JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Monday, July 7, 2025

Support group calls for more help for women

by

20 days ago
20250617
Widow Support TT president Soraya Nanan, left, and vice president Annmarie Hassanali, right, present a hamper to Geneive Pierre at the South Oropouche Community Centre yesterday. Pierre is now staying at the facility after her South Oropouche home collapsed.

Widow Support TT president Soraya Nanan, left, and vice president Annmarie Hassanali, right, present a hamper to Geneive Pierre at the South Oropouche Community Centre yesterday. Pierre is now staying at the facility after her South Oropouche home collapsed.

RISHI RAGOONATH

Se­nior Re­porter

sascha.wil­son@guardian.co.tt

Wid­ow Sup­port TT is call­ing for an in­crease in the wid­ow’s grant and stronger sup­port for women who, af­ter los­ing their hus­bands, are forced to fight cost­ly prop­er­ty bat­tles—with some even fac­ing gun vi­o­lence in their strug­gle to keep their fam­i­ly homes.

Pres­i­dent So­raya Nanan and vice pres­i­dent An­n­marie Has­sanali were speak­ing with re­porters yes­ter­day at the Oropouche Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­tre, af­ter de­liv­er­ing two food ham­pers for Geneive Pierre, a wid­ow who has been liv­ing tem­porar­i­ly at the cen­tre.

Nanan ex­plained that those were the first of sev­er­al ham­pers and oth­er items they would be dis­trib­ut­ing to wid­ows and needy fam­i­lies for this month, in com­mem­o­ra­tion of In­ter­na­tion­al Wid­ow’s Day on June 23. This year’s theme is Or­phans in Need.

Formed since 2014, Nanan said they as­sist with var­i­ous items, de­pend­ing on the need, such as elec­tron­ic de­vices and school­books dur­ing COVID-19.

Ex­plain­ing that her group tries to help women with grief and mov­ing for­ward with their lives, she said while a hot­line is avail­able through the Min­istry of So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Servies, wid­ows com­plained that ac­cess is dif­fi­cult.

Nanan said they would be seek­ing a meet­ing with the min­is­ter or the per­ma­nent sec­re­tary to dis­cuss the is­sues plagu­ing wid­ows. She said they would be ask­ing them to con­sid­er in­creas­ing the Wid­ow’s Grant.

“It is un­for­tu­nate the amount that they are get­ting that it is not suf­fi­cient to take care of them­selves, es­pe­cial­ly a wid­ow who had to seek al­ter­na­tive ac­com­mo­da­tions...find a place to rent, send their child to school.”

She said it is al­so dif­fi­cult to ac­cess grief coun­selling through the min­istry. Mean­while, Has­sanali said wid­ows ex­pe­ri­ence a trau­ma­tis­ing and trans­for­ma­tive process af­ter their hus­bands die. She es­ti­mat­ed that wid­ows fac­ing threats to their lives due to prop­er­ty bat­tles ac­count for five per­cent of the gun vi­o­lence in the coun­try.

“We have a per­cent­age of gun vi­o­lence against wid­ow women in set­tle­ment of es­tate. We are work­ing on a pre­sen­ta­tion, hope­ful­ly it will get the at­ten­tion. Wid­ows’ lives mat­ter, but some­times we are left on the back burn­er. No­body checks up on you.”

She not­ed that a lot of women faced with prop­er­ty bat­tle walk away, but it is un­fair to them. “There are re­al cas­es of gun vi­o­lence, re­sult­ing in death of wid­ows and fam­i­ly in es­tate set­tle­ment.” Has­sanali ad­vised women to know their rights, adding that their group al­so pro­vides a le­gal aid clin­ic.

Hope­ful that their group would get a spon­sor to help them roll out their plans, she said apart from the var­i­ous do­na­tion ef­forts, they want to help women be­come in­de­pen­dent and find their pur­pose. Those in­ter­est­ed in reach­ing the group can do so through their so­cial me­dia pages, 689-8225 or wid­owtt@gmail.com.

Pray­ing for a home soon

Mean­while, Pierre, who has been stay­ing at the Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­tre with her eight-year-old daugh­ter and nine-year-old grand­son for more than two weeks now was in tears yes­ter­day.

While grate­ful for the as­sis­tance she has been re­ceiv­ing, Pierre ex­pressed frus­tra­tion over the sit­u­a­tion. “Is just de­lay in­to de­lay. I don’t know what go­ing on. No­body call­ing me. I am hav­ing pa­tience but at the same time I am very un­com­fort­able with my kids. They back out to school.”

De­spite her strug­gles, in­clud­ing the death of her hus­band two years ago, Pierre said al­ways tried to be in­de­pen­dent, but now she feels help­less.

Siparia May­or Dood­nath Mayrhoo, who has been as­sist­ing her since Guardian Me­dia high­light­ed her dire sit­u­a­tion, as­sured that they were work­ing as fast as pos­si­ble. He said a good Samar­i­tan has of­fered to pur­chase the land for them to erect a pre­fab house, but they were in the process of get­ting the land sur­veyed. He said they were hop­ing to have her home ready by June 29.


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored

Today's
Guardian

Publications

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

The Executive of the National Parang Association 2025-27. Back row, from left: Kervin Preudhomme, assistant secretary; Shaquille Headley, committee member; Cheriese Pierre, committee member; Lisa Lee, trustee; Joanne Briggs, PRO; Yarelis Touissant, committee member; William Calliste, trustee. Front row, from left: Jenais Carter, secretary; Alicia Jaggasar, president; Henrietta Carter, vice president; Joseph Bertrand, youth officer. Missing: Kerrylee Chee Chow, treasurer; Chevone Pierre, committee member.

Jaggasar returns as National Parang president

Yesterday
Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Charles Town junior drummers and dancers take to the stage

Jamaican Maroons celebrate, question land rights

Yesterday
Sherron Harford

Sherron Harford

Sherron Harford

Sherron Harford

Sherron Harford’s holistic mission

to transform the lives of girls

Yesterday
Despite finding out just three days earlier—on December 23—that I had breast cancer, I still got dressed and showed up on December 26, Boxing Day, for a birthday party. I didn’t go to escape the truth. I went to remind myself I was still here, still living, still me.

Despite finding out just three days earlier—on December 23—that I had breast cancer, I still got dressed and showed up on December 26, Boxing Day, for a birthday party. I didn’t go to escape the truth. I went to remind myself I was still here, still living, still me.

Despite finding out just three days earlier—on December 23—that I had breast cancer, I still got dressed and showed up on December 26, Boxing Day, for a birthday party. I didn’t go to escape the truth. I went to remind myself I was still here, still living, still me.

Despite finding out just three days earlier—on December 23—that I had breast cancer, I still got dressed and showed up on December 26, Boxing Day, for a birthday party. I didn’t go to escape the truth. I went to remind myself I was still here, still living, still me.

Nicole Drayton’s breast cancer journey–Fear, faith, and fighting back

Yesterday