1,400 widows get free medical screening, food, gift items from Roses Ministry

As part of activities to mark the her annual Widows Day, The Roses Ministry, a non-governmental organization, has organized free medicals, food and gift items for widows, orphans, and other vulnerable persons to reduce their plights in Society.

Coordinator the Roses Ministry, Mrs. Regina Ezenwa, addressing the widows at the two-day annual Widow Day celebration at the National Stadium Surulere Lagos, maintained that health is life; if a widow is healthy she would be able to cater for her surviving family.

The event witnessed a large turnout widows and people from all across Lagos and beyond. Ezenwa added that foundation provides succour for the sick and physically hurting. “Many of the widows are hypertensive and few are diabetic but most cannot afford their medicines. We have been able to monitor them and give them free medicines since 2010 till date. Presently, we have over 1,200 registered widows. Over the last few years, the annual medical outreach was separated to enable us attend to all.”

Earlier the widows have received free medicals from a team of pharmacists and doctors who screened the widows’ blood pressure, pulse, blood sugar, malaria, and Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV). “Medicines were dispensed free with emphasis on hypertension and diabetes. We carry out cervical and breast cancer screening from time to time.”

As for the vocational training, she said, “In line with teaching our members how to fish and not just give them fish, we hold Skills Acquisition Trainings quarterly to ensure that some of our members or their children who have no jobs or means of livelihood learn a skill and are assisted in setting up in small scale manufacturing of multi-purpose washing liquid soap, dish washing liquid, hand wash, liquid air freshener, disinfectants, bead making and wireworks, catering, hat making, make-up and gele tying. We also teach them how to make petroleum jelly, mentholated balm, hand and body lotion.”

The highpoint was the display of soap samples, jewelries and bead exhibition, praise and worship from electrical performance, recite the Roses Ministry Anthem. However, 1,400 widows have benefited from gifts like 12.5kg bags of rice, bread, groundnut oil, sachet tomatoes, wrappers, clothes among others.

She disclosed that Ministry focuses on counseling, education, skill acquisition programme, clothing and food items for widows weekly to improve the quality of their life and families. “We have empowered the youths through seminars, Bible counsel, reading culture. The elderly and orphanages homes have benefited from the foundation‘s largess, and ministry would continue to heal and restore marriages and relationship. We visit to Beggar & Kirikiri Prisoners – Rehabilitation of ex- prisoners – Regular visits including medical visits to Living Fountain Orphanage

Special guest, Justice Rose Ukeje, pointed out some ordeals of widowhood, such violation of women’s rights is a manifestation of male dominance over women in the society, despise the three types of marriage namely marriage under the marriage Act, customary marriage and Islamic marriage, women have suffered the same hideout conditions all over the other widows. These widows have undergone some unimaginable horrors like eat from broken plates, sleep by the husbands’ corpses and drink his bath water among others.

Ukeje commended the civil society organizations like The Roses Ministry willingly ready to assist widows where the in –laws seek to deprive them of their residence and property. Others support for widows came from are International conventions like United Nations General Assembly, Supreme Court of Nigeria (gives equal rights to girls and boys on father’s property), Itsekiri traditional council and women enlightenment

She pointed out that as death is inevitable and can come anytime regardless of gender male or female. She observed that some widows are withdrawn after the deaths of her husbands, lost their network of friends, suffer clinical depression among others. She maintained that, as a widow she understands the ordeals hence she presents to encourage them.

“We acknowledge the following Pharmaceutical Companies who have partnered with us to “ make this possible: PemasonPharma, May & baker Plc, JawaPharma, Embassy Pharm, Emzor Pharm, Vatican Bells, Salem Gates, Rozec Pharm, DrugServe Pharm, New Heights Pharma, Chike- Okoli Foundation and very specially Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, Surulere Zone for their partnership over some years now”.