The development challenges of widows in Nigeria especially in the southeastern part ranges from tradition and laws of men to lack of economic empowerment. The tradition relegates these vulnerable women to zero position and never allows their voices to be heard. They struggle to be liberated but male chauvinism and tradition of men would not allow them. Because they are impoverished, they remain slaves to men who give them peanuts and take advantage of them.
Research and Statistics unit of our Network carried out gender vulnerability assessment and encountered pathetic situations and heard stories that were heart breaking. They interviewed some widows who lamented bitterly about the wicked practices melted on them by family members of their late husbands, some of them have been chased out with their children out of their homes and were accused of killing their husbands. These women are not only impoverished but also traumatized.
Afri-Mission and Evangelism Network is working very hard to help these widows and other indigent women who are underserved, oppressed, marginalized, discriminated against and stigmatized. We have supplied foods, vegetable oil and wrappers to widows and indigent women and about 774 widows and single mothers have benefitted from this program.
About 100 widows and indigent women recently benefitted from the condition cash transfer program of Afri-Mission and Evangelism Network to cushion the effect of economic hardship in Nigeria. We are looking forward to doing more for widows in accordance with the word of God “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world”. (James 1:27)
Many of these widows and single mothers do not have any means of livelihood and they have children to feed. Many of their children who have been excluded from family inheritance are out of school and there is no one to help them. Afri-mission in its Orphan and Vulnerable Children Program is reaching out to these children but are constrained by lack of fund
We have constructed and furnished 3 houses for three homeless widows. We are presently working to construct Skill Acquisition and Human Right Centre for widows and indigent women in the FCT and Enugu state where they will be empowered with income generating skills, human right knowledge and startup grants/kits to enable them generate income for themselves and children and stand up for their rights and say no to any form of oppression. We envision to pull out 2,000 widows and indigent women out of poverty on annual basis through this economic empowerment and social emancipation program and raise advocacy groups that will speak on their behalf in the 94 local government areas in the southeastern part of Nigeria.
MEET THE BENEFICIARIES OF OUR HOUSING PROGRAM FOR WIDOWS
- Mrs Ogbenenye Ajima
Mrs Ogbenenye was ostracized for a crime she did not commit and was banished to serve the idol of the community. She moved from her home to dwell at the shrine of the deity and later got married to a man who also was banished. They lived in a community where they were marginalized, stigmatized and discriminated against by all in the community because they were considered as outcasts.
Ogbenenye and the husband gave birth to two boys and a girl and struggled to raise them up amidst all the rejections and stigmatization. The husband later died and the two sons out of shame and mockery abandoned their mother and flee never to return to the community because they were tired of the shame and reproach. When Afri-mission heard about this widow, we visited her and met a very pathetic situation -a collapsing wall covered with torn trampoline. this is the house of where Ogbenenye lives alone unsupported by anyone.
Ogbenenye house before Intervention
Afri-mission constructed and furnished a one-bedroom apartment for Mrs Ogbenenye. Before the dedication of the building, we searched for the whereabout of the two sons of Mrs Ogbenenye who had abandoned their mother and community for 25 years without any trace or communication to either their mother or anyone in the community. Our search yielded results and we located the two sons and invited them for the dedication ceremony but their excuse was that they do not have transportation fare to come back. We sent them money for transportation to come and return back to their place of domicile. On the dedication day, the two sons returned and their was great joy in the community. Afri-mission did not only construct a house for this ostracized widow, we also brought back the missing children back to their mother.
Ogbenenye`s House After Intervention
Mrs Ogbeneye, her two sons and the president of Afri-mission ready to cut the tape and dedicate the house
“I never knew that my life can be turned around like this, rain will no longer beat me. I am the stone which the builders has rejected and I am now the chief cornerstone. I thought that I was going to die any moment from now but with what Afri-mission has done for me, I will live for another 30 years. Setting my eyes on my sons has healed me of all sicknesses in my body and have renewed my life. I will now die a happy and fulfilled woman after many years of poverty, degradation and rejection. My end has become better than my beginning – Ogbenenye Ajima
2. Mrs Patience Ugwu
Mrs Patience is a young widow who lost her husband at early part of their marriage, her husband died leaving her with four children. The mud house where she lived with her husband got dilapidated to the extent that rain beats her and her children whenever it rained. According to her, “Whenever it rains, it beats my children and I and when it becomes unbearable for us, we move into the houses of neighbors to beg them to accommodate us for some hours before the rain subsides. This moving from neighbor to neighbor begging to be accommodated was not easy as my children and I were reproached and mocked by our neighbors including the relatives of my late husband”.
Patience`s house before Intervention.
Afri-mission in its bid to help the poorest of the poor communicated the plight of Mrs Patience to the President of World Outreach Ministry International, Pastor Benjamin Faircloth and he responded quickly by sending donation to help us construct and furnish a three-bedroom apartment for Patience and her children.
Afri-Mission Team with Patience and her Children
I thank God and Afri-mission for coming to give my children and I hope to live. I have no means of livelihood and gather and break stones to generate income so that I can buy them food even if it is for once a day. We have lost hope in life and thought that this reproach will never come to an end. Recently someone insulted me and my children and said that God has abandoned and rejected us. She never knew that God is planning to surprise us and wipe away reproach from my face and that of my children.
Thank you Afri-Mission, looking at this house, the living room and three bedrooms with large beds in them; I think I am dreaming! My children and I have been sleeping on the ground, I really do not know how it will be, waking up in this comfortable house with television, fans and satellite dish. A poor and rejected widow has become rich overnight, Praise God. – Patience Ugwu
3. Mrs Oriefi Ugwuoke.
We met Oriefi when we embarked on an outreach to distribute food to vulnerable women. When we got to a narrow part without any sign of life, Our president queried the one leading the team why he was taking us through the part and he said “There is a woman living under the tree that we need to give her food”. We met this woman living under the tree in a terrible pathetic situation which made the president to break down emotionally, He cried and our team members joined him in crying. The scenario can best be described as sobs of shared anguish. Our president prayed instantly for divine provision to get this woman out of abject poverty and homelessness.
Oriefi Before Intervention
Oriefi`s House After Intervention
Afri-mission in collaboration with World Outreach Ministries International constructed and furnished two-bedroom apartment for Mrs Oriefi. The dedication ceremony attracted many villagers who came to witness this great transformation that has happened to the life of Oriefi Ugwuoke. Her homeless story was touchy and every member of the community was aware of it. Mrs Oriefi gave birth to a son and three daughters and when the son died, Oriefi was denied the right to own properties since she has no more a son, She and her daughters were oppressed and marginalized because there is no more a male in there family.
“I would have been dead before now! all the rains during the rainy seasons were on me and the heat of the sun never spared me. I did not know that God was preserving me for a time like this, my husband family members subjected me to all manner of ridicules but God has sent this my son with his team to come and rescue me from the hands of poverty and shame. I lost my son but I have found another son in the person of the President of Afri-mission. I am now the center of attraction in this community and those who mocked me are now coming to my house to watch television. I want to write on the wall of this house ‘God`s Time Is The Best’ God is indeed Faithful”- Mrs Oriefi Ugwuoke