The hands of Jesus that built a beggar a house
Aselefech had once felt invisible. Now, she stands proudly next to her new home thanks to the local church.
Aselefech Zewde had never felt more abandoned in her life.
She sat in the hot Ethiopian sun on the roadside with her frail hands open, asking, trembling, unable to even lift her head to look her passing neighbours in the eyes—whether from the deep shame, or because she hadn’t eaten in two days, she couldn’t tell. Through tear-filled eyes, she watched their quick steps pass her, the hems of garments she had once sewn drift by. She was humiliated.
Aselefech can almost remember what dignity felt like—she had a home, a clothing business, and a family. But when her husband, the father of her three young children, decided that the conditions were too much, he abandoned them, taking every asset with him. “I couldn’t work since nothing was left in my hands,” she wept, “and I started sitting on the roadside begging.”
The grass roof at home was so broken it couldn’t keep out the rain. Cold crept in through the cracks. And although she used to have a business selling clothing, her children now sat naked under their leaking roof.
All she had left were hungry children, a broken spirit, and a voice hoarse from hours of crying and begging for help.
One day, as she was getting ready to make the same shame-filled trek back home empty handed as she did most days, a member of the local church saw her and had compassion. Recently, this church, Galma No.1 Kale Heywet Church, had been trained in Tearfund’s Church and Community Transformation (CCT) program, which teaches churches to mobilize their resources to help their community through Christ-centered love and action.
Aselefech could not believe what was happening. For so long, she had felt entirely invisible. And now, she was being seen.
Before they did anything else, they listened to her story, saw her struggles, and prayed over her. Seeing the condition she and her children were in, this church community pooled their resources to make a difference.
“They stretched their hands by providing food to me and my children, saving us from hunger and death.” Aselefech recounts. “The leaders also gave clothes to my children.”
But it wasn’t just short-term aid that she was given. “By mobilizing their members, the church built me a house! They plastered the house with mud and put on it a door and window, which makes me feel safe.” Her bright smile was contagious. Not only had she been welcomed by the church, but members had willingly volunteered to build a house for her out of love.
CCT training teaches that climbing out of the well of poverty requires more than just gifts, but a long-term solution. So together this church raised money to give Aselefech a goat as well as a monetary gift so that she could start up a business.
“The church changed our situation in a sustainable manner. I earn a good amount of income to support my family’s life. My children and I are happy.”
Through the power of prayer and the love of God’s people, a woman once begging on the roadside is now a joyful mother providing for her children. A child who dropped out of school now walks back into the classroom, excited to learn again.
Aselefech’s story is not an exception. This is what’s possible when a local church is equipped to see, pray, and act.
That’s what Tearfund’s Church and Community Transformation (CCT) program does. It doesn’t bring in outside experts; it equips the Church—those already present and rooted in their community—to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the most vulnerable.
There are more mothers like Aselefech, more beggars waiting on compassion, and more churches ready to be mobilized.
Will you help equip more churches to be the answer to someone’s prayer?
“Fortune and mercy of God is upon me,” Aselefech says. “The Church, God’s people, are kind to me and my children. God bless them.”