Commemoration of the International Widows Day

To recognize and draw attention to the voices and experiences of widows and to incite the unique support that they need, the United Nations observes 23 June as International Widows Day. The day is set to address the poverty and injustice faced by millions of widows by  looking at how we can support them in making their voices heard, and as a global community, look for ways to address the issues that they face. Looking at Cameroon today especially with the ongoing crisis, most widows find themselves homeless with no one to support them. In some cases their houses and lands are taken away from them. As these women have had very little or no schooling, they do not understand what rights they have and are therefore unable to react.

In effect, Women without Borders Cameroon organized a seminar bringing together some internally displaced widows in the Buea municipality. The objectives of this event was to enhance peace building and prevent violent extremism, educate them on sexual reproductive health, security measures and access to legal and health services. This event also had as its goal to understand the plights of widows in order to explore avenues for intervention, as well as provide an opportunity for widows to express the challenges they face and lastly, distributed some few food items and non-food items as a means of assistance to them.