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Flora Fadzai Sibanda, [email protected]

FOR Mrs Moreblessings Muzvidziwa losing her husband four years ago became an inspiration for her to start an organisation for widows so other women would not go through the same bad encounters she had to endure.

Mrs Muzvidziwa now runs a foundation for widows called Widows Arise and Shine with more than 300 members across the country.

The foundation works on empowering widows financially, socially, and mentally.

‘I lost my husband four years back and it was a painful experience for me not only because l had lost my love but because l had lost the backbone of the family. Society is still not friendly to widows. Some expectations are needed from us and that can be straining when one is still trying to adjust to losing their husband,” said Mrs Muzvidziwa.

She said after seeing some of the challenges that widows face she decided to form a safe space for them.

“That’s when it hit me that l was not the only one going through this trauma and l decided to form a foundation that would create a safe space for women who struggle after losing their life partners,” said Mrs Muzvidziwa.

She said for this women’s month they have started a poultry project to economically empower all the women in the group.

The director of the foundation said the initiative is one of the economic empowerment projects that they are working on to protect widows.

Mrs Muzvidziwa said apart from the poultry project they are also hosting counselling sessions where they talk as women about some of the issues that are bothering them and how best they can solve them.

She said her dream is for widows to be empowered and move on with life without having to worry about their finances and small legal issues like changing ownership of their assets.

@flora_sibanda