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Hope for Tanzanian Widows Initiative

Legal aid for preventing tomorrow’s poverty through legal wills today

traditionally still remains handicapped in terms of finance and property inheritance.”

Dr. Elieshi Mungure,
Tumaini University Makumira¹

_{(Image: Herman Pieters, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0, cropped)}

The Problem: Destitute Widows

In the customary practices of many patrilineal societies in Tanzania, a grieving widow is often stripped of her material possessions by her in-laws. ² She is evicted from her home and the land that she shared with her husband and where she raised their children. Typically, the in-laws also take any assets used for income generation for the family. Now, a widow—often with children—lives in destitute poverty.

Thus, a UN report indicates that poverty levels among the widows in Africa are the highest in society. ³

Most Vulnerable

“African widows, irrespective of ethnic groups, are among the most vulnerable and destitute women in the region… The low status, poverty and violence experienced by widows stem from discrimination in inheritance custom, the patriarchal nature of society, and the domination of oppressive traditional practices and customary codes, which take precedence over constitutional guarantees of equality, modern laws and international women’s human rights standards.”⁴

Denied Inheritance

Tamara Ezra states, “Both customary and Islamic law, the two predominant systems of intestate succession in Tanzania, limit women’s inheritance on the basis of their gender. Under customary law, a widow is generally denied inheritance altogether…Tanzania’s [customary] inheritance laws thus impoverish women and leave their survival at the mercy of men.”⁵

OUR VISION

Hope for Tanzanian Widows envisions a future of well-being for widows,
shielded from predatory in-laws through legally binding wills that protects their homes and assets,
thus reducing destitute widowhood.

OUR MISSION

Preventing widows from experiencing destitute poverty through legal wills

CORE VALUES

Biblical mandate to care for the widow and fatherless
Compassion for vulnerable widows and their children
Prevention of destitute widowhood through legal wills
Upholding Tanzanian laws in support of justice for widows
Human rights with the equality of men and women
Leveraging church and community networks for preventing destitute widowhood through legal wills and/or agreements of joint ownership of property

Support Hope for Widows

Bank Name: NMB Bank
Account Name: Hope for Widows Initiative
Account Number: 43210037716
Branch: Arusha Usa-River Branch

Summary

The Hope for Widows Initiative mission is to prevent poverty through equipping households with legal documents that protect widows in accordance with Tanzanian laws. Dissemination of legal aid is targeted through assistance by law students and seeking to leverage the established church, mosque, and community structures.

Main Strategies
for Preventing Poverty

1) Providing free will templates and legal aid information online.
2) Providing legal aid to develop legal wills and agreements for joint ownership of property.
3) Providing biblical teaching for church leaders to counteract cultural taboos against writing wills.
4) Equipping law students to provide legal aid in home churches and communities through mini-legal aid internships.
5) Providing will-writing resources and legal aid to pastors and church leaders.
6) Writing articles for church publications and media to promote the importance of legal wills and inform of free resources.

Elieshi Mungure, “Widowhood: An Experience of Loss from an African Patriarchal Society” (Master’s Thesis, Dubuque, IA, Wartburg Theological Seminary, 2000), 150. ↩︎
Bethany Brown, “‘You Will Get Nothing’: Violations of Property and Inheritance Rights of Widows in Zimbabwe,” Human Rights Watch, January 24, 2017, https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/01/24/you-will-get-nothing/violations-property-and-inheritance-rights-widows-zimbabwe. According to this report, in a contemporary African society, it is a common trend for widows to be victimized by stripping off their property and land assets following the death of their husbands. ↩︎
“Widowhood: Invisible Women, Secluded or Excluded in Women,” Women 2000: United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women, December 2001, 8, 11 ↩︎
“Widowhood: Invisible Women, Secluded or Excluded in Women.” Women 2000: United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women, December 2001, 20. ↩︎
Tamar Ezer, “Inheritance Law in Tanzania: The Impoverishment of Widows and Daughters,” The Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law VII, no. 599 (2006): 601. ↩︎