Widows of Hope Africa director, Elizabeth Banda was speaking in Lilongwe during the training session of widows based in the area of Chinsapo in Lilongwe. “As widows, you can venture into business and live a successful life without begging, I know you are experiencing some problems but its time to go on with life,” said Banda. Banda said her organisation will ensure that most widows are turned into successful business ladies. “It’s possible, you can live a happy life just work hard and remain focussed,” said Banda. The Widows of Hope Africa has also been donating various items to widows. Banda said after the training, her organisation is condering giving start up capital to the widows to start small scale businesses. “We are appealing to well-wishers to assist us in bailing out these widows,” said Banda. Banda said :. “What happens is that after the death of the husband most widows find it difficult to live the normal life.” She said, the Women’s Hope Africa exist to assist in income generating activities for widows, educational support and health programs for vulnerable orphans, and to provide secondary school educational opportunities for youths. Banda said Women’s Hope aims at looking after widows and the children across the globe and share common experiences. “The pressure on widows to provide for their children and death of alternative employment opportunities override Malawi’s widows strongly socialized tendency to protect themselves from extra marital relationships. What is worse is that some destitute widows are forced
to sell or offer their daughters for early marriage for money,”said Banda. According to Ms Banda, the state of widowhood is exacerbated by conditions of poverty saying widows makes up a sizeable percentage of the world’s poorest people.
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