Urgent Needs
There are several ways your financial contribution will help the widows. Below are some needs the widows have now:
HOME GARDEN FARMS – $250/garden
The widows and their children work hard in their garden plots to grow their own food. The soils are depleted. They plant maize in late November and December, harvesting their crop in late May and June. They lack the seed, fertilizer and pesticides they need to yield the kind of crop that will sustain them and their families. The cost per widow to provide seed, fertilizer and pesticides is $250.
FLOOR MATS – $10 and $20
Most widows and their children sit and sleep on dirt floors or on the ground. Two mats per widow is optimal. Three mats for widows with more than 3 children is helpful. Floor mats of varying sizes cost the following:
8 x 8 mats cost $10 10 x 12 mats cost $20
HOME MAINTENANCE – $50/widow/year
Houses in Malawi are made of sun-dried mud bricks. While the weather is fine, the structures are still run-down but sustainable. During the wet
season, which occurs between December and March, the average 3-4 month seasonal rainfall is 50 inches. Each year the houses disintegrate with the rain and need to be shored up or huge sections rebuilt. The widows and their children are often forced to move out. Most houses have dirt floors and when the roof leaks 
the floors become soaked and muddy. Most of the widows have no furniture, beds or mats on the ground. So when they sleep, they sleep on the wet dirt floors. Only this year did they and their children receive blankets. There are 15 widows whose houses need maintenance at a cost of $50 per widow per year. It is our plan to use skilled men in the local community to complete the maintenance, which will provide jobs for the men and perpetuate community improvement.
SCHOOL FEES FOR WIDOWS’ CHILDREN – $125/child/year
School fees for children in Malawi cost $125 per year, and are paid for six months at a time. All of the Ruth’s Shawl widows pray that their children will become educated although few are because of the cost. The prayer of most of the Ruth’s Shawl widows is that as they establish their own businesses so that they can afford to send their children to school. Our hope is that the current group of widows will begin to make the kind of money they need to pay for their children’s education by the end of next year. In the interim, the widows will need school fees for their children through 2010.