…visits sick kids in hospital

By Marie-Therese Nanlong

Jos – The Plateau State Chairperson, International Federation of Women Lawyers, FIDA Nigeria, Ngozi Achilefu has appealed to parents to be good role models and give proper upbringing to their children to avoid them growing up and perpetrating sexual and gender-based violence in society.

The FIDA Chairperson spoke in Jos on Friday when she led her members to the Paediatric Ward 16, also known as FIDA Ward, at the Jos University Teaching Hospital, JUTH, to visit the patients and caregivers with gifts ahead of the Christmas celebration.

Achilefu, accompanied by the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA Chairman, Jos branch, Leah Hassan, said adopting Ward 16 was a way of always identifying with patients who get medical care in the Ward and letting them know that they are loved and remembered in their trying moments and prayed for a speedy recovery for the kids.

She said, “This is a part of humanitarian activities, we care for women and children, not just the healthy ones but also those who are sick. We came with food items, toiletries, beverages, snacks, detergent, and other essential items to put smiles on the faces of the children and their caregivers. I encourage everyone to extend a hand of help in any way they can to people around and make them smile in this season.”

On children’s upbringing, she stated, “When talking about violence, whether perpetrated by men or by women, somebody brought these people up. There was a time when they were children. So my advice to parents is that if you won’t be there for your child, to be a friend to your child, to bring up your child the way your child should go, there’s no need to have them.

“Don’t bring up children and leave them on the streets. Don’t bring up children and allow them to care for themselves.
Parents should not set the ground of example because these children if you look at them, they don’t even care about what you teach them; they copy from you. So parents should be careful what they do in their homes so that the children will not copy and go out there to display it, and it will maybe land some of them in correctional services. Let them take the responsibility of training their children to reduce gender-based violence because they are going to be adults in the future.”

The Chairman of NBA, Jos branch, Leah Hassan, who is also a member of FIDA, commended the women lawyers for their philanthropic services to society, saying humanitarian service is the heartbeat of God and as mothers, they care for the well-being of the children who are the future leaders.

Also commending the gesture, the Chief Medical Director of JUTH, Dr. Pokop Bupwatda represented by the Deputy Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, DCMAC (Training and Education), Dr. Bwatyum Gyang noted, “Getting medical care is getting more and more expensive. Each day, we see many patients who come in and cannot even afford hospital bills; when you make a diagnosis, you know what to do; the expertise is there, but then there is no money to be able to get the things that are required to do that.

“Whenever people come and give gifts to patients, we are deeply grateful, because we know that it is going to alleviate their suffering in some way. The money that they would probably use to buy some of the food items and the toiletries that were brought for them, they would be able to channel it to get one or two more medications, and treatment can continue. So we believe that it serves a very significant role in alleviating the suffering of patients.”

All 17 patients in the Ward were presented with the hampers, and the gifts were extended to a nearby Ward as the parents expressed joy at the gesture, with some saying the gifts were answered prayers.