In their quest to provide solace to Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, in Kuchingoro, Abuja, Non-Governmental Organisations, Value Rediscovery International Foundation, Value-Red, in partnership with Sunfair Project, have provided support to residents of the community with food items, clothes and a Christmas party.
Executive Director, Value-Red, Oche Ocheme, told journalists at the event that the theme of the project was “Operation Smile Africa”.
Ocheme said the project was committed to putting smiles on the faces of indigent families during the festive season.
He alluded that some humanitarian works have begun to erode the society, hence, calling for a walk-back to the drawing board of giving back to the society.
According to him, “Some of these values of giving back to the society are becoming eroded. For us this is a way of bringing it back to the society, reaching out to the indigent, people ordinarily who cannot afford a three-square-meal at such a time like this.
“It is a project we took time to plan, you can see how parents, children troop in their numbers to receive. And also the Chief of Kuchingoro/Karamagiji was impressed with the activities and of course extended his gratitude.
“The needs of these people are inexhaustible, there is no form of support from the federal government, it is a private effort. The joy is the smile we saw on the faces of people, we achieved our aim and that is what is important. The government are doing no doubt, but they need to do more.”
Also speaking, Executive Director, Sunfair Project, Onome Tiv-Denedo, described her passion for reaching out to the less privileged as part of her experiences in the past and therefore urged for collaborative effort to give back to the society.
She said, “While growing up, I lost self esteem because I had no shoes and during celebrations I did not have clothes. Almost everyone part of this project or in Value-Red, had similar experiences.
“What we are trying to do is put smiles on people. We are going beyond the borders of just looking at people from the motherless baby homes, there are people who work on the streets that have no home. During this time of celebration, we remember and put a smile on their faces.
“We are looking at their social wellbeing, we are looking at people who are living with disabilities, we are also looking at people that live with one form of violence or the other. This is us trying to give back to the community. As government is doing, we individuals should also learn to give back to the society.”
Speaking in the same vein, an elder and councilman in Kuchingoro community, Ayuba Audu, expressed gratitude to the foundation for its kind gesture, calling on the federal government to come to the aid of the community in providing basic amenities.
“I am impressed with what I have seen because it has given my community morale. Just like what happened last year during the Covid-19 the same people came to deliver items we saw today.
“We cannot say we are not enjoying this government, but what we need from the government now is to put effort to see that people that are living here should enjoy the government also. How they can do it is to construct our roads in Kuchingoro, if they can come and do intervention for us, we would be happy,” he stated.