Members of the Agona Abodom Widows Association have unanimously appealed to the First Lady, Mrs Lordina Mahama to through her Foundation, for financial support, clothing and freedom from other predicaments they were encountering.
The members said they were going through pain, grief, sicknesses, hunger and many others, as some of them had been thrown out of their matrimonial homes, lost cocoa farms they toiled to acquire with their spouses to their in-laws.
The issues came to light at a meeting of the Association at Agona Abodom in the Agona West Municipality, to discuss pertinent issues affecting their wellbeing.
Mrs Elizabeth Selby, the Founder and President of the Association, said the purpose of the Association was to inspire and encourage its members with the Word of God, to serve as motivation.
She said the Association was formed 11 years ago to seek the welfare of members, most of whom were suffering from various ailments, grief and sadness.
“Our expectations are that our First Lady would use her Lordina Foundation to support members to help improve our lives. We have confidence and hope in our First Lady that as soon as the news get to her office, we would receive quick response from our Mother Lordina and our struggles will end,” Mrs Selby stated.
The founder said 16 of the 67 members were currently battling with various sicknesses and feeding themselves and their children had become a great challenge.
Mrs Selby said a total of 104 members at Agona Bobikuma were facing similar cases of evictions from their late husband’s houses, seizure of farms and other properties by families and relatives of their spouses.
She said although plans were advanced to mobilise more members at Agona Kwaman, Agona Nyakrom, Agona Nkum and other towns, but lack of financial support, transportation and other logistics had been a setback.
She further appealed to the Federation of Women Lawyers, to offer support to some of the victims needing legal advice and support but had no money to pay for the services.
The founder reiterated calls on NGOs, banks, well-to-do Ghanaians, the Marigold Foundation and big financial institutions both in Ghana and in the Diaspora to come to the aid of widows at Agona Abodom, Bobikuma and other areas within the Agona West Municipality.
Mrs Selby appealed particularly to the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, to use her good office to enroll these widows on the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), to help alleviate the sufferings of women in the Agona West.
Some of the members shared their bitter complaints, grieves and the ordeal they were going through with the GNA.
GNA
