By Moses Nosike

Total Life Concern Widows Outreach (TLC), a non profit and non governmental organisation, in collaboration with FIDA and with the support of Blossomflow Foundation, has organised a conference for widows in commemoration of International Widows Day.

Speaking to journalists during the event held in Lagos, the Convener/CEO, Total Life Concern Widows Outreach, Barrister Edirin Essiet said, “We have operated for seven years now, and our vision is to restore hope to vulnerable widows. We empower them financially to start their businesses, we also train them with skill acquisition programmes to become self-reliant and fend for their families, now that they have lost their husbands, the breadwinner. We also take care of their medical bills and sometimes we organise annual medical outreach to reach out to them in our own community. Again, we have paid school fees for widows’ children, and we have paid their rents”. 

“In order to protect and fight for widows against harmful cultural practices, we have started a legal arm of this programme where we represent these widows even in court and we have been able to help two widows to regain their children who were forcefully adopted during the burial of their late husbands”.

Essiet who is a member FIDA, Lagos branch said that this was the first time TLC would be collaborating with FIDA on advocating widow’s right to be heard. 

According to her, “We must agree that widows are invincible, especially the vulnerable ones who don’t have a voice and are not recognised, that is why we decided to partner FIDA, to educate not just the widows but the public as well on the right of widows, their rights to own property, dignity, and we are against harmful practices against widows, and the law doesn’t support that.

“We are not against cultural practices, of course Nigeria is a beautiful country, where we have over 250 ethnic groups with about 371 cultures. Each culture differs, we are not saying don’t practice your culture or norms. The ones we are against are those that are harmful to widows. For instance there were two women that came to our foundation, one told us that when she lost her husband she was asked to bathe the corpse of her late husband, stay with the body for about three days, eat there and would not wash her hand. These are harmful practices. So, we are partnering with FIDA, Blossomflow, legal organisations, and other NGOs to get to the rural areas to stop these harmful practices”. 

In addition, Chairperson, International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Nigeria, Lagos branch, Barrister Chinwe M. Efobi, said, “In marking this year’s International Widows Day, FIDA Lagos is partnering Total Life Concern Widows Outreach and it is our hope that this collaboration will yield a better result in terms of advocacy, awareness creation and greater outreach. International Widows Day is a global awareness day that takes place annually on June 23, the day was launched by the United Nations in 2010 to raise awareness of the violation of human rights that widows suffer in many countries following the death of their spouses.

Barrister Chinwe said, “We gathered to acknowledge the challenges faced by widows and to renew our commitment to advocating their rights, dignity, and well-being. Widows often endure a double burden: the loss of their spouses and the ensuing socio-economic and cultural challenges”.

She said, “In many societies, widows face discrimination, ostracism, and even violence. They are often denied their rightful inheritance, pushed to the margins of society, and left without the support needed to rebuild their lives”.

Founder, Blossomflow, said, “there are over 37 million women in Nigeria who don’t have access to sanitary pads. We are doing a collaboration in order to give widows sanitary pads and educate them because these women are going through a lot. They don’t have their husbands anymore, so we are saddled with the responsibility of buying sanitary pads for them and their children. You can imagine where they have to choose between food and sanitary pads, and it is a basic necessity. We are here to make sure that these women are given relief, they are going through a lot of emotional challenges”.

One of the widow beneficiaries, said, “I’m a widow and part of Total Life Concern Outreach. I joined them 5 years ago, a year after the NGO started. When I lost my husband, it was as if life had ended for me. Later, somebody introduced me to Total Life Concern, and since then the NGO has been treating me well. When my daughter had admission and there was no money, I ran to them and they paid the school fees. When I didn’t have any business they started a business for me. Each time they invited us, they treat us as queens. Total Life Concern is concerned about the welfare of widows, they make us have a sense of belonging in the society and not being sorrowful about our condition.