Imagine. You're a woman, 38 years old, have four children, and your husband past away four years ago. But unlike your male shopkeeper next door, who lost his wife some years ago, you can't remarry. Why not? Because your forefathers created this rule. Your children belong to your late husband, have his name, and therefore your new husband wouldn't be able to take care of your children. Instead, your in-laws should pick a family member that will be responsible for you and your children.
This is reality in some of the communities in the Niger Delta. Two of the trainees decided to take this topic as the main theme for their documentaries. Widows like Mrs Hannah Tende and Mrs Mata Erefa talk about their experiences and their struggle to earn just enough money to pay their children's school fees. In-laws often don't take the responsibility for providing support, but follow up on another traditional custom: they claim to be entitled to the husband's properties and just come to collect them. This also happened in Hannah's case. She also lost access to the farm, where she earned her money. So as a widow, you not only loose your husband, but your home and properties as well.
Luckily, there are sometimes women's associations that take care of vulnerable people, like these widows. They occasionally provide them with food and clothes. But this is not sufficient and it is quite common that children drop out of school and start earning money to support their family.
Widowers on the other hand can remarry. As one widower explains in the documentary: they are actually worse off, because men can't access the kitchen and therefore wouldn't be able to prepare their own food. So they need a wife.
To take this issue to the chiefs and try to change the local custom is still one step too far. Community members agree that the position of widows is quite bad, but changing traditional customs is something different. The trainees expressed to be eager to go back to the communities to show the documentaries. That might be an opportunity to start a dialogue about the impact of traditional customs of widowhood.