Jasmine's Place Issue No. 2 - November/December 2012 | Page 20

An … Empowered Widow INSPIRATIONAL The story served as an encouragement to me because even though I wasn’t initially aware of my own value, I knew that I would know in time to come. Even though I’ve moved on from there with 2 other books published, I find myself coming back to the story of The Widow’s Jar of Oil, perhaps it could be because I have developed a leadership programme from that story or it could simply be that there are more nuggets to learn from the story and the life of the widow. By Jacqueline Nwokeji-Ani When I wrote my first book titled ‘The Widow’s Jar of Oil’, it was at a very challenging period of my life. I was battling with debt and did not know what valuable resources I had in my own house to get me out of my own predicament. For a woman to take her rightful place in society, I must add as a woman and not as a man, she would need to really grasp this issue of the emotions. It something that has been used to get us down so that we don’t rise up in the roles we have in society. If you’re a woman who submits to her emotions, the chances are that you would probably be in a reoccurring cycle with no form of progression until you understand that you and you alone have control JASMINE'S PLACE 20 20