ORPHANS
LIKE STARS ON EARTH: EVERY CHILD IS SPECIAL
“Every child has the right to live regardless of how he/she came into the world, for every being has a purpose in life.”
Caring and catering for orphans and abandoned children are among the works of the Association for the Poorest of the Poor. Caring for orphans is also one of the delicate and special apostolates. Caring for an infant requires a whole lot of energy. It needs 24-hour intensive care. Taking care of a child starts from the early stage of the child; the caregivers have sleepless nights to care for the needs of the child. The Association for the Poorest of the Poor takes up this work of mercy to save the lives of innocent children and give them the parental love and care required of them to fit into society.
HOW DO WE GET THEM
- In a case where the mother died at childbirth; the life of the infant is at stake and no one wants to take up the responsibility to care for the child, the father is helpless. To save the life of the child, the Home accepts and cares for the child based on an agreement and with the consent of the relatives or father.
- A child from a single mother is denied by the father and rejected by the parents of the single mother or the single mother herself; the Home takes up the custody of the child but has to follow legal processes
- A mentally ill woman picked up with a pregnancy will be cared for till delivery. Sometimes a mentally ill woman may be picked up with a newborn baby. The child will be separated from the mother because of her mental state; she cannot take care of the child. Both the mother and child are kept under the care of the Home.
- A child is picked up either in the bush, uncompleted building, from heaps of rubbish/refuse dumps, along the roads, from motor parks etc. This is reported to the Police and Social Welfare Department for the records, while the Home takes care of and brings up the child.
- Children recovered from human traffickers by government organizations through the Police are brought to the Home for care while an investigation continues.
HOW DO WE CARE FOR THEM
When an abandoned child is picked up, abandoned, say a mentally-ill woman and so on, it depends on the condition of the child, the child is given a warm bath and proper dressing and fed with baby milk (NAN 1). Then a report is made to Police Station and Social Welfare Department to get a legal right to care for the child. But if the child is from a young mother who after a series of counselling refuses to take responsibility for the child, or an adult who can decide on her own, rejects the child, she will state rejection of the child, and a report would be made to the Social Welfare Department. Finally, the issue is reported to the High Court to legally sign off the woman’s right over the child. From there the woman takes her leave and the Court may decide where to keep the child or to be under the custody of the Homes. The Sisters, form the Child Care Givers.
YOUNG MOTHER
In Nigeria, the incidence of young girls who get pregnant out of wedlock is seen as an abomination and taboo in some societies and the girls are driven out as culture prevents them from being delivered in their father’s homes without a husband. These girls are married out to any highest bidder, not minding the wish of the girls. This practice usually develops into two situations;
- The young girl attempts to abort the pregnancy and return to the family. In this way, souls are lost which is against pro-life.
- The young girl keeps the pregnancy outside her home, delivers the child and abandons the child in a bush or dustbin.
In all of the above scenarios, more societal problems are created. In order to fight against abortion or care for, abandoned children, and orphans, this organization ( Home) instituted the apostolate for the care of young unmarried pregnant girls (young mothers). Through this, the instances of abortion are reduced so also those of abandoned babies. This saves unborn and newly-born children.
In Ghana, similar cultural practices make young girls to be ostracized from their families when they refuse marriages instituted by their families without their consent. Another aspect is where two families exchange their young daughters in marriage for young boys with or without the consent of the young girls. Rejection of these practices is an abomination and is seriously frowned upon by families. The outcome is ostracism and ex-communication of the victimized girls. This group of girls, driven out of their family houses, constitutes another apostolate for the MSPP Sisters. The victims of forced/exchanged marriages are taken into the hostels and cared for, their well-being, their education, medical care and in skills acquisition.
“Life is a fundamental right of every human being given by God.
It must be respected, protected and supported with basic needs.
To violate these rights by destroying it at any stage whether
in the womb or outside the womb is a crime against God and humanity.
The unborn child has the right to live just like the born child.”
Human life is sacred and so must be preserved regardless of its stage”
MENTALLY CHALLENGED PEOPLE MINISTRY
The apostolate of the Association for the Poorest of the Poor started in the early days by caring for people with mental disorders. The care for mad people on the streets and marketplaces was one of the deeds that endeared the Association to the public, especially in Gwagwalada.
A mentally ill woman that was sojourning in the market rubbish heaps and known to many formed a social relationship with me, I took her to the Gwagwalada Home in 1996 at Phase 1 quarters, near the University of Abuja students’ hostel. By the time the same woman followed me to the same market after some months in a sane sensible mood, a scene was created at the market. People were in doubt if it was the same mad woman that had inhabited the refuse dump. Thereafter, more mentally-ill people were conscripted to the Home, cared for, stabilized and rehabilitated.
These groups are mostly referred to as mad people. They form the majority of the mentally-challenged persons ministered to at the Homes. These mentally-ill persons are often seen as dirty, naked or dressed in rags, malnourished and sick, begging, muttering to or shouting at themselves. They have lost their homes and families, their minds and their knowledge of who they are. Sometimes, they are frightening in their appearance and also violent.
In some cases, the mentally challenged may be seen with a pregnancy or with newly-born babies. The babies are separated from such mentally-challenged mothers and are cared for as orphans in the Home. Such babies are retained and reunited with the families of the mother later.
STREET BOYS AND GIRLS
Life with street boys and girls forms the genesis of the Home history. They were the early entrants into the care of my mission at Abuja.
Street boys and girls in Abuja came to be due to the developing nature of the city. Abuja development work started early in the 1980s. The whole of the city, as it is now, was mainly undeveloped, bushy with forests. No wonder, it was said that Abuja was built in a virgin land. Settlements were scattered and of very poor inhabitants. There was no road network. Life began at the only quasi-developed settlement at Suleja – Niger state, then bearing the name of Abuja. The concentration of life activities was in Suleja. Only construction works were inside the present Abuja city.
Construction companies of repute like Dumez, Straberg, Nicohoo etc were on their various sites. The Companies used giant machines and caterpillars in moving the bushy forest and earth to create the city we call Abuja today and the cheap labour from street boys jobs are therefore easily readily available. Young boys from all nooks and corners of the nation moved in to take the available manual labour. They had no plans for accommodation but lived in make-shift camps of the construction companies.
Their wages were enough to settle their immediate needs and any other form of enjoyment. Many young persons, who had artisan work, jettisoned to come to Abuja for the easy and readily available wages from the construction companies.
Life is but a dream. Later on, the tempo of the work slowed down and the construction companies began to lay off workers. The beautiful and enjoyable lifestyle began to change. The makeshift camps began to be dismantled by Government forces for those companies that had closed down. Only the people, who had planned ahead, were able to get their feet back. Others were left on their own and began to face difficulties. With time, as there were no more jobs, no food, and no accommodation, they found themselves converging in evacuated sites with uncompleted projects. During the day, they would go out to look for they go out to food/work and ended up grouping themselves among the street boys looking for something to do.
Ministering to street boys by the Sisters requires strong will as their behaviour cannot be predicted at any time especially when under the influence of hard drugs. Sisters with the grace and guidance from the Lord Jesus Christ have succeeded in changing and winning back some of them to life. The case history of a street boy below tells some tales of success.
WOMEN OF EASY VIRTUE
“Life is like a beautiful melody, only the lyrics are messed up”.
A woman of easy virtue may be regarded as a sexually available woman, especially a prostitute. She may be referred to as a woman of the street, lady/girls of the night, or call girl. Women in this group are engaged in what may be said to be one of the world’s oldest professions. Some of those in this group live in shanty rented accommodations/apartments known as brothels from where they solicit customers for paid sex.
There is another group who are more sophisticated, part-timers who may be professionals like public servants, students and well-placed women in society. This latter group practices from their residences engaging men with their practices. They are after raw cash, caring less about what the scripture says about promiscuous living.
The contemporary today’s world is turned upside down by the domineering influence of the computer age which has made morality thrown to the winds. People take pleasure in doing and copying evil. The heinous debasement is what many today choose to call, ‘being in line’ with today’s sophistication. The fear of God is lost; no respect for God and scripture again. The Bible made us realize that we are the temple of the living God (2 Corinthians 6:16).
Realizing that we are the temple of the living God and therefore very sacred, the bible advises us to flee from sexual immorality. The Home has done a lot towards rehabilitating and rechanneling the lives of young girls and women of this profession to God by constantly visiting and counselling them.
During the monthly get-together, they are invited to engage in skills training at Skill Acquisition Centre. Those that decide to come for the training are taught different skills such as soap and cream making, candle making, tie and dye, weaving, knitting, catering, fashion designing, hair salon, making polythene bags and bead works. These skills help to keep these ladies busy and also offer them a new lease of life, economically. Micro-credit loans are also given to them to start off their businesses.
Where the cases that involve death, Sisters, through the inmates of their brothel make connections with the family or relatives of the deceased prostitute and help in the burial rites. Experience in one of such burials was not palatable as the family rejected the corpse when brought home to them. They accused the “corpse” of dissociating herself from the family when alive and therefore they had no relationship with her in death. In such cases, notice is given to the Police and the Home sponsors the burial.