It is a beguiling tradition in Africa that once a man dies, his widow is tossed around with a wave of uncertainty. For many of them, their self-esteem and pride are dead alongside their deceased husbands and are left at the mercies of hard-feeling relations.
With an African culture that has subjected a woman to a lower cadre in the hierarchy of marriage, nothing can be more devastating and ruinous than the death of a man that leaves a woman in a world of hopelessness and state of helplessness.
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Of course, some women are self-made and self-sufficient as the case may be, but the role of a man cannot possibly be undermined in the affairs of a woman. Once the vacuum is created, filling it becomes an arduous task that takes a lifetime to accomplish.
Naturally fragile and emotionally vulnerable, widows are the most ill-treated personalities in Africa especially, in Nigeria. They are abandoned at wills and are made to journey through the rough paths, the bumpy roads and undulating terrain without anyone to peep into their affairs.
Unlike other physically challenged individuals who are given special attentions by the government and some non-governmental organizations, widows are usually left to swim and sink alone in the stormy Sea, triggered by the death of their husbands.
There are instances where women who were once happy and financially stabled are thrown into a life of penury and have to get down to the lowest depth, compromise their integrity and do the unthinkable to hit the target button and keep body and soul together.
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But gradually, this era is fizzling out. This is neither because the government has put up a scheme to address the teething problem nor set up a measure to tackle the canckerworms that have eaten deep into the fabric of our collective values and virtues; but rather, it is a news lease of life through the birth of “Tabitha New Life Foundation.”
With a call to barnish hardship from the community of widows and widowers and restore hope to the hopeless and downtrodden members of the society, Tabitha New Life foundation was established to set the record straight that the dry bone can still rise again.
This was vividly outlined at its launch on December 16, 2019 where hundreds of windows and widowers were made to smile home with food items and gifted materials which literally brought back their self esteem.
The event titled: The Dorcas Heart, Season 0:1, themed: Arise Again, registered the presence of top rated individuals who have come to witness the birth of a new dawn and thrown their weights around the laudable project to see to its success. Among was Professor Tunde Arini who chaired the occasion.
The foundation is solely commissioned to consistently flash smiles on the faces of widows and widowers as many it can reach out to. This is the bedrock of its creation that brooks no infraction.
So far, many lives have been touched, many hopes have been restored and many situations have received an unprecedented turnaround without the propensity of its founder blowing the trumpet.
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Founded by a passionate humanitarian, dogged actualiser, resolute achiever and distinguished administrator, Mrs Adunke Olatunji, Tabitha New Life foundation is a fully registered NGO with a tendency to lift the burdens of widows and widowers.
According to Mrs Olatunji, widows and widowers are trained and empowered every last Friday of the month with business capital that will earn them a better life and make them contribute meaningfully to the nation’s economy.
However, the founder welcomes and solicits support from donors and destiny partners across the globe so as to ease the burden and completely lift the beneficiaries out of pitiable conditions.
With Tabitha New Life foundation and untiring efforts of its founder, Mrs Adunke Olatunji, there is no mincing words that the time has come for widows and widowers to come out of their ruins, with a renewed determination to rise again, smile again and wear a toga of a new life.
Study @ Achievers University
