By OLALERE FAGBOLA
Every December, the world wraps itself again in the familiar glitter of Christmas—lights shimmering, carols rising, markets buzzing, and travellers hurrying home to loved ones.
Yet somewhere on a distant stage in 1984, a question was asked that still echoes painfully across continents today: “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” Written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to draw global attention to the Ethiopian famine, the question was far more than geographical. It was moral. It asked humanity to remember those who suffer in a season meant for joy.
Four decades later, that question belongs to Nigeria more than ever. Do They Know It’s Christmas… in the Widows’ Lonely Quarter?
For many widows, Christmas is not a season of celebration—it is a season of remembrance. Once the “ember months” roll in—September, October, November—memories begin to sting. And when December finally arrives, the widow remembers with a quiet ache: the warm embrace that vanished the day her breadwinner departed to the great beyond.
Do widows know it’s Christmas? Do they know it in the home where loneliness hangs heavy, where a child asks silent questions only his mother can answer?
Do They Know It’s Christmas… on the Roads?
Christmas also carries memories of the road tragedies that have claimed countless breadwinners. Many widows still recount how reckless drivers—rushed, overloaded, and desperate to “make enough before year-end”—turned joyous journeys into lifelong sorrow.
Nigeria’s highways often become theatres of corruption and tragedy during the Yuletide.
Overloaded buses.
Drivers pushed by greed.
Traffic officers who look away.
And families shattered forever.
Do they really know it’s Christmas?
A Different Story in Kwara: When Compassion Wears a Human Face
Thanks to the “Nightingale of Kwara,” Madam Funmilayo Ajagbe, Convener of the Message of Salvation Women Ministry (Obinrin Oniwarere—Virtuous Woman), widows in their hundreds have begun to say yes—
Yes, we know it’s Christmas… because someone remembered us.
Over the last twenty years, more than ₦60 million has been poured into bringing relief, dignity and joy to widows across Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
Under her yearly initiative, the “Christmas Give Them Relief Programme for the Widows,” Madam Ajagbe has consistently distributed foodstuffs, clothing, and financial gifts to widows drawn from various denominations—including non-Christians—every December.
Since its launch in 2005, Christmas for widows has no longer been a painful reminder of:
Empty dining tables
Silent rooms
School fees no one knows how to pay.
It has become a season of comfort, community, and answered prayers.
A Week of Care, Counsel and Christmas Hope
The one-week relief programme offers:
Free medical tests by professionals
Lectures, Bible studies and quiz competitions
Gospel music by the ministry’s choristers
Exhortations by invited ministers
Here, celebration has not overshadowed compassion.
The loud festivities have not drowned the quiet suffering of elderly widows who gather with trembling hope.
Their testimonies reveal a truth: the forgotten have finally being remembered.
Testimonies of Lives Transformed:
Lydia Fatigun, 67, who lost her husband in 1986, first attended the programme in 2014—“in tears,” she recalled. Today, her sorrow has turned to joy.
“The Ministry is advancing us in the way of the Lord. We are taught to be ‘widows indeed’—chaste, disciplined, and guiding our children in godliness.”
Another widow, Mrs. Olawepo Sola Taiye, highlighted Mrs. Ajagbe’s emphasis on salvation: “She teaches us to read the Bible and not to see widowhood as a crime. She has assisted many of us, even with our children’s school fees.”
The 2025 edition of the programme was especially remarkable for its smooth, well-organised distribution at ECWA IDCC Event Hall, Challenge, Ilorin—free of stampede, crowding, or chaos.
A Christmas Call to the Church and Society
In her sermon, Ajagbe charged churches to ensure that Christmas reflects Christmanliness—living out the compassion of Christ. “If Christmas is the announcement that God stepped into human suffering, then our celebration must reflect that divine compassion. It must reach beyond our decorated homes into the harsh realities of those for whom life has become a daily struggle.”
The Ministry’s Secretary, Mrs. Mary Oladele, described Ajagbe as a “true missionary and philanthropist” who “will not rest until the last person in the queue is attended to.” She added: “Ministries that support widows, churches that extend relief, NGOs that enter hard places, and individuals who show kindness—these are the true carriers of the Christmas message.”
Because of them, she said, “Even the hurting can say, ‘Yes, we know it’s Christmas—because someone remembered us.’”
She appealed to the Kwara State Government, NGOs, and public-spirited Nigerians to support the initiative so more widows can be reached in the future.
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