9 - Steem Cameroon Contest : National or International awareness day Contest (20th - 25th June 2022)

Hello to all and happy weekend, I hope everyone is having fun 🤩 as I am at my end. It is another awesome week and I am happy to participate in this contest about the International day celebration. This week, I will be talking about the International Widow’s Day.

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What I Know About the Day?

This day was chosen by the Loomba Foundation to commemorate the founder of the foundation in 2005. In 2010, the UN assembly adopted the day. The first official day was commemorated in 2011 on June 23rd.

The INTERNATIONAL WIDOWS’ DAY, is commemorated every June 23rd each year. This day is meant to give recognition to the difficulties widows go through all over the world.

Widows go through hard times, especially in developing countries such as Cameroon. Most widows in Cameroon faced violence from in-laws, stigmatization, poverty, and health challenges due to the harsh conditions they are placed in during the mourning period.

Recent stats show that approximately 250 million widows existed in the world. Amongst this number, 1 in every 10 widows lives in abject poverty. The reason for this is, that most of them lack access to economic resources. For instance in Cameroon, especially within rural communities, widows lack access to economic resources especially when they do not have a male child.

Widows faced violence from their husband’s family and this is common in Asia and African countries. They are victims of physical abuse and mental abuse. In Cameroon, this is one of the most common challenges faced by widows, especially during husbands’ burials. Performing dehumanize burial rites for example in some tribes, the widow is asked to sleep on the floor without a mattress. In some instances when the woman is accused of killing the husband, after bathing the corpse, the widow is forced to drink the dirty water.

Due to these hardships experienced by widows, the 23rd of every year is set to recognize them in society.

How do you or your country or your organization celebrate the day?

In my country Cameroon, I do not think that the government commemorates this day. I have never seen any government program or activities to recognize widows' rights in Cameroon.

However, some nongovernmental organizations with the interest of widows at heart commemorate this day. These organizations organized talk shows on the TV, and radio to create awareness of the rights of widows.

Some organizations equally give financial and material support to some widows. Notwithstanding, the majority of the widows especially in rural communities do not benefit from this kind of gesture.

Seminars are also organized to empower widows economically. The reason why most widows faced hardship is that they are not empowered.

It is my wish one day to support those in my community and I hope that day will come soon.

What Impact does your Community gain during and after commemoration?

As I earlier said, most widows faced violence from their in-laws. And from my work in the field, I realized that most of them are not aware of their rights as widows.

Therefore, I think this day awakens them to sit up and fight for their rights instead of sitting and crying for how long only God knows.

During the commemoration, most widows come across organizations willing to assist them for free in cases of legal assistance and food assistance, etc.

What issue or concern will you recommend to be commemorated this week and on what date?

This week, I will like to recommend that orphans should be celebrated as well. International day for orphans should be commemorated on the 23rd of July.

There are many orphans, especially in developing countries who are going through a lot of difficulties. In Cameroon in some families, being an orphan is like the world has come to an end because of the stigmatization and violence they will face from family members.

Thanks for this opportunity for us to create awareness for everyone to be aware of the International days commemorated. I will use this opportunity to invite @nafisatu, @graciella, and @tangwe-rene to take part in this contest.