There Is Hope For Widows
By Ogova Ondego
Published March 8, 2023
Every wife is a potential widow just because women generally outlive men besides the fact that not only are men affected by some diseases like stroke (3:2), lung disease (4:1) and prostate cancer more than women but women usually marry men who are older than themselves.
Yes, these may be facts but, Nkita Tshiama Arao writes in Journey Through Bereavement: The Life of a Widow, that “no one is ever prepared for the pain which comes with the loss of a loved one even though we read a lot on the topic of death from books.”
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“I have become acquainted with pain, despair and grief,” Arao, who lost her husband in 1999, writes. “Through the experience of other ladies … I have come to understand the various kinds of loss.”
She argues that “The life of a widow can be described as … hopeless … full of ups and downs, a life of … confusion … desperation and problems” as “society looks at her as … someone to be pitied … someone with questionable behavior.”
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Among the topics tackled in the 260-page book are anger, bargaining and acceptance during grief; overcoming grief; challenges of widows such as funeral arrangements, financial constraints and sleeping problems; cultural implications such as widow inheritance, and succession and; biblical teaching about widowhood such as remarriage; and empowering widows economically and socially.
Based on the writer’s personal experience as a widow and research among widows and pastors, this book could serve as a reference manual on widowhood across Africa.
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So is there any hope for a widow in Kenya or Africa?
The widow can still make it out of the darkness and despair of losing her husband if she relies on God, Arao says.
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Arao is a career teacher and education administrator who holds a Bachelor’s (Mathematics and Psychology) and Master’s (Education Administration) degrees from USA. She was born in Congo-Kinshasa and married a man from western Kenya. She served as a teacher of Mathematics at State House Girls School in and then as Academic Registrar at Daystar University, Presbyterian University of East Africa and Riara University that are all located the Kenyan commercial and political capital, Nairobi.
Get your copy of Journey Through Bereavement: The Life Of A Widow for Sh2000.
