Being a widow or a widower is not a curse, that is a statement coming from the founder of the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba Widows and Widowers Association.

Speaking at a ceremony to inaugurate the association, Fati Abudu stated widows and widowers goes through lots of challenges including been stigmatized by the community they married or hail from.

She called on people not to look down on them as it is an accident of life that could befall any one.

‘‘Widowhood is not a curse; everybody will die be you a man or a woman.

“The man you saw here lost his wife and has three children to take care off. It could have been anybody and we need to remove the stigma attached to widowhood. Such people need your support to go through in life,’’ she pleaded.

The formation of the widows and widowers association was held on the theme creating awareness for the vulnerable.

It is aimed at improving the lives of widows and widowers and fostering peace and unity amongst women groups in the district.

The association has a membership of 300 widows and one widower.

Madam Fati Abudu appealed to the District Chief Executive (DCE)of Sawla-Tuna-Kalba district to include them in the government’s Livelihood Advisory Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme.

The DCE Isaac Dramani Mumuni said the government is instituting policies and programmes to improve the lives of the vulnerable.

Isaac Dramani said it is based on the aforementioned that the government has established the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to mitigate child labour and maternal mortality rate in the country which the district is not left out.

Government is making frantic efforts to expand the LEAP programme to enrol more aged persons to enable meet their basic needs.

He posited that it will relieve the people especially women from the burden of paying their wards schools feeds.