O Box 33476 DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA
Cell phone: 0716 214 680/0754 366 530
Email: [email protected]/[email protected]
Twitter: Facebook: Widows Tanzania
Website: www.tanzaniawidowsassociation.org
TAWIA ORGANIZATION PROFILE
DATA SHEET:
Name: Tanzania Widows Association
Acronym: TAWIA
Category: Not-for-profit Non-Governmental A
ssociation
Contact Person: The Executive Director, Ms. Registered Address: P.O Box 33476, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Physical address: Ubungo District, Mbezi Temboni, White House Road, House Number 8 Dar es Salaam. Communication address:
Mobile: +255 754 366 530 / +255 716 214 680
Email: [email protected] / [email protected]
Face book page: Tanzania widows association
Website: www.tanzaniawidowsassociation.org
Year of establishment: 2014
Registration number: S.A. 19708
Target area: United Republic of Tanzania (Both mainland and Zanzibar)
Bank account number : 0150259153300
Bank name and branch: CRDB PLC, Makumbusho Branch
TAWIA BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
Adv. Harold Sungusia
Martina Kabisama, Executive Director Sahringon
KOKUSHUBIRA KAIRUKI - Executive Director of DR Hurbert Kairuki Memorial Hospital
Mr Michael Kyande
INTRODUCTION:
TAWIA is a short form of TANZANIA WIDOWS ASSOCIATION, which is a non-governmental organization started and registered in October 2014 with registration number S.A 19708. TAWIA’s main objective is to become a platform for all widows in Tanzania mainland and the Islands of Pemba and Unguja (Zanzibar), whereby widows can be empowered and capacitated to have ability to sustain their economic life and be able to become self-decisive in their personal challenges that may eventually become the opportunities to them and their children, more especially when they are single mothers. This objective is tied up with Sustainable Development Goals, specifically goals numbers 1 (Eradicate Poverty); 2(Good Health and Wellbeing); 4 (Quality Education); 5 (Gender Equality) and 10 (Reduced Inequalities) – where TAWIA mandate amongst widows. TAWIA’s VISION:
To empower and inspire widows to realize and exploit great potentials in them
TAWIA’s MISSION:
To build the capacities of widows to champion for their improved lives and dignity
in the society, improving their health, erasing social stigmatization and economic deprivation that confronts them; eliminating s*xual abuse and exploitation risks;
accessing justice and removing barriers to resources and economic opportunities that constrain their future, done through a cohesive and interactive membership. TAWIA’s CORE VALUES:
Integrity, Compassion, Love and Excellence
WIDOWS, INVISIBLE WOMEN WITH INVISIBLE PROBLEMS
Widows are christened to be “Invisible Women” with “Invisible Problems” A research by Help Age International conducted in Tanzania has a finding that once widowed; women in many countries often confront a denial of inheritance and land rights, degrading and life-threatening mourning and burial rites and other forms of widow abuse. Widows are often evicted from their homes and physically abused – some even killed – even by members of their own family. In many countries, a woman’s social status is inextricably linked to her husband’s, so that when her husband dies, a woman no longer has a place in society. To regain social status, widows are expected to marry one of their husband’s male relatives, sometimes unwillingly. For many, the loss of a husband is only the first trauma in a long-term ordeal. In many countries, Tanzania inclusive, widowhood is stigmatized and seen as a source of shame. Widows are thought to be cursed in some cultures and are even associated with witchcraft. Such misconceptions can lead to widows being ostracized, abused and worse. Research by HelpAge International, for instance, has found that in Tanzania hundreds of older women – mostly widows – have been killed because of accusations of being witches. Violence against women (VAW) is one of the most widespread violations of human rights, affecting women of all backgrounds, ages, cultures and countries. Widows are no exception and may in fact be at particularly high risk of violence. According to the same research of which Tanzania is no exception, in many countries, but particularly across Africa and Asia, widows find themselves the victims of physical and mental violence – including s*xual abuse – related to inheritance, land and property disputes. With no rights to ownership of her husband’s property, a widow may be subject to abuse and cast out of her home altogether. In Africa, widow abuse cuts across ethnic, class and income boundaries, rendering widows among the most vulnerable and destitute women in the region. The children of widows are often affected, both emotionally and economically. Widowed mothers, now supporting their families alone, are forced to withdraw children from school and to rely on their labour. Moreover, the daughters of widows may suffer multiple deprivations, increasing their vulnerability to abuse. Widows struggle to care for themselves and their children in their own countries, refugee camps or countries of asylum. In several post-conflict situations, high numbers of children depend on widowed mothers – often young women, sometimes children themselves – as their sole support. Widowed grandmothers are also left caring for orphaned and sick grandchildren. Such cruelties are often seen as justified in terms of cultural or religious practice. Impunity for abuses of the rights of widows is rife, with few perpetrators ever successfully brought to justice. Even in countries like Tanzania, where legal protection is more inclusive, widows do suffer much on social marginalization. A needs assessment study made in August 2015 by TAWIA on random sample of about 500 widows in Dar es salaam and its proximities found that: 45% widows households have a minimum of four children; 80.42% have no access to land for farming, and 76% of those possessing land owns less than 5 acres; 27% live in poor shelters; 50.10% have no access to clean and safe water; 31.21% have no sanitation facilities; 67.70% have no enough food; 66% have no enough clothes; 10.23% never went to school and 56.44% ended at primary school education level; only 6.11% are employed whereas 48.68% depend on pet business, 27% are jobless and 17.93% are underemployed; income per day of over 60% is less than US $1.90 a day, hence live below poverty line as in October 2015 World Bank updated international poverty line to US $1.90 a day. Conditions for widowed households continue to be much more severe due to declining levels of livelihoods. Widows are therefore prone to, among many other things, extreme poverty, poor health, gender-based violence and economic deprivation. POVERTY UPON WIDOWS
Across Tanzania’s religions and ethnic groups, a woman is left destitute when her husband dies. Poverty is often made worse by little or no access to credit or other economic resources, and by illiteracy or lack of education. Without education and training, widows cannot support themselves or their families. Many widows in traditional societies have no rights, or very limited rights, to inheritance or land ownership under customary and religious law. Without inheritance rights, including a lack of rights to the property of their birth family, widows find themselves financially insecure and totally dependent on the charity of their husbands’ relatives. VIOLENCE AGAINST WIDOWS
Violence against women is one of the most widespread violations of human rights, affecting women of all backgrounds, ages, cultures and countries. In Tanzania, widows find themselves the victims of physical and mental violence – including s*xual abuse – related to inheritance, land and property disputes. Widows are coerced into participating in harmful, degrading and even life-threatening traditional practices as part of burial and mourning rites. In some culture in Tanzania, for example, a widow is forced to be involved in s*xual relations with male relative(s), shaving of the hair and scarification. TAWIA’s ACTIVIES
Building resilient and sustainable healthcare system amongst widows
The importance of healthcare in promoting the general physical and mental health and well-being of people is known all over the world. “The right to health means that each and every person has the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health,” said Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator. The rate of morbidity and mortality from illness as observed across majority of widows and their households in Tanzania implies poor and unequal healthcare delivery system. Majority of this disadvantaged marginalized social group are poor and most vulnerable to and affected by conditions such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV. TAWIA understand the challenge of poor nutrition, inadequate shelter and vulnerability to violence, combined with a lack of access to health care, which impact the physical and mental well-being of widows. The s*xual and reproductive health needs of widows may go unaddressed, including the fact that widows are often the victims of r**e. Women may be kept unaware of the cause of their husband’s AIDS-related death and made to undergo ritual cleansing through s*x with male relatives regardless of HIV status. The economic insecurity stemming from widowhood also drives some women and girls to s*x work.
