The Truth About Widowhood in Nigeria

Till Death do us Part  is a thirty minute documentary which tells the heart-wrenching story of three widows in eastern Nigeria who suffered harmful traditional widowhood practices. 

Nneka, a subsistence farmer, Uche, a sports coach, and Celestina, a housewife, give a personal account of the typical trials and demeaning rites that widows are forced to undergo.

The women reveal their deep emotional, psychological, physical, and economic scars as well as the social stigma associated with widowhood. 

Traditional rulers, the clergy, women leaders, lawyers, social workers and other community groups comment on widowhood rites, their history and social implication, as well as the need for change.

The film points to two progressive grassroots organisations that are assisting widows with emotional and legal counsel, training and small-scale loans to help them break the cycle of bondage.

Till Death do us Part was produced by Communicating for Change for the 50^th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with funding from the Television Trust for the Environment & the European Union.  Clips of the film were shown in Paris on December 10, 1998, at a concert to mark the occasion, which was attended by the UN Commissioner for Human Rights.

Till Death Do Us Part won the silver certificate at the 1999 Prix Leonardo International Multimedia Festival in Italy.

Video Clip

This video clip is in realvideo format, and you will need the free realplayer to view it. You can view either:-

• the short clip (45 sec, realvideo format, 810kbytes, 2mins@56kbps), or
• the long clip (3 mins, realvideo format, 2,895kbytes, 10mins@56kbps