Katalog Foundation’s ‘Project Rescue Widows’ to Empower 100 Beneficiaries 

Osho Oluwatosin

Katalog Foundation, owned by Dr. Vivian Ebelechukwu Akaenyi is set to hold its ‘Project Rescue Widows: 100 lives, 100 stories initiative’ which entails rescuing 100 selected widows across Lagos state in September.

During a press briefing recently, Dr Vivian explained that the Katalog Foundation, primarily a widow-focused organisation, has been touring around twenty local governments in Lagos state to select and profile widows to come to their aid in any way possible.

She stated that the foundation is mainly seeking to help widows by empowering them and making them self-sufficient through several means, including setting up businesses for them, and ensuring they have a roof over their heads and others.

“Majorly, we are looking to find out what these are good at doing, what they used to do before they lost balance and what they can start doing now. If they don’t want to continue what they are doing, that’s okay, but then they can start doing something else.

“So whatever it is, we find a way, provide them with sewing machines and other things. We have tailors already, we are currently doing our widows profiling, and the event is supposed to be held on the 8th of September, 2024.

“Currently we are doing our widows profiling, trying to find out who they are, we already have a few of them from different local governments within Lagos state, Nigeria. We are trying to make it balanced So we are looking to comb around 20 local government areas in Lagos, Nigeria, to get a few from all of them.”

In addition, Dr Vivian stated that the Katalog Foundation will extend its magnanimity to the children of the selected widows by providing a scholarship programme for them. This, according to her, is to ensure that the widows are well-balanced enough to be able to enjoy whatever they are given.

“For this project, Rescue Widows, 100 Lives, 100 Stories, we intend to have a scholarship program for their children. For the ones that have kids that are still very young in primary school, or secondary school, we intend to start a scholarship program for at most 50 children.

“If you’re taking up a widow that the children are out of school already, due to one difficulty or the other, you’re taking them off the streets, you know, providing a means of livelihood to them. You know the fact that there must be a need to provide stability. So in other words, you need to settle their children and return them to school.

“You need to give the widows time to build up themselves so that every penny they were given doesn’t go back into school or other things. You need to allow them to have that space for stability and let them be able to save up for themselves so they won’t be living from hand to mouth.”

Speaking on the criteria for selection of beneficiaries, Dr. Vivian made it known that the foundation is focusing on widows who have very serious issues like homelessness, and stark poverty, among other requirements.

“Selecting the widows is not easy and we found out that during the profiling, we had about 5 to 7 women that are not widows but came up as widows because their husbands cannot provide, we are not looking for that. So first of all, we try to make sure that their husbands are truly dead, for those that said they are widows and not single mothers or baby mamas, mothers.

“No, no single mothers, not single mothers, not baby mamas. We are looking for widows and not just widows, but those that have lost hope, those that have lost balance, you know and probably those whose families have collected all they have. They don’t even know where the next meal is coming from.”