International Widows’ Day: How Maitri rescues widows from despair

ONE day, an old woman was slapped on the face by her own son. He pulled her by the neck, dragged her out of the house and left her outside on the streets. He had abandoned his mother and the woman was stranded with no one to help her. The old woman started crying and asked God “where should I go?” 

This is what happens to many old people across the country who are abandoned by their children. The situation for widowed women is even more severe. Left on the streets, these women are considered an easy target for criminals who abuse, mistreat and leave them in a condition that is often worse than death.

International Widows’ Day

Each year on June 23rd, International Widows’ Day is observed to bring to attention the suffering endured by 258 million widows around the world. International Widows’ Day aims to give them a platform to voice their concerns and share their experiences. Through these observations, we are better equipped to provide support that is specific to the needs of widows from particular communities, regions or backgrounds.

India has 56 million widows, according to the 2011 Census, and this number shot up after the COVID-19 pandemic claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands across the country. The sudden loss of their spouses, with whom they have spent most of their lives, is difficult for women to endure and recover from. While dealing with this devastating loss, many widows come to the sudden realization that they have also lost the person they have been financially dependent on. 

But their struggles do not end there. In this distressing situation, widows are known to have their finances, property and basic rights snatched from them by family members. These women are then abandoned on the streets or taken to other locations far from their families whom they have loved and cared for all their lives. This is the condition that Maitri finds these abandoned mothers in, desperate for someone to help them understand what has happened to them. 

Maitri: saving abandoned widows

The old woman who was left on the streets by her son is named Yashoda Devi. Her future looked frightening until she was rescued by Maitri, an NGO that provides shelter, nutritious food, assisted-living services and emotional support for abandoned widows through Project Jeevan. Founded in 2005, Maitri runs an ashram in Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh that houses and cares for widows with no home or family to look after them. 

Maitri’s co-founder Winnie Singh shares in this heartbreakingly honest video that some of the 150 elderly women at the Maitri home have spent their lives in a one-bedroom home to take care of their children and did so with happiness. But when their children are grown, they often cite a “lack of space” as the reason they are kicking their widowed mothers out of the house. 

Before these widows were rescued by Maitri, they were found sleeping on rags on the streets or in animal shelters. The women beg for some food or water from people walking past them and when they are ignored, their hearts are broken. But they have no other means to find food except to beg for people’s charity and hope that someone will help them.

Maitri: giving widows wholesome and fulfilling lives

Winnie Singh and the Maitri team know the importance of helping the 150 abandoned mothers understand that they can find joy in their lives once again. Within the four walls of the Maitri ashram, the women have formed a strong bond with each other and consider themselves to be one family. In their new home, they are assisted by Maitri who gives them the chance to be each other’s companions and overcome the pain of abandonment together.

Maitri’s Project Jeevan has constructed a home for these abandoned widows where they are given a safe home to live in, fresh and nutritious meals to eat everyday, clean clothes to wear, medical attention and activities to improve their mental and emotional health. In addition to the 150 widows living at the Maitri ashram, the NGO also looks after the needs of the other women in need by giving them warm clothing and blankets during the harsh winters in Vrindavan.

But the rising costs mean that Maitri needs your support to continue giving these abandoned mothers a home. Donate to their fundraiser to help the NGO afford the healthy food, medical treatment and other services needed to take care of these widows suffering from neglect and abandonment.

The stigma of widowhood

The taboos against widows and widowhood still persist despite laws that protect women whose spouses have died. Forced to wear white, live in seclusion and remain in perpetual grief, the “punishment” for being a widow is still enforced upon many women. In addition to caring for widows, Maitri also carries out much-needed awareness campaigns to educate people on the struggles faced by widows in India and on the steps we can take to ease their suffering. This education is crucial to improve the lives of abandoned widows and end the stigma against their widowhood. 

Without Maitri, many of the 150 abandoned widows currently being cared for by the NGO would be forced to beg on the streets from passersby or at the gates of houses. When you donate to Maitri’s Project Jeevan, you help abandoned widows and take care of their basic needs. Donate now to Maitri’s fundraiser on Give and provide mistreated widows with the care they need to live with joy and dignity. Your charitable donation to their fundraiser will help abandoned widows continue to have a home to live in and a family to spend their lives with.