I was a ''wife'' and now I'm a ''witch'' because he's no longer there

Marriage, a legal union between men and women, makes a substantial contribution to the development of the two partners who have chosen to live in a relationship. However, this happiness shared and lived with a certain intensity knows, as the case may be, a bitter collapse when one of the partners passed from life to death, leaving suddenly the other in total disarray.

The death of the husband, according to customary practices or ethnic groups to which the deceased belongs, could very quickly turn into a nightmare for the widowed woman.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, widows are subjected to social pressures that are conformist or alienating and that keep them in a dereliction. These affairs don’t contribute in no way to the emancipation of widows who find themselves at the limit \"slaves\" of their in-laws or simply left behind.

If in the West, the widowed woman has managed to forge a respectable status thanks to the laws and rules in force, whose scrupulous respect is effective, the fact remains that the situation of that which is in the other regions the globe, particularly in Africa and Asia, remains precarious.

In Central Africa, in some ethnic groups in Congo, after the death of the husband, the woman is automatically put on the floor. Neither she nor her children, in case she had any with the deceased husband, are entitled to the inheritance of widows It is rather the nephew of the deceased husband and more precisely the boy of the husband's sister who inherits all the property of the deceased. Why such a thing? Indeed, according to customary beliefs, there is no guarantee that the children who had the husband with his wife before dying are indeed his because she could have deceived with a lover during all this time. As a result, the husband's sister, who in her case has kept her child in her womb for nine months, has full credibility as to her child's belonging to the family. Thus, it is this child who inherits the property of his uncle. As for the wife and children of the deceased, they are left to their own destiny.

In bushi culture in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the practice of levirate is a real problem for widowed women. In fact, when the husband dies, the family imposes on the widow one of the deceased's direct brothers or cousins, nephews ... as a husband, always to keep her in the family with or against her will. This practice, along with its corollary of sexually transmitted diseases, is helping to increase the rate of people infected with HIV / AIDS and other STIs in Africa.

The population is 95% Bantu, according to this custom a muntu (an African) does not die alone, there must always be a person behind the death of a muntu. When the husband dies, it is his wife who always wears the hat that is to say it is her who is acquitted responsible for the death of her husband. More seriously, these families manage to take the children of the woman by force and then drive her out of the home.

In view of all the above, no woman chooses to be a widow, no woman desires to be abandoned by her love. For this purpose, judicial authorities and other politicians in the DRC where widows experience persistent and notorious humiliation must take the bull by the horns by fighting against these bad practices that contribute to the alienation of women in general - the driving force behind the development of all nations. Effective struggle would require abundant decision-making in the sense of legislation. In other words, laws must be passed to protect widowed women against certain regrettable practices of our traditions and customs.

However, one thing is to vote laws but something else is to ensure their strict and flawless application.

The 21st century is a century when women must not remain under the influence of cultural alibis. It is great time for the widowed woman to stand up and demand her freedom and her rights. Being an actress of positive development, I am personally committed to accompany the government or non-governmental organizations for any action taken in favor of widowed women.