Mission
God Cares Ministries is a caring and charitable women’s organization, an NGO that is committed to seeking the welfare of the needy in society. It develops, empowers, and cares for widows and orphans. It is a ministry that is a voice for widows and orphans, to address their grievances, problems, and needs.
There is something unique about us. We help needy orphans who are not in the children's homes (orphanages) but are rather staying with their mothers (the needy widows); because the widows, even though are facing financial hardships, and cannot care for their children effectively, do not send them to the orphanages. The widows stay and struggle together with the children. Therefore we help both the widows and the orphans. Many widows and their children face financial difficulties but people do not notice it, and for that matter donate to or assist them. Many organizations send their donations to children's homes alone and neglect these orphans and their mothers.
Many orphans stay and walk about in our communities with no one seeking their welfare or offering assistance to them. Because the mothers, the widows are poor and cannot take care of them, they develop bad character, some get to the streets, the mothers lose control over them and some fall into bad companies. Some of these orphans have lost both parents and they are in the hands of their Grandparents or Aunts, some of which are unable to meet the basic needs of these children. This is the reason why this ministry was established in the year 2002 to help them.
Objective
Our main objective is to seek the welfare of these widows and orphans by mobilizing and organizing them for spiritual, economic, educational, moral, and social development and empowerment. We achieve these by doing the following:
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Mobilizing widows and orphans for fellowship to know God and put their trust in Him.
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Being a voice for widows and orphans by advocating and addressing their needs to the general public and encouraging them to fight for their rights.
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Feeding and clothing needy widows and orphans
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Educating them on matters relating to their welfare and the upbringing of the orphans.
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Organizing Christmas party and get-together for the widows and orphans at the end of every year.
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Offering counseling on matters relating to their welfare, be it spiritual, moral, social, or legal.
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We assist them in their educational and health care needs. For example, giving scholarships to needy orphans to prevent dropout in schools.
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Organizing projects in form of career development and skill training workshops to help the widows and matured orphans acquire some skills to undertake income-generating ventures in their homes to support themselves.
Our Story
Due to cultural practices such as matrilineal inheritance practiced by some tribes in Ghana especially the Akans, most widows and their children (orphans) face financial hardships because they are deprived of the properties that they should inherit. When the man makes a will before death to secure the wife and children with the inheritance they have acquired, then they can have what has been willed to them, otherwise who inherits the man is determined by tradition.
According to the traditional matrilineal inheritance custom: it is the brother or sister or nephew of the deceased who must inherit him or her, not the wife and children; with the hope that they will care for the wife and children. But the family of the deceased husband normally takes away the properties of the man and refuses to care for the widow and the children.
Most of these widows are not able to fight for their rights and enjoy even the intestate succession law of the state that has been established to protect them. This is mostly due to lack of funds, support from their own family members (extended family), and sometimes ignorance. Some of the widows' husbands died at a very young age, leaving the wife and children with no inheritance to live on. Some widows also possess very young school-going children with no one to help meet their various needs. Others are unemployed or have jobs that yield them very little income, making it impossible to take care of the numerous needs they are faced with. As a result, some of the orphans drop out of school. Some of these orphans end up in the street and get involved in social vices.
These reasons coupled with the depression and sorrow that come with the loss of a loved one led to the formation of these widows and orphans ministry, to see to the welfare of widows and orphans and to help raise their living conditions and social status.