Tina Amanda
Widows in Rivers State have been encouraged to be self-empowered as pity is not a strategy for self sustenance.
Senior Pastor of the House on the Rock Church, Port Harcourt, Lanre Oluseye, stated this while gifting about two hundred widows from various communities in the state with the necessary tools and equipment that will help them grow their businesses and skills. The event was organised by a Group in the church called Army of David.
He maintained that if more widows in the society are supported and empowered especially now that there is so much economic hardship in the country, it will help to stabilize and give them a sense of belonging.
“There is too much pain in our society. When you look around, everybody is complaining that the country is too hard, every society has strata and usually at the bottom of that strata, you will find indigent people, orphans and widows. Widows are particularly a big issue for me because of the societal things that surrounds being a widow.
“Some of them do not have support, no means of livelihood, some of them have given their best years in raising their children and their children are not around, so you find them doing menial jobs. For me, it’s just a way of giving back to them, to assure them that they are been remembered.
“And because we are in Church, I can not think of a better way to do it. Jesus said what is true religion if not to be father to the fatherless, be there for the orphans and husbands to the widows. That is the reason we put together this thing twice a year, just to reach out to widows.
“Everything you see with them here has come from the sacrifices of individuals and from the church. Everyone should lend a helping hand where ever we can. We are reaching out to widows, others can do children on the street or children out of school, others can go to the waterside.
“There is so much to be done from the churches, corporate organizations even individuals who can help, we would all make the world a better place with the little we can do.
“Many of these widows, some I have spoken to and I can tell you categorically they are not lazy, just a little push will go a long way to help stabilize them. I am hoping that they will use these things we have given them to become self sustained, that is our prayers, that is our hope and our objectives.
“It is more beneficial for them as a widow to find something to do because no one will pity you that much, if someone gives you money today, gives you tomorrow, if you go the next day, they would boldly tell you that he or she have problems. So it is important the widows understand the power of being self sustained”.
Speaking on the independence celebration, Pastor Lanre Oluseye, insisted that everyone must come together to make Nigeria work.
“This is my home, this is my country, this is my father land, this is the only place I do not feel like a second class citizen, this is the only place I understand how it works. I have been to many places, for me Nigeria has to work because we are here and we have to make it work, I am not leaving the country to anywhere, we must make it work.
“My children were born here so I have to make it work so that there will be a proper nation to handover to them, so I believe in the future of Nigeria. If there is anything I know about Nigerians, it is that we are the most resilient people on the surface of the earth”
On his part, Coordinator of Army of David Group of the House on the Rock Church, Port Harcourt, Pastor Uche Onochie, said the widows outreach is the fulfilment of commandment of God in the Bible.
“It is a way of taking Christ outside the building, we talk about love of Christ, this is what love of Christ means. All the beneficiaries of this year’s outreach, none of them is a member of our church, we just want to reach out to widows across communities in the state.
“Everything we give here today is for commercial purposes, we give them grants, soft loans and financial services that can help them run their businesses. Over fourteen million naira have been put in just to ensure these widows are better placed in the society.
“It is not enough to give someone fish, it is also important to teach them how to fish”
Also, some beneficiaries of the widow outreach in an interview with our correspondent thanked the church for remembering them while promising to use every equipment gift to them to improve their lives.
Our correspondent reports that some of the gift items include grinding machines, mini bus, grants, tricycle popularly called (Keke), coolers, foodstuffs, amongst others.
