The Tabitha-Abimbola Foundation says Nigeria must renewed war against depression, anxiety and loneliness among vulnerable people, especially widows and single mothers.
At its first Valentine’s Day Therapy Session with widows and single mothers on Friday in Lagos, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Mrs Abimbola Agbebiyi, said that managing depression required urgent attention in Nigeria.
The founder said: “We may not really have precise statistics or data backing up the number of widows and single mothers that have been depressed in Nigeria.
“But, we know that a significant number of Nigerian women are actually experiencing depression every day. And we all know what it is when a woman loses her spouse.
“Apart from the challenges that comes with grieving the partner, there are responsibilities to carry.”
Agbebiyi said that a number of widows committed suicide a year after the husband must have passed.
She added: “It is even learned that out of 600 widows, about 30 or 10 would want to end their lives, wanting to commit suicide maybe a year after they lost their husband.
“Depression is more like one of the pronounced challenges they go through, the government, corporate organisation and spirited individuals must wage war against the spread.”
Agbebiyi said that the event became important on Valentine’s Day to prevent depression in widows and single mothers who did not have any spouse to share love with.
“We have gone to shop for the widows and the single parents because the foundation considers itself as their husbands today. We want them to feel loved.
“They do not have partners, but we are standing as their partner. We are standing as their husband and we are trying to tell them that we see and hear them.”
Agbebiyi called on governments across levels, corporate organisation and spirited individuals to make concerted efforts at mitigation effects of depression and loneliness.
She said that privileged Nigerians should not wait until they possessed millions to help people going through depression on each street as a result of current economic hardship.
“We want them to feel heard, feel seen and supported. We have some food items we want to give them.
“We have cash gifts to give them as well including mobile phones for communication.
“Beyond these gifts that we are giving them, we also want to support them emotionally with some words of affirmation,” she said.
Agbebiyi, who noted that the two-year-old foundation was open to partnership to reach more people, said that the participants of the event were drawn from five different communities in Lagos.
She said that the foundation would be holding a monthly widows meeting to help address problem of depression and loneliness among them.
Speaking on the theme, “Managing Depression, Anxiety and Loneliness”, the Guest Speaker and mental health expert, Mr Marcellinus Aguwa, said widows and single mothers might be faced the feelings of withdrawal, hopelessness, worthlessness.
Aguwa, a Clinical Psychologist, Federal Neuropsychiatric, Hospital, Yaba, said that widows and single mothers needed to be given hope and support to prevent depression.
“They will be having this thought of what the future holds for them. They need the support because it will help them to live on, carry on with their life and then not relent.
“The message today is to give them the hope to understand that this is a phase of life,” he said
Describing depression as a global phenomenon, Aguwa decried that many victims were hiding themselves because of stigma and culture.
Urging victims to seek help early, the mental health expert said that psychiatrists, psychologists, faith-based centers and others must step in.
Participants, who took turns to share their experiences of pains and struggles, became emotional sobbing.
A 32-year-old widow of seven years and mother of two, Mrs Bakilis Kazeem, who became emotional, appreciated the founder for the gesture.
“I have been struggling to make sure that my children go to school and become successful. I go about washing clothes, fetching water for people and doing other house chores to survive,” the widow said.
A 43-year-old single-mother of two, Mrs Mariam Oke, commended the foundation for having the mind of making widows and single mothers to happy on Valentine’s Day.
Another single-mother, Mrs Adetoun Obakoya, who noted that her husband abandoned the house when their second daughter was impregnated, said she has been carrying the burden alone.
