As Nigeria’s rising inflation, skyrocketing food prices, and soaring fuel costs bite harder, women, especially pregnant women, have taken to odd jobs.
Their daunting circumstances remain determined to provide for their children and ensure that they have a future.
Despite their physical condition, they continue to work tirelessly, knowing that every day is a fight for survival.
In Warri, Delta state, Mrs Gift Eddy, a 33-year-old pregnant widow, works as a labourer, carrying heavy loads to make ends meet at a construction site behind the Word of Life Bible Church, Enerhen.
Gift, from the Oyede community in the Isoko North local government area, has a visibly swollen belly and sweat trickling down her face.
She shares her story of survival, which is that she is determined not to sit idle.
Gift is a widow and a mother of three children, two girls and a boy, while pregnant with her fourth child. While taking a brief rest from loading head-pans filled with construction materials, she explained that she doesn’t have a husband and is late.
“I came to work on Sunday because there’s no food at home. Life is hard. Eating is a problem. I cannot sit down doing nothing. My children need to eat, and they need to go to school,” she lamented.
“It’s a hardship. Would I ordinarily be doing this kind of job? No. But I have no choice. I need support. Anybody can help. Well-meaning Nigerians and the Delta state government, please come and help me,” Gift pleaded.
As she pleads for assistance and prepares to welcome her fourth child, her voice echoes the cry of many women facing similar hardships.
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