I always wondered why the Bible said anything about the treatment of widows, but now I understand.
The system in America, capitalism with welfare, isn't perfect, but it sure beats the system in Egypt. See, in America, everyone who wants a job has a chance to apply for jobs. In Egypt, that is not so.
In Egypt, if you are a widow, you:
-Can not own property
-Can not work
-Must be supported by your relatives or beg
-Live on the street, or in an apartment without running water, heat, or anything but a bed and a stove (if you're lucky)
-Have to care for your young children under these conditions
-Are of less worth than a dog. (They do treat the dogs better)
Now, at least in the USA, if you're a widow you can try to get a job and at least support yourself. Not so in Egypt. So these poor women, who have nothing and are treated as less than nothing, have no-one to help them, and nobody really cares about them.
But, a group attempting to start an adopt-a-child program in Egypt found that their open evangelical program would not work in Egypt. See, in Egypt, they have freedom of religion. You're free to keep the religion you were born with, and if you change, they kill you.
So this group went into Egypt, and found that there was a building for sale around the widow district, and bought it, sight unseen, because God told them to buy it. They didn't have the money for it, but one phone call later they had a backer. They bought the building, and then went about trying to become an official organization in Egypt. You can't have a bank account, phone, electricity, or anything unless you're an official organization. This is not easy. They tried to sign up as a Christian organization there to help the widows. Government said 'no'. Wouldn't even give them the forms to fill out. Tried to sign up as a humanitarian organization to help widows. Same response. Finally, they tried to apply as a Church. Government said 'Sure, here are the forms, fill them out and we'll approve them. The process takes 50 years.'
50 years? These widows need help now! So they didn't fill out the forms, and went to check out the useless building they had bought, sight unseen. They found a box with some old official papers in it. One of the papers designating that building a Pentecostal Church, dated in the early 1900's. So they went to the government, and said, we are going to operate as this Church. They said, 'Sure!' Now they can have a bank account, phone, electricity, and everything else they might need as an operating church. Now they are all set up to help those widows. All because they thought they could start an adopt-a-child program, they now have an adopt-a-widow program. No, you don't get a picture of your widow or anything, but you're really helping someone in need, who is legally barred from helping themself.