Vietnam Evangelical Covenant Church – At the end of 2022, the Community Development Ministry supported a home repair in Phù Yên, Sơn La, for a widowed mother and her child in Suối Bương village, Kim Bon commune, Phù Yên district. The house had been left unfinished by the husband before he died in 2020, and since then it had become a worry for mother and child every rainy and cold season.
A Request for Help
In October 2022, the ministry received a request to help Ms. L. and her child. A ministry representative went up to Phù Yên to see the family’s situation and living conditions firsthand before deciding to help. This is a principle the ministry always keeps: meeting people in person, listening and identifying the real need, so every gift is used in the right place.
An Unfinished House After a Tragedy
In 2020, Ms. L.’s husband, the family’s main breadwinner, died in a heartbreaking incident while working far from home. From then on, mother and child were left alone. Ms. L. herself is in poor health, and making a living each day is very hard.
The house they live in is the one her husband had been building before he died. The ceiling had not been waterproofed, so whenever it rained, water poured into the house. The window frames had no panes, turning the house into a funnel for cold wind every winter. Their lives were constantly disrupted by the weather.
Finishing the Basics
After the visit, the ministry decided to help the family fix the most basic problems of the house, such as waterproofing the ceiling and finishing the windows and doors, so mother and child would have a safe, wind-tight home. By late December 2022, the repairs had reached completion of the basic items, just in time before the harsh cold spells of the mountain winter.
For mother and child, a roof that no longer leaks and windows that can be closed against cold winds are a very practical gift. For the ministry, it is a small way of showing that those going through loss are not forgotten.
Caring for Widows and Orphans
The Bible repeatedly reminds God’s people to care for widows and orphans, the most vulnerable in society. Jesus also taught that whatever is done for the least is done for Him:
“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.” (Matthew 25:40)
Helping repair the home of this mother and child in Phù Yên also began a direction of service the ministry has pursued in the years since: repairing and building homes for struggling families in highland and remote areas through the Peace House program.
Let Us Pray Together
- For mother and child to have peace, health and a stable livelihood.
- For the child to grow up loved and able to go to school.
- For the ministry to keep having resources to walk alongside families on their own.
Read more in Community Development and Church News. Contact the church office: 0942 248 688 (Zalo available).
