The Dilemma of the Abagusii Widows in the Seventh Day Adventist Church, Itumbe Station – South Kenya Conference

Abstract

This study aimed to find out the dilemma of the Abagusii widows in the Seventh Day Adventist church, Itumbe station-South Kenya conference. Itumbe Station of the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) church has 1551 widows. The argument of this study is that the death of a husband impacts every aspect of a widow’s life, together with the orphaned children left to her. Most of the Abagusii widows within the SDA church undergo very difficult dilemmas of life: discriminatory regards to isolation, condemnation, stigmatisation, poor access to basic services like healthcare, material poverty, psychosocial trauma, demoralisation, fearfulness, emptiness, helplessness, and abandonment to loneliness. They have lost their dignity, which is against the position of Jesus, who showed zero discrimination to any member of society. Informed by Family Systems Theory, the study claims that solutions to the reality of widowhood are neither just doctrinal nor one-sided. The SDA church should be fully involved through the strengthening of pastoral care ministry and possibly through the creation of a specific ministry for widows, for it is the mission of the church to take care of widows, offering them solidarity, comfort, and consolation.