“They killed my husband.”

Deborah wipes a tear from her eye and gently cradles the youngest of her five children as she remembers the day…

“He was a repairman, and also sold things. He slept over at his workshop to guard it. When I arrived, I found blood all over. I said to myself, ‘Lord they have killed my husband.’ He had been hit with a hammer.”

Deborah’s husband was murdered by Islamist rebel group, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Targeted because of his Christian faith. Deborah fled and now survives as best she can in a camp for internally displaced people (IDPs) in a town called Oicha.

“I live by grace,” said Deborah. “Today someone gives me a bunch of cassava leaves to eat. Tomorrow someone else gives me half a bottle of palm oil. It all helps me survive.” 
Death and destruction have traumatised this young widow, and she’s unable to care for her family without support. “I still cry a lot,” she said. “I’m not able to do any job. I don’t have strength to fend for my own food. I depend on people to give me food. I have become a pitiful person.”

Still, Deborah holds on to her faith in Jesus: “My children ask about their dad, and I say one day we will join him in God’s house.” She quietly sings to her baby the words of Psalm 121, “Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord…”