The Book of James says to care for the widows and orphans, so Heather Bennett intends to.
And when she holds the hand of the grieving, there will be an immediate connection, because she, too, knows what it’s like.
In 2012 Bennett, a 35-year-old mother of two, lost her husband to brain cancer. In the midst of the heartache that followed, she felt a pull toward mission work, she said. A missions conference in Spokane gave her the confirmation and encouragement she needed.
Bennett started with a short trip to Rwanda.
“She came back just lit up, so many profound things had happened to here there, not the least of which was working with widows and orphans, and when she talked and introduced herself to people there and told them she was a widow, there was an immediate bond there. They can barely speak each other’s language, but they can immediately identify,” said Galen Doughty, teaching pastor at Southside Church, where Bennett attends. “
Early next year Bennett plans to move her family to Rwanda, where she’ll spend at least the next two years working for a ministry called ERM-Rwanda (Equipping, Restoring, Multiplying).
Bennett explained that many people in that the east-central region of Africa lost loved ones to mass genocide and many more have been lost to the HIV/AIDS epidemic there.
“My husband had Leukemia when he was 5 years old, and he was treated at St. Jude. Then he had testicular cancer. He had been through a lot,” she said. “I was a suburban kid with a middle-class life that never really had a lot of hardship. They, in Rwanda, have been through so much. Not only do they have to struggle with the past genocide, they also have so much poverty. So I see this (my mission work) as long term,” Bennett said.
Working with these widows and orphans, she said, has already been a part of her own healing process.
Her parents and her in-laws support her decision, she said. Her kids, Jake, 10, and Lizzy, 8, are slowly coming around to the idea. Bennett says her kids know what it’s like to lose dad, so envisions them ministering to orphans in Rwanda in their own way.
Once in Rwanda Bennett’s job will be to help keep ERM-Rwanda sponsors updated on those they’re sponsoring.
“They care and want to know how the kids are doing in school and about the widow’s health. They inquire a lot,” she said.
She’ll also be posting regularly to Facebook and will be blogging about her ministry.
To make a donation to the Bennett family email [email protected].
