ROSF to celebrate widows, orphans at 10th anniversary

The Founder of the Rose of Sharon Foundation (ROSF), Mrs. Folorunso Alakija, an NGO with a predominant responsibility to alleviate the plight of widows, their children and orphans, whilst empowering them, has said that there is need for Government to enforce sustainable laws that would cater for the welfare of widows and orphans in Nigeria.

She made this statement during a press conference at ROSF office on Adeniran Ogunsanya, Surulere Lagos, as she observed that women go through a number of difficulties and challenges from in-laws as soon as they lost their husbands. They are bombarded by their in-laws who make away with everything that the widow and her late husband had worked for, over the years.

“Some even have their children taken away from them, while others are accused of killing their own husbands and are made to go through diverse fetish rounds to prove their innocence.
“These women sometimes get thrown out of their matrimonial homes and have to struggle through life to survive and provide for their children.

“This was why we set up ROSF, to remove them from the position of poverty, despair and depression by empowering and defending them legally” she said.Mrs. Alakija added that ROSF has accomplished a number of successes by making huge differences in the lives of these vulnerable groups and families over the years, hence, the need to appreciate God by celebrating the 10th anniversary of the foundation on June 23, 2018, whilst joining the world to mark the International Widow’s Day.

“We have given a lot of widows interest free loans to start up their businesses, we have taken children and orphans off the streets to school with full scholarships and a number of them are graduates from different tertiary institutions in the country.

“We have offered different empowerment programs such as: Enterprise Development and Skills Acquisition Programs, ROSF Micro Credit Scheme, ROSF Scholarship Scheme, Youth Empowerment Program, and ROSF Welfare Scheme” she said.

To commemorate its 10th anniversary and marking of the International Widows Day, the foundation will engage in a walk round Lagos to rally on violence against widows today.“Basically, the walk is to raise awareness about the plight within our society because a lot of people don’t reckon with widows and orphans.”

Mrs. Alakija further said she has donated a building for skills acquisition at the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), for the college to use in the various sectors of study, so students can become entrepreneurs with financial freedom without having to depend on immoral activities for income.“I want the students to learn any skill acquisition of their choice, fashion, making of shoes, sewing and others, with practical and training to enable them perfect the art,” she said.