Archbishop of the Province of Enugu and Bishop of Enugu Anglican Diocese, Most Rev. Emmanuel Chukwuma, has cautioned Nigerians against taking advantage of widows because of their vulnerability.
He gave the advice at the end of the 2023 Widows’ Conference of the Diocese held at St. Paul’s Church Chinatown, Enugu. Chukwuma appealed to the society to rather show them love and care.
The cleric urged the widows who are called “Jesus wives” in the diocese to put their trust in God and know that the death of their husbands is not the end of life for them and their families.
Citing Psalm 34:8-10, the Archbishop reminded the widows that they would not lack any good thing if they put their trust in God, warning them against living careless and ungodly life in the name of making ends meet.
Emphasising the need for the society to assist the widows, he said, “We therefore ask the society not to take advantage of the widows and their vulnerability but be of great assistance and help for them.
“We also want the widows to understand that their situation now is not the end, that God is preparing a new thing for them and their life is not useless.”
Speaking on the conference which has its theme as “I will do a new thing,” the cleric said, “We want to commend the archbishop’s wife who has been organising yearly activities for widows of this Diocese and this programme which is organised every year is to encourage the widows in our diocese particularly who are indigent and those who are finding things difficult.
We don’t want them to be exposed to people’s tricks or vulnerability. We want to make sure that at least, we care for them and they know that God cares for them and we are interested in their welfare.
“So, any time they come around, we sustain them giving them food for few days and empowering them. For example, you find out that we made sure some of them are given sewing machines, some of them are given loans and today you can see that the host church provided rice and clothing that were being given to them, which is a good great thing and it is to encourage them. We give God the glory and we pray that they appreciate it.”
The climax of the conference was the distribution of 10kg bags of rice and wrappers provided by the host church, St. Paul’s Chinatown, for the widows that attended the conference.
