An organisation representing widows in Zimbabwe, Circle of Comfort, on Friday implored the Government and the private sector to capacitate widows with employment and education opportunities, reported Health Times.
Circle of Comfort founder Maurine Ngwenya said this will keep them busy to prevent depression and other mental health disorders associated with being widowed.
Speaking at an event marking International Widows Day on Friday, Ngwenya said widows should be afforded employment opportunities and the chance to further their education. She said:
We want industrial opportunities. We want the government to assist us on the issue of pensions, and estates.
We want opportunities where factories are open for widows to work. We also want these widows to further their education at universities.
Some need capacitation workshops on what to do with what their husbands left them.
There are times when widows get mentally disturbed and not to endure such is through the grace of God.
If the government makes the Widows’ day a public holiday to recognize the widows.
We need to be recognized and celebrated because taking care of children after the passing of their father is heroic.
We endure the challenges of relatives taking all the deceased’s estate, alongside even being stripped of our dignity.
We see from way back, widows did not have support. Once the husband dies, one would be left alone, and disadvantaged, the support system collapsed, and no one to understand her. It is like being buried with your husband.
Priscilla Kusema-Muchenje a member of the group said the Government should drop the taxing of estates that widows would have inherited upon the death of their husbands.
Source Pindula News
