June 23rd is recognized on the UN calendar as International Widows Day to raise awareness of widows’ silenced voices.
Poverty and injustice are also faced by many widows and their children.
International Widows Day 2022 theme being “Sustainable Solutions for Widows Financial Independence” is a topic I was very happy to share with my fellow widows as the Key Note speaker.
Yes, you can, as Yolk Africa theme is was my central message. So we begin with the mindset- just believing in oneself and your capability that you will do it. So the only thing between that you so wish for is just you.
I encouraged the widows to move away from boxing themselves as widows who are not able to provide, wallowing in pity parties hoping people will feel sorry for them, yet they still have their 2 hands and the God given brain to excel.
Roll up your sleeves and get out there and do something, as the opportunities are there. I shared a bit of my being widowed at 41 years of age. I had a huge family to look after – my own widowed mother, my children, my siblings and my late siblings’ children. I mourned my husband for a week and had to go back to work after 5 days. Same week I lost my husband in 2001, our only manager at SECURICO was attacked by thieves on his way home, and he died a few days later. SECURICO was still a small company employing around 120, and I had no choice, but to go back to work as there was no one else.
Also shared on what I consider my biggest achievement – fighting and advocating for the acceptance of women in the security sector. I had to fight for the security industry to accept women as capable practitioners. We have over 900 women – mostly widows and single mothers.
Pray for WISDOM, I told them. I pray for Solomonic wisdom every day, not material things. Wisdom, Wisdom, not anything else, has taken me this far.
What a Happy Widows Day it was!!! Many of them were inspired and encouraged. Thank you, Yolk Africa and UN, for enabling this platform.
