Home for the Destitute
Today, Feb 23, a group of us visited a home for the destitute. ARUWE was started by a couple of women who were concerned about abandoned elderly women in their neighborhood. Founders Aspy and Rachael both studied social work in college and knew how to access resources for the needy in the area.
Currently they house 26 abandoned mostly elderly women in one large room on the third floor of a rented building, they feed 40 people and tutor 150 students a day. Together with two interns and a few staff, they provide an incredible level of care. Doctors visit the ladies twice a week to check the women and prescribe medications. Many of the women continually commented on how good the food was.
This young women and her child have been abandoned by her husband. It is a case of dowry abuse. The husband will not allow her back into the home unless she gives him a motorcycle. He cut her hair to shame her. Dowry abuse is of course illegal in India, but still happens frequently. There are still cases of women being married, then murdered or otherwise abused since the main objective was to get the dowry. She asked me twice to take her baby.
On the way out, we prayed for an elderly woman in a shack just across the street from ARUWE. Her husband had just died and she refused to leave her bed, wanting to die in her home. Immediately outside the shack was another elderly woman with severely swollen legs. We prayed for both.
It was incredible to see the contrast between the 26 women who were safe, fed and off the streets with these two women, suffering and surely close to death. ARUWE’s operations cost less than $1,000 a month. It was amazing to think that for such a small amount of money, 26 more abandoned women could be off the street, and another 150 kids could be tutored. It was heartbreaking.
Here is a link to my friends video on YWAM’s leper ministry.