One of the most neglected groups of people in today’s African society are the widows. This was not the case in historic African culture, in which widows lived with their extended families and were honored as elders. However, recent upheavals in many African communities have caused millions of widows to be left to fend for themselves–calamities like war, the AIDS pandemic, forced removal to refugee camps, urbanization, and the cultural confusion caused by modernization. Many widows are left with children and grandchildren to care for, but they have no training in the skills they need to support themselves. The Heart of Africa widows’ project, under the direction of Hazel Seavey, provides vulnerable women with the skills, local support group, spiritual guidance, materials, and start-up loans to start their own businesses and build a fellowship of like-minded women.
