Wife poisoned, leaving husband and 6 children

“This is Joshua, with his children who range in age from 5 months to 13-years-old. Joshua is the pastor of Home Church in Minova, Congo. He also has a job fixing motorbikes in a rural area outside of the city of Goma. This area is one of the world’s most dangerous places to be a woman. Though thousands of people come to live in UN refugee huts, in order to escape the rebel violence and warfare commonly seen in Congo, the violence follows them.

Joshua’s wife died on December 6, 2013, just a few days before this photo was taken. She was killed by poisoning – most likely by a rebel group and due to her involvement in trying to help a family whose sons may have joined an opposing group. The price she paid for just trying to help people was her life. She was an amazing, beautiful, and smart business woman. Joshua and the children are devastated.

In order for their family to be able to stay together, and so Joshua can continue to work, a caregiver needs to be hired. We are looking for someone who would want to meet this need of the $100 a month (tax deductible) so that a caregiver can be hired to look after the children while Joshua works. We are looking for an individual, family, business, or possibly a group of people that would want to join together as sponsors for this need. If you are interested in helping with this, or have questions, just message me. I LOVE AFRICA!”

This is Pastor Joshua from Minova, Congo with five of his six children. He is one of our church pastors. In December 2013, his wife was poisoned by people who have yet to be captured. The baby was only three months old at that time. Thanks to a very generous Home of Hope sponsor who stepped up and paid for a caregiver for his children, he has been able to manage his way through this tragedy and rebuild his life. I was able to visit their home. He is such a great dad and the kids are so polite.

After this post in January, Joshua met a wonderful woman, got engaged, and they were married this last November! Now Gloria, the sponsor on the other side of the world, is considering moving her sponsorship from a nanny, to a compressor so that Joshua can work from home, OR buy a vehicle so that he doesn’t have to travel so far to get to work and spend all of his earnings on travel.