By Chidi Nkwopara

THE challenge of widowhood, especially in Igboland is, to say the least, completely overwhelming. Closely associated with this nagging problem, is the obnoxious widowhood practices, which are constantly meted out to hapless, helpless widows, making their plight even more heartbreaking!

•A beneficiary, Madam Rosanna Anoruo, thanking God for the new house.

A widow, Madam Augustina Iwuala, told South East Voice that “our unplanned change of status and the devastating impact of the loss of our husbands on the social and economic well-being of mothers and their children, is better imagined than experienced”.

Thatched mud huts

While saying that the plight of indigent widows appears worse in the rural communities, Madam Iwuala further lamented that a lot of these widows are homeless, especially if their late husbands were unable to build houses of their own before they died.

The cases of Madam Rosanna Anoruo from Umuagwu, Eziama, Ikeduru local government area and Madam Agnes Ofoegbu from Idume, Mbaitoli local council area, are worth mentioning.

Both women used to live in dilapidated thatched mud huts and slept on locally fabricated bamboo beds or the bare floor.

The situation was so bad that they covered themselves with waterproof, for want of what else to do, each time it rained. This was a ploy to ward off the water pouring from the thatched roof.

Anoruo said: “The governor’s wife and her lieutenants spotted me, saw the hopelessness of my condition and promised to positively change my ugly position. This is exactly what is being actualized today (November 8, 2016). I pray God to bless her”.

One other pitiable story told by Madam Anoruo, during the commissioning of her newly built and furnished two-bedroom bungalow, was that out of her “10 children, only one is alive today”.

The foregoing amply captures the reason why the wife of Imo State Governor, Mrs. Nkechi Okorocha, floated “She Needs a Roof Project”, SNARP.

According to Mrs. Okorocha, “the beneficiaries of this programme are the extremely indigent widows, whose homes are in terrible state or who have no home at all”.

South East Voice also gathered that another group that must benefit from the project are indigent orphans with no homes, no means of livelihood and no relatives to assist them.

Mrs. Okorocha also said: “Investigative reports submitted to the selection committee, following identification, often reveal very desperate, terrible and horrifying situation. However, only the most severe cases are selected as beneficiaries”.

Answering another question, Mrs. Okorocha explained that apart from the construction, commissioning and handover of the building projects to the benefitting widows, “follow-up visits are also undertaken to ensure that the beneficiaries improved quality of life is sustained and maintained”.

She added that work was underway to take yet another bold step by empowering beneficiaries economically, through tailored economic empowerment programmes aimed at getting them tools and skills needed to be financially independent.

As at the time of going to press, no fewer than 172 two-bedroom bungalows has been completed and are on the verge of being handed over to the benefitting widows and orphans.