Title: Rise from the Ashes: A Compelling Tale of Women Journeying through Widowhood; Published in 2021
Author: Jumai Ahmadu
Publisher: Helpline Foundation for the Needy, Abuja
Widowhood is a global phenomenon that cuts across all races. Victims suffer all manner of ill-treatments rooted in cultural and traditional practices that dehumanise them.
Widows, who are invisible women with invisible problems, equally contribute immensely to our society’s economy and therefore deserve all the support required to better their lots, hence the timely entrance of this book.
The 106-page book beams light on the efforts to help alleviate the burdens faced by widows, foster empathy within our communities and cultivate a world where every widow finds solace, strength and the opportunity to rebuild a life filled with love and joy.
The book is not just to tell the story of Helpline Foundation but to bring to the fore the sufferings of Nigerian widows. This is a clarion call to action to both government and non-governmental organisations to do more in tackling the mess that widows are subjected to.
In the preface, the author reveals that “In Africa, being a woman is quite challenging. Women are generally maltreated, discriminated against and stigmatised. A woman’s problems are compounded when she loses her husband”.
Former minister of state, Federal Capital Territory, Dr Ramatu Tijjani who wrote the foreword of the book, states that what Dr Ahmadu has done is to perfectly capture the experiences of widows in a very lucid manner using the widow’s individual tales.
“The vulnerable have always suffered more because they lack the strength or means to stand up to their oppressors and it is therefore heartwarming that Dr Jumai Ahmadu has found ill-treatment of human beings reprehensible and dedicated her life to putting an end to it especially the very troubling phenomenon of widows mistreatment in Nigeria.
She alluded, “Rise from the Ashes: A Compelling Tale of Women Journeying through Widowhood is such an astounding thing to do. The book has brought us face-to-face with the dehumanizing acts many widows suffer. The narrations are pitiable and quite touching”.
The book consists of eight chapters, with 19 tables and 10 figures.
Chapter One: Nigeria – Africa’s promise
The beginning of the book reveals a geographic and historical background of Africa and Nigeria with its various zones and population figures, including labor force and economy. (Pages 1-8)
Chapter 2: The Nigerian woman
A woman, in chapter two, is defined as an adult human female who identifies as a female and is biologically capable of bearing offspring through reproductive organs such as the ovaries and uterus.
The Nigerian woman’s experience is highlighted with achievements by several prominent women but further posits that traditional gender roles and cultural norms continue to limit the potential of women in Nigeria. The chapter further elaborates on women in the home, their education, health, economy, social issues and factors affecting their education in Nigeria like domestic violence. It also looks at the role of women in politics, family rights and inheritance, and Nigerian gender bills.
“Nigerian women are approximately 105.57 million and they make up almost half of the Nigerian population according to the 2006 census record. It is projected that at the end of 2023, they will be over 108 million” (Page 11).
Chapter 3: Widowhood in Nigeria
The crux of the matter, widowhood, comes into focus and states that “Widowhood is a period when a person has lost his or her spouse by death and has remained unmarried. The state of widowhood has multiple intersecting elements – social, cultural, economic, and even historical” (Page 22).
Living as a woman in Nigeria intersects with other socioeconomic realities, exposing them to multiple disadvantages and suffering social, economic, and health constraints. These are exacerbated by low literacy levels, cultural beliefs and rituals. Widowhood comes with a lot of burdens and disadvantages. These include: maltreatment, discrimination and stigmatization. Tradition, modernity and neo-patriarchy all present challenges to Nigerian women. Some traditions ban women from inheriting land and property. Upon the death of a husband, the woman loses all she had acquired by herself and from her husband. She is traditionally dehumanized through compulsory mourning rituals like forced seclusion.
Chapter four is where the statistics are laid bare. From the figures from a study through cluster sampling, age distribution, religion, level of education and number of children were sampled.
Other areas include employment status and occupational distribution, regional distribution of widow’s spouse, cause of spouse’s death, duration of widowhood and plans for remarriage.
The chapter sadly concludes thus “The current situation of widows in Nigeria is worrisome; many of them have been neglected and allowed to wallow in poverty. In most cases, they struggle to survive in the society because of lack of support from their families and the society they find themselves in. Despite interventions from few organizations, widows in Nigeria are still very vulnerable because of the various challenges they face daily” (Page 35).
Chapter 4: Tales of depravity, loss and pain
Helpline Foundation for the Needy has over the years served as a beacon of hope for these often maltreated and marginalized group of women interviewed a cross section of widows in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
From Mary Ojonugwa, 29 years old, an Igala woman from Kogi State, who lost her beloved husband early 2023, Martha Agbo, 49 years, abandoned with six children to raise, after her husband died in a ghastly motor accident in 2007, Alice Ibitoye, 54 years, who was made to cut her hair and confined to solitude for 41 days, and sixty-year-old Nkechi Agwo, an Igbo woman from Imo state, southeastern Nigeria, who also lost her husband who died in 2006, leaving her with nine children to cater for, all recounted harrowing experiences of desolateness, hurt and anguish.
Chapter 5: Dishonored and shunned: A litany of woes
In chapter five, more widows narrate how their virtues have been debased and their sanctity as humans desecrated by relatives of their husbands. Like Mrs Grace Agua, from Cross River State, was asked to spend a night with the corpse of her late husband and cough up N500,000 for burial expenses. Several others relate horrific stories of how once their husbands left them alone and helpless, they were subjected to all sorts of humiliation in the name of tradition.
Chapter 6: Helpline Foundation for the Needy as advocator
This chapter reveals how, for ease of management, Helpline Foundation, a Non-Profit Revolving Loan Scheme for Vulnerable Women and Widows and an initiative that empowers women and widows in under-resourced communities around north-central Nigeria, has put the widows into clusters with a leader in each of the clusters.
And the diverse intervention programmes by the Foundation for widows especially those living in the FCTand the adjoining states of Nasarawa, Kogi, Niger and Kaduna also includes organizing various skill acquisition programmes for widows.
Chapter 7: Concerted efforts by governmental and non-governmental bodies
This chapter dwells on the effort by the United Nations to help improve the living conditions of widows which has indeed spurred many governmental and non-governmental organisations to action. The United Nations designated June 23rd as International Widows Day to raise awareness about the challenges faced by widows worldwide and to promote their rights and well-being.
Since its establishment, International Widows Day has been marked annually on June 23rd. Various organizations, like the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development (FMWASD), the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development
and civil society groups, e.g. the Rose of Sharon Foundation (RoSF), the Association of Wives of Traditional Rulers, and several others organize events, campaigns, and initiatives to raise awareness about widowhood issues and advocate for change. These efforts contribute to fostering a more inclusive and equitable society for widows and their families.
Chapter 8: Conclusion
This book is an expose on the challenging life of widows in Nigeria. It shows how many of them have suffered monumental shock following the demise of their spouses.
Happily, it states that one very important way to help widows is to not only improve women participation in leadership, but also for women should realise that they are engine for development in any society in the world. “They should therefore show greater love unto themselves”. On the whole, this book stands as a tribute to widows’ courage, an anthem for their resilience and a testament to the enduring power of the human spirit.
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