By SAM EYOBOKA

When these children get married my husband and I are the ones to represent their parents. I didn’t adopt them legally. It’s like we are fostering them and that is what we are encouraging Nigerians to do. There could be someone out there who has a dream to look after orphans but may not have the resources to establish a big orphanage, he or she could consider fostering two or more children.

Families like that can come forward and say; we can take care of two children or more and still allow them to have relationship with their biological parents. When you do that, you are rendering service to the society; because all the children on the streets have parents but because their parents cannot afford to care for them they are released to the streets to fend for themselves.

So, this is what we are trying to do and I believe that this is the next stage of the crusade to rid our society of street kids. I appeal to Nigerians to open our homes and foster children, educate them and integrate them back into society as worthy citizens that would not come back and torment our children and the society. I think this is the next stage that we can get to in Nigeria.

This is what happens in Europe. You can never see children on European streets because such children are in foster homes, although they get moved from foster parent to foster parents, because children like to be with their own parents but where their parents cannot afford such they begin to grudge society. They think its society’s fault that their parents could not look after them; but if at some point some parents can stand in the gap, I think we can have a better society.

*Dele George

How do they get to the homes?
All children are brought to the orphanage through the Police or the Ministry of Youth and Social Development. Right now, if any child is found in Lagos State he/she is taken to the Police station because it is a criminal offence to abandon a child and the Police will inform Social Welfare who will locate that child to nearest orphanage home to where that child is found. A Good Nigerian should not take a child straight to an orphanage. It should rather be taken to the nearest Police station so that a crime diary can be opened for that child to show what happened.

Since 1994 how many children have passed through this home?
In fact; hundreds of children have passed through this home, because some stay two days, some a week, others months and some others a few hours. In some cases, the Police can call us to say that the child that was lost at Ojuelegba, the parents have shown up and we should bring the child back to the Police. So, there have been very many children that have passed through here.

Are the children expected to stay permanently here?
We don’t want them to remain permanently. That is not our vision. Our vision is to reform them and reintegrate them back to the society and the way of reintegrating them is through adoption and fostering. Adoption is doing very well now; we want fostering to do very well as well in Nigeria.

Because are many Nigerians that have lots of money and have big houses; they will say to you that all their children are grown up and they are looking for company. Such people should go for fostering. They should look for a good government registered orphanage and have establish a relationship with the child and once that is done go for approval from the state government, take the child home and take good care of such child.

Apart from sending them to school what other things do you offer these children?
We are spiritual organization so there is a lot of spiritual impartation on the children. We have fellowship every Sunday; all the children come together on that day to have fellowship. What we are trying to do is to raise them up in the way of the Lord. We want them to be able to impart the love we have imparted to them back to the society. So, there is a lot of coaching on how to relate to people and we also get them to go out and to visit places. They get invited to parties. The whole idea is that we don’t want to isolate them, but reintegrate them to the society. We encourage them in all kinds of extra-curricula activities. We encourage them to read books; we have a library because we want them to be book readers.

They engage in singing, acting and generally to display their natural talents so that if they are academically inclined their other endowments can be developed to make worthy living for themselves in future. Some are engaged in vocational institutions to learn catering, fashion designing and such like. They have different dreams. I have some that have gone to PEFTI to learn acting and such related trades. We try to stir up their natural skills because I believe that is what God has given to everybody. We sponsor them through donations that we get and some sponsors come to take the responsibility.

What is your advice for Nigerian women who still abandon their child?
I will say there is no need to abandon a child because it is criminal. God will see such act as murder if that child should die. That means that woman has committed murder. A child is given to us as a gift and not only as a reward to that woman but a reward to the society. It’s the responsibility of the society to take care of these children and that is why we have lots of registered orphanage homes in Lagos State.

I also thank God that the Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development has been doing a great work in rehabilitating women by giving them help. If a woman has any problem with her children or problem with a new born child all she needs to do is to walk into the Ministry of Youth and Social Development and talk to the officer in charge and I am sure they will help them. There is no need to abandon a child now. Before they used to abandon child because they were afraid of persecution by their families or frown at them or Police will arrest them; but now government can take that child away from you and take you through counselling. So, there is help.