“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27

2021 saw a new ministry arm for widows and orphans established under the CMG banner. Among the refugee families CMG ministers to, we realized there is also the unheard cries and unseen tears of the women and children who have lost loved ones in the grueling war with terror. CMG felt called to take up this mantle and be a voice for those who sometimes have no voice.

Over the last year Nadia’s team, who run five orphanages in Egypt (part of the Heliopolis Evangelical Church) cared for approximately 155 boys and girls all under the age of 18. They are the victims of poverty, war, disaster, abuse, neglect, illness, or death. With your generous help, they have been able to assist children by buying them school bags, paying tutors, and helping with needed food and necessities, as many of their children were suffering from malnutrition. Many of them needed clothes. As for the widows, Nadia and her team also reached out to 31 widows and their families living in poor rural areas. Between them, they are raising 59 children, ranging in age from two to 20 years. More recently CMG raised money to help with much-needed upgrades to the kitchen.

CMG has also partnered with The Home of New Life, an orphanage in Ramallah, West Bank. The Home of New Life(RCOM Ministries) was founded in 1997 to host deprived children whose families were unable to provide the necessities for their children. The children come from a variety of different backgrounds and beliefs. Children in the West Bank have suffered physically and emotionally from the political and economic tensions in the area; many have not known a life without violent confrontation and conflict.

The news reports that 78% of the Lebanese population live at or under the poverty line as of September 15, 2021. Soaring food prices, lack of medicine, limited stores of gasoline, and only two to four hours of government electricity a day have led to a flight from Lebanon for all who can travel abroad. The remaining Lebanese and refugee populations have resorted to any means necessary to make a living for themselves and their families.

The stack of applications for admittance to Kids Alive/Dar El Awlad, Lebanon for the school and the orphanage grows daily. “Dar El Awlad” is Kids Alive’s longest-running program 70 years old! “We praise Gog for His provisio and sustaining power during a difficult season in Lebanon,” sighed Denise, Director of Dar El Awlad/Kids Alive Orphanage, CMG’s newest partner. Due to the harsh situation that the families we serve are experiencing, Kids Alive, Lebanon, added to the program support for families, Recently, we have been distributing monthly food portions to every family we serve to make sure the children, the siblings, and their families have enough. CMG recently provided the Dar El Awlad orphanage with money to help pay for solar panels to assist with the lack of electricity supply to the buildings. “The children will now have electricity at night, they will feel safe and loved,” Denise said as she shared her vision for the kids living under her and the staff’s care.

CMG continues to support several widows among the refugee families we serve. This is an exert from one woman’s heartbreaking story;

“My husband was killed in Syria. While he was working a bullet hit him. Then our home was demolished by a missile, I heard screams in the room, and i was wondering is this really happening, so i took the children and fled.” This is how one Syrian widow’s story began. “I have seven children. I had no food or drink for my young ones, so i started to eat the grass, but before i give to my children, i give myself an hour and if i don’t die from poison, i feed to them.”

Over the past year, we have worked alongside Pauline’s (Rami’s widow) ministry in the West Bank (she now has almost 20 widows under her care), we have helped several widows/widowers with a sustainable livelihood, tutoring for their children, medical expenses, as well as food insecurities. We pray we can grow this work among these dear brothers and sisters and God will continue to Bless all we do in His Name.