‘I knew I would soon be made a widow’

“On that fateful day, my husband, father of my three children and breadwinner of my family, was snatched by death leaving me to face the hardship and realities of life alone,” the widow said of her husband who was slain by Boko Haram insurgents. They were married for 13 years.“When my husband was alive and […]

“On that fateful day, my husband, father of my three children and breadwinner of my family, was snatched by death leaving me to face the hardship and realities of life alone,” the widow said of her husband who was slain by Boko Haram insurgents. They were married for 13 years.
“When my husband was alive and in Maiduguri, I was always crying because I knew that in a matter of time, I will be made a widow because of the rate at which soldiers are being killed by the insurgents. It was a very traumatic period for my family, but now, at least, we know he is dead and is resting in the bosom of the Lord. All we can do is pray for him and also pray that the reward of his sweat be paid to us so that life can be a little easier for us even though it can never be easy as it was when he was alive,” she added.
“I do not have any real source of livelihood as all I do are menial jobs that just fetch small money which I use to feed myself and my children as well as pay their school fees,” Mrs. Sylvester said, adding that she has not received the late corporal’s entitlements which could have helped her in the upkeep of the family and payment of school fees.
“Whenever it is first term, my heart skips a beat because I know I have to raise a lot of money to send my children to school now that I know their father is not alive,” she lamented.
“Education is a necessity, even if these children go to the farm, they will still need education to manage the business so that it becomes a success and they can also contribute their own quota to the development of the barrack community, the state and the country at large,” Mrs. Sylvester noted.
It is her hope that the sacrifice that claimed her husband’s life would not be in vain as she urged the military authorities to urgently set machinery in motion towards ameliorating the suffering of families of soldiers, who have lost their lives in the war against terror.