40-year-old Alice Isaiah lost her husband to the Boko Haram war and later, the three children she bore for him to the sickle cell disease.
It has since been tales of woes as she struggles to cope with the giref
and earn a decent living.
Isaiah whose husband died on May 26, 2015 while serving the country in combat lives at 81 Battalion, Mokola Barracks, Ibadan. She was one of the more than 100 widows that benefitted from Soulace Africa two-month intensive training designed to empower widows and orphans of late veterans. The women who had been trained on fabric arts and crafts and fashion designing were urged at the weekend to maximise and earn a
living from the skills garnered in the past two months.
Speaking with the widows at the Social Impact Expo (SIMEX) programme, the founder of Soulace Africa, Peter Adeeko commended the trainees for their exceptional dedication and resilience through out the training.
The SIMEX programme was out together to explore the social and economic impact of the new skills acquired by the trainees while opening up their products to new and potential market.
Adeeko said that the women surprised him with the outputs gotten despite the time limit and further encouraged them to put into use and modify the skills into a profitable venture that will make them independent, self-reliant and resourceful.
The event also featured a fashion runway where products designed during the course of the two-month training were modeled by the widows and orphans.
One of the trainees, Fatima Tanko said benefitting from the training was a great opportunity for women and girls at the barracks especially with the economic realities of COVID-19.
“They taught us how to make Kampala. I used to marvel at the beauty of traditional fabrics and wanted to know the machines that could create such unique fabrics designs. I did not eve know it was something you could create with your hands until my training with Soulace Africa. I am so happy that I joined this training aside am now getting customers and making my own money,” she said.
