Missing Home

You wake up wiping surfaces, looking for patterns to reveal films of dust. You do it because it is what you are used to doing in your own house in Lugbe; it is what your mother did when she returned home to see if surfaces were properly cleaned. It is not always the case that you instinctively reach for a cloth or rag to wipe the surface. The dust tells you there is activity in a space where nothing seems to be happening especially when recently you have been staring at blank screens unable to convert the pictures in your head to words.

There is no muezzin exhaling the greatness of Allah into a microphone early in the morning or the self-assured screeching off of young motorcyclists starting the day. All you hear is the gentle droning sound of the air conditioner or the generators around. There is something sterile about the heart of posh Abuja cured only by the reason you are here: to spend some time with your new partner. You miss the clouds of dust billowing behind motorcycles and cars that go too quickly on unpaved roads. You miss waiting for the woman selling fried akara, sweet potatoes and plantains to show up after seven in the evening with a stool, a big frying pan, a plastic bowl and a tray. You miss being able to spend 250 naira on an enjoyable evening meal.

The sidewalks also make the sterility bearable, especially as you can walk out at past midnight onto the very busy Adetokunbo Ademola Way, some parts of which never sleep. On every street corner in this area there is a police van or truck or car. There are even little cute signposts now with numbers of the Police in that area. The policemen who patrol these streets are unobtrusive, invisible, and when you have to speak to them, even polite. They say hello and how are you and how is work. Not ‘who goes there?’ You calculate the amount of time it would take for a policeman to get to your partner’s door if you called. Three minutes tops you think. Not so in your Lugbe, where it took almost 45 minutes for the Police to crawl up to the scene of mob violence.

On the third day here, brisk walking at night, you begin to get used to it. You adjust to having no reassuring film of dust; no muezzin calls to prayer. The boys who hang around the wide streets begging or selling recharge cards, Orbit chewing gum, Wrizzler, and marijuana start to bother you. Suddenly you worry that they are there milling about, looking desperate. Three boys who have just finished rummaging through a heap of rubbish walk toward you. You feel their eyes. You take your hands out of your pockets and push your chest out a bit. It is what you do when you feel threatened. As they pass by you feel silly, realizing that where you live, you probably wouldn’t have felt threatened or even noticed them.

You return to the outskirts of the city in the early evening of the fourth day. You ask the motorcycle to stop at a little shop so you can buy some moin-moin. As you head home, you dig into the polythene bag and cut a little piece- you have missed it, missed the breeze in your face and the bobbing of your body when the crazy motorcyclists run over the speed bumps. You arrive home just in time for the Maghrib prayers.

“Allahu Akbar,” the muezzin sings as you pay two fifty naira notes. You smile. You know the first thing you will do when you walk into your house: wipe your finger over the reading table to see the story of what happened while you were away.

By Elnathan John

Plenty Passion, Little Profit

The growth of the fashion industry in Abuja is yet to translate to financial success for most operators, especially those providing support services, reports Michaela Moye 

The fashion industry affects everyone, regardless of how unfashionable they deem themselves. Although figures about the worth of the entire industry makes is almost impossible to ascertain, The Economist reported that by early 2011, sales for Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessey (LVMH) – which produces clothing, cosmetics, fashion accessories, jewellery, perfume, spirits, watches, and wines – had risen by 13% to 10.3 billion Euros. By 2012, sales had shot up to 28 billion Euros.

Simply put, there is a lot of money to be made in the fashion and beauty industry and Nigerian designers, models, stylists, and photographers are keying into this. But most of those providing support services in the Abuja fashion industry are yet to strike it big. They are not giving up though and they dream of the day they can turn their passions to profits. We caught up with them to discuss the joys and perils of servicing a growing industry.  

The Photographers

Simi Vijay Afun-Ogidan is quickly gaining prominence on the Abuja photography scene. “I started two years ago,” he says. “I had some free time between youth service and graduation from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University in Bauchi, where I studied Engineering. Within that timeframe I got a camera and hung out with people in the Photo Wagon group, including Aisha Augie-Kuta. From day one, she has been a role model and a source of encouragement and support and has mentored me both in person and through just seeing her work. I always tell people that she pushed me into photography. Another photographer that really inspires me is Tom Saater. Tom and Aisha are the most sincere people I know in photography. They are always willing to help and I can bug them at any time with questions.”

Afun-Ogidan also got lucky early on when Aisha recommended him to her friend K’naan Designs to do a couture abaya shoot, and since then his career has grown. Now his portfolio includes magazine covers and exhibitions. “There are still many aspects of photography that I would like to pay attention to like portraiture and documentary photography.”

In 2012, he participated in a photo exhibition organized by the Australian High Commission, alongside other Abuja photographers like Tersoo Gundu and Saater. But he concedes that the city’s fashion industry is still growing. “It’s a business with a lot of potential for high earnings,” he states. “But it’s more limited here compared to Lagos. Most fashion people are only recognized after heading to Lagos.”

Paul Ukonu, a fashion photographer who relocated to Lagos from Abuja, believes that “Lagos is where the real thing happens. Abuja may have more cash, but Lagos is more profitable.” Swat Afengbai agrees. Also self-taught, she runs a studio in her home, the venue of a series of glamour-makeovers she is compiling for a coffee-table book. “Creativity is exploited and appreciated in Lagos,” she says. “Photography is still slow in Abuja. It’s still considered what you do at weddings or things like political campaigns. One low point for me is when potential clients are pricing your work like crayfish in the market.”

Afengbai adds that “having the right connections” is important – a sentiment that Afun-Ogidan echoes. “In my opinion, the clients here don’t really value photography for what it is,” Afun-Ogidan adds. “Even though a lot of people from other states think that Abuja is where the money is, the truth is that after all my time spent here I’ve seen very few occasions where those with all that cash bring it. They want the Lagos people and the big brands to handle their work – unless you have the right connections.”

He, however, measures success in terms of impact and not just financial reward: “people are beginning to know the name Simi Vijay Photography in Abuja and have started appreciating my work. I think I’ve been able to change people’s perception of photography; it’s not just about waiting for your picture to be printed at a wedding. It’s about creativity.”

The Make-Up Artists

Bookie Okoligwe, better known as B. La Vida has been a makeup artist for four years. Although a graduate of Computer Science, Okoligwe has always had an artistic streak and her passion for makeup has kept her at a profession she describes as challenging.

“In this industry if you’re not passion-driven, the likelihood of quitting is very high,” she says. This sentiment is echoed by Anu Adebayo, a freelance makeup artist who has worked on music videos, fashion shows, pageants, photo books and advocacy events. “The passion and joy outweighs the down times and I just psyche myself up to keep going,” she says. “I thoroughly enjoy making people look good!”

Competition in the industry is stiff, which is why neither woman has quit her day job. Adebayo is a content editor for an online publication and Okoligwe works with government, but she believes that there is enough work for everyone. “The Abuja fashion industry is still growing, but we should try to downplay competition and look towards collaboration to promote the industry.”

Adebayo also acknowledges that the capital’s fashion scene has a long way to go. She says “it seems to be about the alleged glamour rather than providing a valuable service of high quality to clients.” Another downside is the lack of appreciation for the art. Okoligwe described an occasion when a client’s young daughter, fascinated by her large professional makeup case, told Okoligwe about her passion for makeup. “I really want to be a makeup artist when I grow up,” the child said. The mother’s response was: “Oh, so you want to be a school drop-out?” Okoligwe lost her temper. “I was furious!” she reveals. “I had come to her house straight from the office and I was still wearing my corporate clothes. I packed up my things and left immediately.”

But the makeup business retains its appeal, and artists enjoy the glitz of working with celebrities and attending high profile events. Listed amongst Okoligwe’s high-profile clientele is Nollywood actress Omoni Oboli who she beautified for an ad campaign, and Adebayo served as the makeup artist on a video shoot featuring Jesse Jagz, Ice Prince, DJ Atte and the late Sazzy.

However, the majority of the work done by artists are for private individuals like brides and ladies-who-lunch who need a professional’s touch before attending a major event. Okoligwe thinks it is easier to carve out a niche in Abuja, a city she calls, “virgin territory.” But Adebayo believes that location does not affect success. “Your work can speak for itself anywhere you decide to be based,” she avers. “There are successful makeup artists everywhere. I concentrate on how to succeed globally rather than at a particular location.”

She concedes that “regardless of your motive [for becoming a makeup artist], profit is a necessary element to sustaining a business. It’s a high point when I’m paid without struggle for a job, because I’ve met some clients who choose to be intentionally difficult with payments. But the makeup industry isn’t a place where you make money instantly. It is often a long road to that place of breaking even, and you need to keep improving your skills to remain relevant."

 The Chaperone

Ezechukwu Ugochukwu Victor is widely known as Vugo – a nickname that doubles as his brand name. A graduate of Archaeology and Tourism from the University of Nigeria Nsukka, he wears many hats in the fashion industry as a makeup artist, model, pageant instructor and designer. “When I graduated in 2010, I started modelling, and then in my NYSC year I began to do makeup,” he states. “I became the official makeup artist for 270degrees on the MyTV Africa show.”

In his second year at university while undergoing his industrial training in an Enugu hotel, Vugo began grooming models. “Towards the end of my training,” he reveals, “I suggested to the management that we host a beauty pageant to promote the hotel.” Vugo acted as the chaperone (or groomer) to the contestants, and today he teaches models how to catwalk and instructs pageant hopefuls on how to impress the judges. “I groom them in different routines – how to walk with heads held high, how to smile gracefully and how to turn elegantly, how to answer questions and even how to eat, dress and behave in public,” he adds.

Vugo is impressed with the growth of the fashion scene in Abuja. “It is highly competitive between the fashion designers, the models, stylists and makeup artists. When you hear fashion in Abuja, names that come to mind are DZYN, Vodi, Zarita Couture, Gemini, Sashes Couture, Mohanista Styling, St. Ola Makeup, B. Lavida; and fashion photographers like Ejike Manny, Ahmed Atta and Eyes of Insanity. All these people dedicate their time to making sure that the fashion industry here grows to international heights.”       

Regardless of how much Vugo enjoys his work, he admits that living and working in the FCT can be challenging. “Abuja is really expensive,” he states flatly. “At the same time, you make more money and there are more opportunities in Abuja. When I was in Benue and Enugu, fashion life felt so stagnant!”                            

Vugo’s work ethic is paying off, as he is the official catwalk coach and choreographer for Queen of Aso for the second year running, and has chaperoned for Miss Valentine Nigeria and Queen Esther pageants. “One thing is for sure, Abuja is not for the lazy,” he asserts. “It’s for determined and hard-working people only. Whatever you do in Abuja, do it well and you’ll become successful.”                             

The Agent

Dan Onoja calls himself an entrepreneur. The CEO of film production outfit E&D Productions, Onoja also established Fashion Act in 2009. “For me, [Fashion Act] is quite beyond a modelling agency,” he says. “It’s a fashion agency to discover, manage and represent talented and aspiring models, designers, shoe makers, and makeup artists.”

Onoja’s foray into the business of beauty began in 2007 in his final year at University of Abuja when he co-organized the Miss Uniabuja beauty pageant, although the plans fell through. He says he understands the need for a support system while working in fashion, because the main issues he’s had in his six-year involvement in the industry is the lack of financial support to put up events and exhibitions.

“The problem is the people in Abuja do not really support their own talent,” he claims. “Some successful fashion events showcase designers and performing artists from out of Abuja, and pick up any popular fashion magazine on the street and you will find almost no Abuja designers in them. Now this is not because they aren't wonderful designers and models here in Abuja, but I think they are few platforms to make big things happen. It’s up to us to create platforms for designers and models.”

To this end, Onoja’s Fashion Act is launching a multi-platform website to feature online TV, a reality show and galleries for potential clients to book models. Although he admits that working from the capital can be a challenge, he is optimistic. “I love it in Abuja,” he says with a dreamy look. “Maybe it is because it is still fresh ground when it comes to fashion and entertainment. There is still room for so much to be done.”

Men, Women, Weddings

At the hotel, before the church service on my friend’s wedding day, every gesture, every action, assumed a last-time-as-a-single-man poignancy.

From the bathroom: “Last pee as a single man!”

Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball came on cable:
“Last Miley Cyrus video as a single man!”

Someone opened a bottle of red wine: “Last drink as a single man!”

Six of us, friends from university, laughed, fixing cufflinks, knotting ties, pulling socks. The groom and the best man had been roommates, and had known each other from their salad days at King’s College; the rest of us met haphazardly mostly in the classroom and the lab. For more than half a decade, we hadn’t been gathered together but no one had changed in all that time.

Groom and best man remained chatterboxes. One still slept till late in the morning; back in university, no one was sure he attended an early class. Another, due to a mechanical manner towards emotional situations and his general efficiency, used to be called stoic; he remained an early riser and a push-up practitioner. And then the very popular one in school remained affable and annoying for same reason; he was also the only one who had changed a little: he was married.

But not for long. There was the soon-to-be husband. And, later in the year, the Sleeper would waltz down the aisle, although he refused to reveal the date.

I wondered if this was the ultimate purpose of male friendship: to be grooms' men. Is this what the years of friendship had been about? All of those shared experiences upon which our friendship was formed, were they leading to this moment, to this role as grooms' men?

Would our arguments be the same, moderated by a woman, by women, now? Those heated arguments would lose that testosterone rawness we had as boys, as single men. Self-censorship taking hold over freedom of expression. To lessen our collective shock, the wife, the wives, would call the transformation maturity, and to those of us resistant to change— the dissenters, the bachelors— she, they, would advise to “go and marry.”

Once, just after a different wedding, I was in a vehicle with the newlyweds when apropos of what seemed to me unrelated the new bride said to her husband, "You're a married man now. This is now your business."

Other than the feeling wrong for being in their company when this was said, I had no problem with the advice. The boy who became the husband would be needing that line administered regularly. In fact, all young, newlywed men, would need that admonition. Perhaps this is the reason for a ring: a reminder of comportment, because you cannot trust a young man to remember he is married on his own.

Girls, for the most part, are surefooted about this, the ring being, mainly, an accessory, a mark of difference, of status. They seem to come equipped with intrinsic reminders of their marital status; and in the absence or delay in acquiring said status, furnished— some say by society, by family— with a longing for it.

Many women are born with an easy facility for the transition to women, to wives. Boys to men, to husbands? A tricky transition. Many remain in a state of arrested development.  Perhaps it is biological wiring, connected to the anatomical presence, or lack thereof, of the childbearing apparatus. Perhaps it’s family; perhaps it’s Freud.

Apparently, men and women differ on the requirements of manhood. The man told to ‘be a man’ almost always has no clue what being a man has to do with the circumstance, while the female encouraging, or ahem, heckling, him is certain of what manhood constitutes. (The lack of the male apparatus has never deterred any woman from offering her view on masculinity.)
Like many men, I share that confusion. Or used to. One of my first informal efforts at art criticism was directed at the proclamation by a bus sticker: "to be a man is not a day's job."

I was a kid, the kind with the belief he had all the answers. In my head you're born a man. What else do you need? The hassled adult, dad or uncle tried to explain to the know-it-all kid, gave up, and probably closed by saying, “soon, Oris, you'd see the light.”

In the hotel room, as my friends laughed, and like undertakers wore black suits, for presumably male friendship’s ultimate role, I wondered if they realised we were contributing, unwittingly, heartily, towards a ceremony not only marking a union, but also commemorating the demise of a decade-long friendship.

Is self-destruction built into friendship? It seemed clear that the wedding would almost certainly destroy our friendship in the way we know it.

As I have said, the hassled adult might have mentioned “the light.” Now, did every step taken down that aisle mean a step toward illumination? Maybe.

Or was that simply the-last-question-as-a-single-man?

 

By Oris Aigbokhaevbolo

The Little Fulani Cowgirl

You could just make out the top of her shaggy head amidst the wide, white flanks of the cows gathered around her. Then she comes into view: a little Fulani girl barely seven years old, with dirt-brown curly hair plaited haphazardly, and the tiny stray strands that escaped forming a fuzzy halo around her little head.

Wearing a blue, oversized T-shirt that reached down past her knees, her thin legs ended in a pair of adult slippers encasing tiny feet caked in the brown dust of the earth that she had no doubt been traversing for hours already that afternoon.

She grasped in her little hands a thin but sturdy stick that was twice her height, which she used as an aid to edge her way past the slow-footed cows and around the side of the road. Now and then she also used the stick to whack a fidgety cow to stop it from heading towards the cars that were waiting for the herd to cross, a scene which occurs periodically on this residential road.

Unafraid, accomplished and proud, the little cowgirl wore a look of experienced calm and maintained an assurance that refused to be intimidated by the animals that were bigger than her or the motorists growing impatient around her.

She wasn’t perturbed by the heat of the sun, the dusty road or the long hilly hike ahead of her, and as I looked she shouted out to the herd with a shrill, tiny voice, and the animals immediately heeded their little mistress and trooped faster past the waiting cars.

She manoeuvred the animals with grace under fire; they trusted her and she understood them. And as she walked behind the last cow crossing, our eyes met and she looked at me for a fraction of a second with cool, haughty eyes betraying little of the innocence no doubt still within.

Here was a little girl in charge of her family’s wealth and pride, single-handedly dealing with the hostilities of the city and the terrain, armed with only a stick and her fierce resolve. She knows the roads, the routes, the hills and the valleys, she probably also knew each cow by name.

Soon she will give up herding and settle into the sedentary life of a wife and mother, but for now it was just her and her herd against the world, roaming wild and free and fearless.

As the proud little cowgirl walked off into the distance with her troop of 15 or so cows trudging obediently behind her, I marvelled at her control and confidence.

She was born to do this.

 

By Kimberly Ward

Emirates to Fly to Dubai from Abuja and Kano by August

Emirates Airlines today confirmed that it will be flying to Dubai from Abuja and Kano International airports starting from August 2014.

The Federal Ministry of Aviation approved the career’s request to expand its operations in Nigeria, and the airline’s Senior Vice President Salem Obaidalla disclosed that daily flights will now be in operation from Northern Nigeria to the Middle East, to add to its twice-daily flights from Lagos.

“In accordance with the existing UAE-Nigeria agreement on air services, [we will commence] with four weekly flights routed Dubai-Abuja-Kano-Dubai and three weekly flights routed Dubai-Kano-Abuja-Dubai, without carriage of domestic traffic between Abuja and Kano,” he said.

The Aviation Minister Stella Oduah praised the expansion, stating that passengers from Abuja and Kano who fly Emirates would now be able to board the airline from their doorsteps.

“I am particularly delighted with this development,” she said.

10 Charities Worth Supporting

We review a variety of causes around the FCT in need of your help

Throughout the year, some benevolent souls around the FCT dedicate their time and resources to serving the less fortunate. We don’t all have to this and possibly can’t anyway. But we can help in various ways through volunteering, mentoring, and donations. Below are some charitable organisations we think are worthy of support. If you are inclined to help, please contact them directly and independently assess their areas of need.

FCT School for the Blind:  Run by the FCT Administration, the school was founded in 1991 in a two-bedroom apartment in Zuba with two pupils and two teachers, before relocating to Jabi in 2007 with 57 children. It now has a total of 117 visually-impaired pupils. The head teacher, Mrs. Regina Dung stated that some parents abandon their children during vacation so some students don’t return home, which has been a challenge as the government doesn’t feed them during school breaks. But NGOs, churches, mosques and individuals come to teach them, donate money and equipment, provide food and even celebrate their birthdays with the blind and visually-impaired pupils. The school is in need of learning materials, Braille machines and a Braille Embosser which costs over N1m.

Address: No. 15, Audu Ogbeh Street, Jabi
Tel: 08035982724  

Free Healthcare Charitable Organization:  This community-based organisation was founded in 2005 by Chief Augustine Abu Ali and incorporated in 2007. It provides medical counselling and support services with free testing for people living with HIV/Aids, sickle cell anaemia, hypertension and other kinds of ailments. Youth corps members, students, schools, individuals and the less privileged have all benefited from the initiative, and the team also organises health safety programmes for companies and industries where health is endangered due to pollution and hazard. It also arranges conferences and health talk shows. Financial support has come from volunteer members and friends. “Funding has been a challenge and we have never received anything from the government,” said Chief Ali. “But the passion has kept us going.”

Address:  No. 34, Lobito Crescent, Wuse 2, Abuja.
Tel: 08053618677
Email: chief_ali @yahoo.com

Mother Theresa Children’s Home: This motherless babies’ home with 46 children from new born to five years old was set up in 2007 by Yeye Bolanle Dare, whose vision is to “lift weary hearts and give comfort to someone in need with a smile, nod, deed or kindness.” Dare is in charge of payment of the children’s school fees at Lead British School, Gwarinpa and the orphanage would like to be supported by well-wishers with toiletries, food, medicine, clothes, toys, shoes, bottled water, diesel, cash or cheques.

Address: House 6, road 353, off 35rd avenue, FHA Gwarinpa, Abuja.
Tel: 0705 775 7777; 0802 885 5554; 0806 600 0600
Email:     yeyeorphanage@yahoo.com

Accident Prevention and Rescue Organisation:  Set up in 2006, this organization provides road accident prevention and rescue services and initiated the advocacy that brought about the restriction of heavy duty trucks travelling during traffic hours. It also organises seminars on road crash reduction awareness and vehicle administration. It is in need of qualified hands. “We need people for radio advocacy; lawyers who can handle compensation claims for accident victims and sponsors,” said the Director, Prince Fidelis Nnadi. “An ambulance was donated to us by Mulings Ambulance Unit in Dublin, Ireland, but for over a year we have been soliciting for N600, 000 from the FRSC to make it driveable for us in Nigeria, but unfortunately they did not reply. We have taken it upon ourselves to fix the ambulance and it should be ready soon.”

Address: Suite B19, Wuse Shopping Plaza, beside Golden Gate Hotel, Wuse Zone 5, Abuja.
Tel: 08037051384, 08035887260

The Unique Kingdom Outreach:   An establishment focused on helping widows and orphans by donating clothes, food items and money to start businesses, it was set up by Mrs. Bernadette Aipoh four years ago and so far 36 orphans have benefitted from its scholarships. Currently, plans for an orphanage and a lodge for female corps members in Abuja are underway. “We raise money from members, friends, well wishers and people we don’t know,” said Mrs. Aipoh. “But sometimes we don’t get enough for what we want to do. This year, about nine children wrote their WAEC and we paid N25, 000 for each. We also paid the rent for some who are enrolled in the University of Abuja.”

Address: Suite FF5 AGA Memorial Complex, 16 Nkwere Street, Garki Area 11, Abuja.
Tel: 08060600744

Vine Heritage Home for Rescued Babies: This rescue home was set up by Christian missionary, Mr. Olushola Stevens and works with villages around the FCT to change cultural beliefs and prevent the killing, live burial and abandonment of twins and babies whose mothers die within three months of their birth because the villagers believe they are evil. The home was established in 2004 and currently houses 49 children rescued from the villages. But Vine Heritage is not an orphanage and the children are not up for adoption, but are being raised as agents of change for their community. “We get funding from friends and people that visit,” said Mr. Stevens. “We spend a lot of money on food, accommodation and medical care, and the children attend two private schools, one of which gave them a scholarship that only covers their school fees. We will soon move to our new building which is almost completed, but we still have to pay rent for where we are now.”

Address: Opposite Health Centre, Kiyi, Kuje Road
Tel:  08099918105, 08034422935, 092900196
Email:     cmfncz@yahoo.co.uk,     olusholaajstevens@gmail.com

Zion Orphanage:  A shelter for 15 motherless children aged between six months and 18 years, it was founded eleven years ago by Mrs. Blessing Williams who called it her “divine calling”. The orphans’ education is being sponsored by a school that only pays their school fees; every other expense is taken care of by the Orphanage. The home itself is a small, uncompleted building in Lugbe but a new building is being built in nearby Jidi Village. “We are short on finances. Most people who come here only bring food,” said Mrs Williams. “We are yet to do the wiring, painting and fencing for the new building, and a man promised us a borehole a long time ago but he has not responded. Some white people who came here also promised us a bus for the children but we are yet to hear from them.”

Address: Peace Village, FHA Bus Stop, Lugbe, Abuja
Tel:  07057408239, 08034067726

Kubwa Divine Orphanage: A motherless babies’ home that was established in 2011 by Mrs. Gloria Enearu, who enjoys taking care of children and sees the cause as a calling. It takes in abandoned children between ages 0-5. At present, it houses 12 children, and the oldest is a year and five months. Solid Base Nursery and Primary School, Kubwa, has given scholarship to two out of the four children starting school this year. Unity Clinic in Phase 4, Kubwa, also gives free medical check-up to the children. The orphanage is in need of workers (nannies, cooks, and cleaners), food stuffs, toiletries, money and a place they can call their own. “Here is a rented apartment, we pay a lot for it but it’s becoming too small for us, we hope to get a land and build our own place,” Mrs Enearu said.

Address: House No. 16, Mbano Rd, Former Federal Housing Authority, Kubwa, Abuja.
Tel: 08037868391, 07057677559
E-mail:     kubwaorphanage@yahoo.com

Ark of Refuge Orphanage: Launched nearly two years ago by Deaconess Evelyn Ajuyah, who runs the cause as a mandate from God. It currently shelters 11 children between the ages of one to five, whose education and total welfare is Ajuya’s responsibility. She works with five staff members who run shifts to take care of the children. “Finance has been a huge challenge,” she said. “A major need is for the children to have a home of their own. We got some land and we hope to start building soon, as we don’t want to pay another N1 million for rent next year.”

Address: House 34, 64 Crescent, phase 4, the junction by Mohammed stores, Kubwa Abuja.
Tel: 08023305384, 07044391604
E-mail: arkofrefugehome.com
Website: www.arkofrefugeorphanage.org

Like Minds Social Engagement Project:  A non-profit organisation made up of concerned individuals who give back to society through various activities, it was set up in 2006 by Fatima Kyani Mohammed and seeks to engage its members in various community projects including donations, visit to orphanages and feeding the needy. They also participate in empowerment and literacy sessions like school supply drives, tutoring and mentoring, as well as HIV/AIDS and drug abuse awareness programmes. “The more you give, the more you get yourself, it’s fulfilling”, Mohammed said. “But motivating people to give their time has been one major challenge. A lot of them are busy and want to focus on their own life, they donate money but don’t want to actively participate.”

Email:   www.likeminds.project@gmail.com
Website: www.likemindproject.org
Tel: 08035044215

 

By Joan Adewumi

More pictures below:

Vine Heritage Home

Mr Olushola Stevens with a staff and rescued babies at the Vine Heritage Home

FCT School for the blind

Mother Theresa's Children's Home, Gwarimpa

 

 

Ending the Rape Epidemic

I had a nightmare last night. It was my longest night in many years. I had received two emails the night before. One was about a child, 10 years old, who had been raped by a man, 35 years old. This email came at a time I was beginning to see the thread of rape stories on many websites and blogs.

At first, I thought it was just a scramble for page-views as the stories often looked incredible. Then I started to think that the same stories were being tweeted everyday, the same way I’d do if I had interest in a news story or article. I discovered how wrong I was when I started clicking on some of these rape stories.

One theme seemed to run across each one: they were all gruesome. Then last night, I got the email about yet another rape case. It was one issue too many. Yet another one was on the way.

A lady, 27 years of age, sent me an email. She had been raped as a child. Now a single mother with one child, she wrote in her email she couldn’t exactly say what happened, as she couldn’t remember being penetrated but she was absolutely certain that experience had taken something away from her.

She lived in a big house and, from the look of it, was from a well to do family. Her father was oblivious to what happened until his death. Her mum is alive but is not aware of what happened to her daughter even as I write these words. This happened almost two decades ago.

The child has grown into a woman. Yet reading through her email, the pain felt fresh, the agony came through her words and I saw enough pictures in her words to have a nightmare of my own. One can only wonder how many nightmares she has had to go through all these years.

She was one of too many children begging for help. And there are so many of them today. Our country, our society, our culture has abandoned our children. Everyday they suffer from the evil ones in our midst but the society does not expect them to talk, so they keep these nightmares and pains within. This has nothing to do with whether the child lives in or comes from a rich or poor home: Nigerian children are being raped and abused everyday! Something has to give.

Life in Nigeria is hard enough for these children; their mothers are more likely to die at the point of their birth in Nigeria than almost everywhere else in the world. Most of these children are more likely to die before their fifth birthday in Nigeria than almost everywhere else in the world.

The ones that survive that are not likely to go to school because our country has the world’s highest number of children out of school. There are more children out of school in Nigeria than there are people in Liberia, Mauritania and Gabon put together.

The ones that manage to be enrolled in school are faced with a future that holds more failures than promises. Nigerian children are faced with a future that promises nothing but a long, gruesome travel through a country that continues to get darker by the day.

We cannot fix all of these problems in one day, maybe not even in one generation but we can start with fixing some of them. It appears our society has come to accept the inevitability of seeing children raped by adults. We can’t afford to be in that position. We’d have the future of our country damaged before it has even started. We need to do something to fix this.

We cannot continue to have children raped everyday and continue to pray for a prosperous country. How can a country prosper when most of its children live in fear of its people? How can Nigeria see peace and prosper if we continue to deny justice to our children? When will these raped children see justice? When will those yet to be raped find protection from the evil that lurks in our cities, villages and homes?