**donates food items
By Gift Chapi Odekina
In the spirit of the Yuletide, the House of Representatives Press Corps has donated various items to the Abuja Children’s Home, Old Karu, in the Abuja.
Items donated included bags of rice, cartons of noodles and clothings among others.
The Corps also made a cash donation for the treatment of a spinal cord ailment of one of the children in the home.
Chairman of the Corps, Comrade Grace Ike, who led members to make the donation said the gesture was in the spirit of Christmas, which is to share.
Her words, “We are members of the House of Representatives Press Corps. You can call us parliamentary reporters and we feel it is the right thing to extend our hands of fellowship to people. It is Christmas and we all know Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. A lot of people would say journalists, what are we doing here. Our own is to inform, educate, enlighten and let the people know what is happening.
“We are the conscience of the society and that is why we are here. So we have our token to present. Do not look at the quantity of what we are giving. Look at the intention behind what we are doing. Like I would always say, it is good to give and the greatest of it all is love and love simply means affection.
“Christmas is the time to share love, to visit one another and show affection to one another. So we chose to come here to show that we are brothers and sisters. We love all of them. These children are the leaders of tomorrow and that is the more reason why we identify with all of them. It is also part of our civic responsibility and when you talk about civic responsibility it encompasses a wide range of formal and informal activities. It must be intentional. It must be committed. It must be well constructed and the goal of the focus must be a common goal which is to reach out or meet a certain desire or demand and that is why, we the members of the House of Representatives Press Corps are here.
“We also want to use this medium to reach out to people. You have outlined some challenges to include security and feeding. We would use our medium which is to report and to enlighten and to spread the news and let people know the challenges you are facing you are facing currently. We would also let well meaning Nigerians know that they need to extend their hands of fellowship. It should not not just be during Christmas alone. We want a situation where the condition you meet yourself must be an improved one.
“Nigeria would be a better place if everyone comes out and are happy. We want to say God will reward you. It is not an easy task to take care of children and I keep saying it. We must commend you for what you are doing. We do not have enough to give. We do not have abundantly enough to give, but the little we have look at the intention behind it.
“Do not look at the quantity like I earlier said but the intention which is to show love and care for the needy and that is why we are here. So once again we want to wish you a merry Christmas. It is the Christmas season. Love is in the air. We would make it a tradition. By God’s grace, we are not going to stop here. We would be coming more frequently to extend our hands of fellowship. We believe giving is good and when you give you get enough in return. May God reward the kids. They are the leaders of tomorrow. We pray that someday we see them as President, Speaker of the house, Senate President and so on. They would be of help to all of us. We use this opportunity to call on the Federal Government that your challenge be met very soon. It is an appeal. So we would use our professional tools to reach and let people know that the issue of security and feeding is a major challenge.”
The Administrator of the Home, Musa Danjuma Yakubu, expressed gratitude for the gesture.
He called on well meaning individuals and organizations to emulate the gesture.
He highlighted the challenges of the Home to include feeding, operational vehicles, perimeter fencing, among others.
He said, “We appreciate your coming and the most important thing is that it is not as little as you see. We appreciate the effort of your people. There is nothing that is too small for us. Every other thing, whether food, school fees and all those things we appreciate and it is people like you among other people who come to help with one thing other the other.
“For the school, we have students that are even in the university and one graduated and is already working. Another is on four hundred level and one would be going to the university in Nasarawa State University by February next year if there is life. So we appreciate your coming. As for feeding, well, what you have brought we would use it judiciously buy the challenges are surplus. Security wise just like somebody said he was here ten years ago, the perimeter fencing is breaking down. And we have a building that is almost sinking, the girls hostel. It was donated by one organization but I think there is a problem with the water system. I know water must find its level so it is sinking.
“We are also hoping that with time somebody would take up the responsibility of renovating them. And if you look a few metres away, it was recently commissioned on the 16th of December 2022, a skills acquisition centre donated by the NDIC (Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC). Part of it has been completed. We want to equip it.
“We have some tailors among our children. Some do shoemaking. The one I am wearing was done by one of our children in this home. He does it once in a while he is still in secondary school. We have a lady that just graduated from hairdressing.
“Other challenges are if you look at our vehicles they are almost obsolete. We do not even have utility vehicles. We have buses. One is grounded and another is working but just half way it is down. So we need vehicles.
“Also the hostel, well the hostels are in order. The female hostel is there. The male hostel is there and we have nannies that take care of them. They do shifts and once in a week they go. We have a dining hall that they gather to eat. Some of the children go to secondary school. We have a physically challenged that attends school in Kuje. So she goes there and we look for nanny that would take care of her. And one goes to a secondary school nearby. But the primary school is just within the home.
“So these are basic things that we have. And we have a hall. Sometimes we rent it out for activities. The only thing is that we do not allow alcohol here so that it does not have a negative effect on our children.”
