A Lagos-based non-profit organisation, Mercy Ogbuehi Widows and Orphans Foundation, on Thursday said that it had trained and empowered no fewer than 111 indigent widows to live their normal lives.
The President/Founder of the organisation, Mrs Nnenna Uchegbu, disclosed this in a statement after the 9th graduation/empowerment ceremony of new beneficiaries of the empowerment training in Lagos.
“We are into free skill empowerment training for widows and orphans. 111 indigent widows have benefitted from various forms of our empowerment trainings in the last five years.
“Presently, we have 16 orphans we are sponsoring to school.
“We have 254 that have gone through our training programmes in fashion designing, industrial, catering, computer departments,” Uchegbu said.
According to her, the foundation provides sewing machines to those in fashion department after training, cash empowerment to those in catering and industrial department while orphans in computer training are provided laptops after the training.
She said that the foundation during its last graduation ceremony on June 6, empowered 14 widows with sewing machines and cash while two orphans were presented new laptops after prerequisite training.
Uchegbu said that two of them graduated from computer department, six from catering, four from fashion designing and nine from industrial departments totalling 21 new graduands.
“We have increased the seed we provide in view of the rising cost of living in the country. The widows are encouraged to start businesses with the seed given to them.
“As the membership continues to increase, there are 111 widows, excluding the orphans, it is important not to lose our core principle, which is that we are family. Families look out for each other.
“The foundation will continue to explore ways to enhance interaction with our members,” Uchegbu added.
The president said that the foundation had also recruited coordinators whose volunteer services were to maintain communication with the widows in their zones through calls and visits.
“New intakes should be encouraged to register their children when obtaining our free registration form to enable the foundation appropriately determine school fees assistance when necessary,” she said.
Also, Mr Stephen Oladipupo, the Secretary of the foundation, said beneficiaries were usually drawn through nomination from community leaders and religion organisations within the environment.
“These community leaders and religious organisations have widows and vulnerable ones that always come around them for help.
“Instead of them begging, we send them to acquire trainings and after the training for the widows, we empower them so that they can be on their own,” he said.