NAN-H-19
Association
By Henry Oladele
Lagos, Jan. 14, 2017 (NAN) The old girls association of St. Anne’s Secondary School, Ibadan, class of 1974-1979, on Saturday in Lagos donated food items and groceries to the medically challenged children of Heart of Gold Children’s Hospice, Surulere, Lagos.
The president of the 1974-1979-setof the association, Mrs Tinuola Aboyade, in her remark said that the association engaged in charity work as part of giving back to the society.
She said that the association also donated an undisclosed sum of money in addition to the food items.
“Our mission is to aid and help humanity and the disabled, promote love and care through life and to live a better life.
“So we are here to help the founder continue to live a vision and we will make sure we visit once a quarter,” she said.
She commended the founder for organising and maintaining an establishment like that, adding that it could only come through a divine calling backed with sincere compassion and commitment.
The president said that the association has no fewer than 80 active members as well as a national chapter and an international chapter in America.
Mrs Omobolanle Olonisakin, the wife of the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and a member of the association, speaking with journalists prayed that good thing would turn around for the children.
Olonisakin, also the National President of Defence and Police Officers Wives Association (DEPOWA), congratulated the founder of the home for what she was doing.
She advised parents not to always abandon their babies after they had been delivered of them especially when they are disabled.
She stressed that they needed love, care and kindness.
“Support your babies and if for any reasons you feel you cannot take care of them, there are homes that are willing to take these children in.
“Instead of abandoning these children by the road side or in the streets, you can bring them to those homes like this because I know the founder is willing to take care of such children,” she said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the founder of the orphanage, Mrs Laja Adedoyin, had conducted the association members round the hospice.
Adedoyin showed them some of the children with serious medical conditions.
“The 67 children, picked up from the streets to the home, have one medical illness or the other like the down syndrome and other life- threatening and life-limiting medical conditions,’’ she said.
According to the founder, “The home opened on Oct. 2, 2003 in response to a steadily increasing number of abandoned, orphaned and sick children suffering from a vast range of congenital abnormalities.
“For children with terminal or life threatening illness, the hospice offers comfortable, caring and living environment.
“The hospice provides respite, support, palliative care, and comfort and pain management for the medically challenged children,” she said.
Adedoyin called on the three tiers of governments for support and outreach help, adding that the hospice could not single-handedly cater for the needs of the children.(NAN)
HOB/PAD
========
Edited by Peter Dada