and wounded. Please pray for our separation. It will not be easy for them or for me. However, I need to go back and earn more money. I can’t live on nothing, so back to work I go. On the other hand, I am excited to see my family and friends. I also have other personal things I need to take care of in the States, so I know God is bringing me back…not forever, but for a little while. I take comfort in the fact that I know I will be back! The ladies and I are having a party tomorrow (Thursday, August 7) to celebrate our time together and to give me a joyful send off. I am really looking forward to it!

I am thrilled however to announce that I have hired a brilliant, compassionate Ugandan Acholi woman to take my place in the ministry. Her name is Suzanne Anyeko and I am confident God will do great things through her for these women! It gives my heart great peace to know that Suzanne will be here loving these women while I am away!

Emergency fund: I was able to help 2 women this week. Lovincer received money for an emergency trip she needs to make to visit her sick mother in the village and Joyce received money for medical treatment. This emergency fund truly does “fill the gap” for women who are desperate. Thank you so much to those of you who have donated! If you would like to donate to this fund either visit our website www.dorcaswidows.org/ or contact Lisa Tschetter at lisatschetter@comcast.net

Beaded Jewelry: This week the women filled two orders; which totaled 600 beaded necklaces. We were able to pay 25 women for their work! It has been a reason for great celebration as these women want to work—they want to be able to care for their families. Please pray that God continues to provide business for these women! If you want to order necklaces, please contact Carol Daly Vogt at dalyvogt@hotmail.com

School Sponsorship: The second term is ending this week and children will be coming home from school. If you are paying school fees for a widow, please contact Lisa so you can send money for the upcoming 3rd term. Trough our sponsors we were able to send 13 children back to school this last term! Many of those children had been at home as their mothers had no money to pay for school. When I tell these children that they now have a sponsor and will be able to attend school again, they jump up and down, smile, and hug me tight. I wish you all could be here to experience that kind of gratitude. If you are interested in sponsoring a child of one of our widows, please contact Lisa Tschetter at lisatschetter@comcast.net

Land & Housing: It is our hope to purchase 3 acres of land to build a widow’s community. On this land we want to build 30 homes where the ladies can live rent free in order to help them achieve self-sufficiency. We have already raised $20,000 to purchase the land and are now raising money to build the homes. We are still looking at properties and hope to finalize a purchase in the next couple of months. If you are interested in learning more about this project please contact Carol Daly Vogt at dalyvogt@hotmail.com or check out our website at www.dorcaswidows.org/