This mom’s story really gets me since my sisters and I were raised in an orphanage.  I have to tell you, if you ever wondered if Neema Village was actually helping people please read this heart felt story as Heavenlight interviews Neema’s newest MAP mom. 

“This is a story of a 34 yr old widow, named Verena. In a small village in Rwanda, Verena was born in December 1992.  She had 13 siblings and she was the last born. But at two years old, her world was shattered by the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. During the violence, she lost both her parents and all thirteen of her siblings, leaving her alone.

With no relatives to care for her, Verena was taken to a local orphanage in her village, where she grew up among other children who had also lost their families. She stayed in the orphanage until she completed her primary education.

After finishing primary school, a kind woman from the village took her in and cared for her for three years. Sadly, the woman passed away. Once more, Verena found herself without shelter or protection. She began moving from one house to another, sleeping on friends’ floors. Several times, she was forced to leave due to harassment and mistreatment.

In 2008, Verena met a man from Tanzania who was working in Rwanda to help expand a biogas plant project. He promised her love, protection, and a better future. Believing she had finally found security, she married him. In 2009, she gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl. When the babies were one month old, she traveled with her husband to Tanzania as a married couple. But when they got here, she discovered a very bitter truth: her husband already had a wife and children in Arusha.

Her life changed when her husband started mistreating and abusing her. With nowhere else to go and no support system, she endured until she could no longer continue. Then, she decided to report the abuse to government authorities, and they were separated. Once again, now as a single mother of infant twins, Verena found herself alone.

Years later, she met another man who treated her well and they got married. Her husband worked as a casual laborer on construction sites, and though life was financially difficult, he took care of his family with the little money he had. While with this man they had four more babies.

In June 2024, tragedy struck again. When Verena was one month pregnant, her husband traveled to another city for work. One night, he was killed in a fight. He was buried there, far from home. Verena only learned of his death three months later, in September, when one of his coworkers returned and brought the news, he told her we tried to call you but your number was not reachable. The shock was overwhelming.

Veronia was left a widow, now with five young children and a baby on the way.

With no one to depend on, Verena washed clothes for other people and worked in people’s fields to buy food for her children. Survival was extremely difficult. When she could no longer afford rent, the landlord kicked out her family and confiscated their few belongings, including their mattress, bed, and even the children’s clothes, as payment for back rent she owed. For months, they lived without shelter.

Fortunately, a neighbor who saw her struggles convinced the owner of an unfinished building to allow them temporary shelter. Though it was an unfinished house, at least they had a roof on their heads.

One day, while washing clothes in someone’s house Verena met a pastor. After listening to her story, the pastor told her about Neema Village, a center that supports vulnerable women and children, and encouraged her to seek help there. Verena came to Neema village with her children, they arrived hungry and weak, having not eaten since morning.

Her older twins, now seventeen, had stopped attending secondary school due to lack of transport back to school after Christmas break. The boy occasionally worked at construction sites to earn money for school, but often used his earnings to buy food for his siblings. His twin sister worked for days for a woman who promised to support her with transport money, but she was never paid.

When we visited their home with volunteers, we found the family living in a single unfinished room. All six of them, including the 8-month-old baby were sleeping on a thin piece of cloth, and the eldest boy was sleeping on an old couch given to them by a neighbor. The day we visited the boy was out working to get transport back to school since only one child was able to go to school.

Moved by their situation, the volunteers provided food assistance and school transport support. Overwhelmed by compassion she had not experienced in years, Verena fell to her knees in tears, saying, “I think I am dreaming. I had forgotten what it feels like to be loved and cared for.”

Today, through the support of Neema Village, Verena’s life is slowly being restored. Her twins have returned to school with their school supplies, and the family receives monthly food support. Verena attends counseling sessions, Bible lessons, group therapy, computer classes and sewing classes at the MAP Centre, where she is learning skills to start her own small business and regain her independence. Neema Village is also helping her secure safe and stable housing, a place her children can finally call home.”

I’m crying.  The resilience of these African women is startling and humbling when you read their stories.  Thanks Heavenlight for this compelling interview.

Very few people can pull themselves up from this kind of abuse, neglect and poverty without help.

You can help these women by donating to the MAP program at www.neemavillage.org

MAP (Mothers Against Poverty) is under the Outreach Fund.