By  Bose  Adelaja

Imagine a woman being thrown out of her matrimonial home because nature did not bestow on her  male children! Imagine a woman being separated from her biological children because of natural circumstances beyond her control. 

This was the ordeal of a Nigerian mother who with endurance, perseverance and humility weathered the storm to raise a good and enviable family.

During her travail, one of her children, Grace Akinyemi, was compelled to live with a relative where she was subjected to ill-treatment.   Her challenges in her early school days in Maroko area of Lagos grew from one to another including unavailability of school fees, uniform and educational materials, among others.

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In spite of these tough experiences, God was faithful to Grace and she had the opportunity to travel to London, England for further studies where she is doing fine as a child worker.

She has obtained Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Assessment, Level 3 Diploma in Health and Social  Care and presently, she is studying International Development with NGO Management.

Due to her tough beginning, she made it as a point of service to humanity that she will use her resources to support the needy at any point in time.

One day, she visited a secondary school in Lagos, Nigeria, where she came across a female student who hailed from a very poor background. The girl-child’s cloth was stained with menstrual flow but during interaction with Grace, she discovered that the girl could not afford to buy sanitary towel to take care of herself and this response did not go down well with Grace who quickly reflected on her childhood predicament.

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Immediately, she took up the responsibility towards ameliorating the girl’s suffering and as soon as she arrived in London, her spirit of giving was ignited and since then, she has been doing that without relenting and today, she has a philanthropic organisation, Shallom Link Mission, SLM, where her vision is being accomplished.

On her recent visit to Nigeria, she remembered her covenant of putting smiles on the faces of the needy and she tried this time, to reach out to about 500 students of Iwerekun Community Junior Secondary School, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos with sanitary wares and other materials. 

According to her, the donation which costs millions of naira was part of her service to humanity. She said: “I am always touched each time I see anybody passing through the same dilemma I experienced as a child and I am trusting God to give me the grace to further this vision of giving back to my community,”

She said the organisation founded in April 2015, is a charitable organisation which aims to improve the plight of impoverished communities  in the area of health, education and general welfare of the masses. ‘’We support the less privileged ones in the society as the inspiration is derived from the desire to ensure that people do not have to go through difficulties before they become great in life.”

While distributing the items to the students, Grace said the gesture was to put smiles on the faces of the less privileged students. She said: “The programme with the theme: My Hygiene, My Pride, focuses on the young girls across underdeveloped communities. I don’t want them to experience my kind of difficulties as a child, ‘’

The philanthropist took time to sensitise the students on health awareness on menstruation, counselling and care support.

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Such gesture has been replicated in Ghana while the team is building a school and health clinic in Dongo, Ibeju-Lekki to ensure children can have access to quality education and good healthcare.

In a chat with Vanguard, some of the students expressed satisfaction at the gesture saying the items will be well utilised. Oyinbo Grace, Salami Suliat and Abegunde Rukayat who were between 15 and 17 years of age said they were yet to have full knowledge on menstruation which the philanthropist had taken her time to explain.