Widows across the globe remembered at International Widows Day Concert
Howard Lake | 26 June 2008 | News
Trafalgar Square, London played host to one of the capital’s most colourful free concerts on Monday 23rd June 2008, to mark the occasion of International Widows Day and help raise awareness of a cause that is gaining global momentum. Over 300 celebrities, VIP’s and high profile dignitaries from the UK and abroad joined in unison with members of the public, to remember the plight that widows face across the world.
Staged by the Loomba Trust, a UK-based charity which fights to improve the position of widows in the developing world, the concert featured an international line up of entertainment, including critically acclaimed Icelandic opera singer Cortes; Bhangra music legends, Malkit Singh and Channi Singh; Bollywood dancing sensation, Honey Kalaria; female Bhangra vocalist, Mona Singh; and an array of vibrant dancers from the Indian Subcontinent and the UK.
Hosted by GMTV presenter, Clare Nasir, the concert was opened by The Loomba Trust’s Founder and Chairman, Raj Loomba, and President, Cherie Blair, with a ceremonial release of white doves from the stage, accompanied by other key public figures and patrons of The Loomba Trust, including respected broadcaster and journalist, Sir Mark Tully.
Advertisement
The Loomba Trust, which was founded in 1997, supports practical projects to help thousands of widows and their children in Asia and Africa as well as campaigning to push the plight of widows up the international agenda. It is largely because of the efforts of The Loomba Trust that 23rd June is now celebrated in 17 countries around the world as International Widows Day.
This is helping to remedy a position where the plight of widows in many developing countries is often forgotten. It is estimated that there are over 100 million widows worldwide who suffer dreadful prejudice and discrimination – denied their right to inheritance, abused, shunned and pushed to the very fringes of society. And, of course, it is their children who also suffer, often being brought up in such poverty that they can’t afford schooling. This cycle of deprivation is a major obstacle to tackling global poverty and meeting the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.
Mr Loomba, Founder and Chairman, The Loomba Trust comments, “It’s a travesty that the developed world has overlooked for so long the sufferings of widows and their children in many parts of the world. The injustices and hardships that they face go beyond belief and, rather than receiving the aid and support they need, they are subjected to lives of social rejection, alienation and misery.
“The struggles attached to widowhood are universal, and something of which I have personal experience, seeing my own mother struggling to raise myself and my siblings in the harshest of conditions. Into adulthood, I decided that I would do my utmost to eradicate the sufferings of widow communities across the globe, in whatever capacity I can, and I hope to rally support and recognition from nations, rganizations and people across the globe.”
The Loomba Trust, whose patrons include Sir Mark Tully, Alastair Stewart, Yoko Ono and Joanna Lumley, is working to ease the hardships facing widows across the world. It is funding the education of thousands of children of poor widows across India. In partnership with Virgin Unite, Sir Richard Branson’s charity, the Trust supports a community building project for 1,500 orphans with HIV/AIDS in South Africa, The Trust has become a global partner with HRH Prince of Wales’ charity, Youth Business International, and has launched the Loomba Entrepreneur Programmes to help young widows set up businesses in Uganda, Kenya, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
– Ends –
For further information please contact:
Sterling Media
Natasha Mudhar
T: 020 7801 0077
E: na*****@st***********.uk
Notes to Editors:
· Board Members of the Loomba Trust: President – Cherie Blair, Patron-in-Chief – Sir Richard Branson, Founder & Chairman Trustee – Raj Loomba
· Patrons of The Loomba Trust include, The Rt. Hon. Countess Mountbatten of Burma CBE, CD, JP, DL, Sir Sigmund Sternberg O.St.J., K.C.S.G, J.P, Joanna Lumley OBE, Sir Mark Tully OBE, Baroness Helena Kennedy of the Shaws QC, The Rt. Hon. Baroness Betty Boothroyd PC, The Rt. Hon. Baroness Jay of Paddington, Lord Graville Janner of Braunstone QC, Veena, Lady Williams of Mostyn, Sir Rob Young GCMC, Ken Livingstone, Lady Harding, Rt. Hon. Charles Kennedy MP, Stephen O’Brien OBE, Rt. Hon. Baroness Shirley Williams of Crosby, Sir Ian Blair QPM, Baroness Jo Valentine, Ian Barlow, Alastair Stewart, Rt Hon David Cameron MP, Rt Hon Sir Menzies Campbell MP
· Organisations who support include: Citibank, Clegg Gifford & Co, Deloitte, Deutsche Bank, EDF Energy, HSBC, KPMG, Sheetal & Ricky Kapoor, Landsbanki, London First, M J Lonsdale, Mellon, Brijesh Nayyar, Pankaj Nayyar, O’Melveny & Myers LLP, Precis, Rinku Group, TelecityGroup, Torch Partners Corp.Finance Ltd, Ultra Motors, Virgin Atlantic.
_________________________________________________________________
Leena Patel
Sterling Media Ltd,
Sterling House,
11 Calico Row,
Plantation Wharf,
London, SW11 3YH
020 7801 0077
020 7801 0087
le***@st***********.uk
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.