Ben Ezechime, Enugu
Enugu Global Ladies (EGL), A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), has donated food, water and toiletries to students of Enugu Rehab Centre.
The group, in its maiden visit to the centre on Tuesday in Enugu, provided the centre with a tanker load of water, sachet bags of water, food, bread and tissues.
The President of the group, Enugu chapter, Dr Ngozi Nwekwo, said the visit to the centre was to show children with disabilities that the group cares about them.
She said, “we are here to encourage and show them love and assure them that nothing is missing in spite their conditions.
“When we entered here, we saw most of them same age with our children on wheelchairs but our own children are in school.”
The EGL president pledged the association’s readiness to frequently visit the centre to support them, saying “we got to know that they were faced with the challenge of water and decided to give them out of our widow’s mite.
“We provided them cooked food, bread, bags of sachet water, tanker load of water.”
She urged well-meaning Nigerians to help the underprivileged in the society, especially students at rehab centres, saying, “you can imagine them going to fetch water from the stream with wheelchairs due to the water scarcity and sometimes they will stay for days without taking a bath.
“If good people of Enugu State and other Nigerians can help them by providing borehole, it will reduce their plight.”
In a special remark, the group’s Director of Events and Planning, Mrs Florence Ifeanyi-Aneke, advised them to take their studies seriously and urged women among them to avoid unwanted pregnancy.
She educated them about the Disability Law of Enugu and called on them to ensure that no one denied them of their rights.
She said, “you all should not relent in your careers pursuit and for the women among you, I want you to know that a lot of women with disability are married with children. So, don’t lose hope.”
Responding, the Director, Social Welfare and Principal of the centre, Mr Anthony Ezejiugo, thanked the group for the visit, saying, “I feel delighted and thank you for your immense contributions to the welfare of the institution.
“This your maiden visit is first of its kind and we pray for more support and collaboration.”
He lauded Gov. Peter Mbah for providing the needs of the centre.
“You can see they are full of life and well taken care of all to the glory of the present government of Enugu State.
“Right now, we have 40 students and they would have been more but the present economic realities did not allow parents to bring their children with disability here.
“They acquire skills such as shoe making, carpentry, tailoring, fashion and designing and computer programming and every services we provided here is free and borne by the Enugu State Government,” he said.
Ikengaonline reports that EGL is an association whose mission is to develop Enugu, as well as human capacity with its headquarter in Washington DC with members drawn from all spheres of life.