Touching lives and making a difference
Serving our community through Life After Crisis Global Organisation
“Touching lives and making a difference”
Living as a widow after many years of marriage has given me a different perspective of life. I was faced with isolation, loneliness, and ostracization in certain areas, and facing the unknown. The experience of one of our women losing her young adult child through suicide plus the new way of life COVID-19 brought to our doorsteps stirred the compassion in me. I aligned myself with those of other widows, single mothers, women in abusive relationships. From experience, I know that it can be a dark and lonely world out there for them.
In May 2020, with a handful of friends, we set the ball rolling, working from my home and reaching out to families of single parents. We pray for and with them, we provide them with food and toiletries, we organise training and workshops where we use our expert advocacy and counselling to encourage them.
We also encourage social interactions: we had hoped to be able to arrange some day trips this summer, but financial constraints have meant that we could not afford to hire a bus. Instead we’ve agreed to meet in Concord Park to socialise. Soon, we are hoping to get baby sitters and arrange childcare provision to enable our clients to meet with friends and families for a coffee or tea, or a meal.
We occasionally go out to feed the homeless but our future plan is to expand to preparing hot meals in an outlet where the homeless and hungry will be fed once or twice weekly. We hope that this will help to support the low-income group within the community and by that same extension help the Sheffield City Council cut down its expenditures in certain areas.
Coincidentally all of us involved in Life After Crisis are of the Christian faith. We therefore, understand the importance of prayer – we involve God in all we do. Having said that, we are open to anybody of other faiths who may need our assistance too. Although we have not started arranging specific days for corporate prayers we presently do this on an individual basis for those who covet our prayers. It is our intention to start a virtual weekly prayer session in the near future.
Constraints faced by Life After Crisis Global Organisation.
Covid-19 has been a threat to serving our community: a shortage of financial resources in particular has been an obstacle to achieving some of our objectives, but God continues to come through for us. Most of our activities have been funded by our core group of volunteers, as well as some donations that were received during a fundraising event in September 2021. We are glad to say that the staff at Voluntary Action Sheffield are now supporting us to grow the organisation, which is very helpful.
Life After Crisis hopes that it can receive financial support from members of the community in order to push the vision of the organisation forward. We also hope to move from our current address which is a residential accommodation in the Page Hall area of Sheffield to a proper office space, so that we can operate properly. We can happily say that our website is now up and running at www.lifeaftercrisis.org for anyone to visit, and our Facebook group (Life After Crisis Global Organisation) is active and updated for people to visit and learn more about supporting us, either through donations or by volunteering.
Impact of the project on the community
We are a young organisation, but so far we are touching lives and making a difference in Sheffield. We have been able to have a positive impact on young widows, single mothers, those who are suffering with post-partum depression or anxiety, and those are recuperating from physical illnesses. Matthew 25:40 - “In as much as ye have done it unto one of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” - resonates with us and what we set out to do. Our beneficiaries are feeling happier because they are being drawn out of their loneliness and bouncing back to their normal social and mentally-stable lives again. Life After Crisis is looking forward to continuing to touch lives and serve people in the communities to make a difference.
Please pray for us as we continue to work in our local community, and if you’d like to know more about how to support our work, visit our website.
Beatrice Uwadiale-Odigie is the Director of Life After Crisis Global Organisation, and is former midwife, nurse, and mother. She is the leader of the children’s department of City of Refuge Church in Handsworth and one of the coordinators of the Handsworth Children’s Bible Club, which meets every second Friday of the month. She is also very passionate about children’s spiritual growth and strongly aligns with Proverbs 22:6: ‘Train a child the way he should go and when he grows up, he will not depart from it.” All these ministries are fully supported and encouraged by City of Refuge’s Pastor, Abiodun Alabede.