The word joy best described the mood of sicklers in Anambra State as Association of People Living with Sickle Cell Disorder (APLSCD) on Saturday, dispensed some fiscal cash equivalent for the tuition fees of 40 of their members in primary and secondary schools for 2014/2015 academic session.
APLSCD equally doled out what it termed 'bursary' to ten undergraduate students of the association, even as it promised to do more in nearest future.
Coordinator of the association, Aisha Edward, who freely disbursed the cash to her registered members stressed that it was part of her effort to champion the course of sickle cell disorder patients in the country before she could join her ancestors.
Her words: "This is an ecstatic moment for me right now, am so delighted to see this day. My heart is full of joy today. I believe that if I should die now, my heart will be led to rest. This is because it is first of its kind an NGO is embarking on scholarship on sicklers in Nigeria. My dream to cater for the welfare of my people relegated to the background by fake NGOs, government, society and some family members had been fulfilled. I found this association to reach out to Sickle Cell Disorder people in Nigeria at their various point of needs.
"We do the job for ingenuity, love and passion to save souls. I dispensed the cash to enable the dropouts to return to school. Some of these ones have been withdrawn from school voluntarily and involuntarily sequel to financial crisis… Apart from this cash, Our Association which is only 3 months old had secured 21 jobs for members in Anambra State, trained 10 on skills acquisition through the Anambra State's First Lady's CAFÉ, and we are not relenting till we wipe out the inhumane genotype from the faces of the earth", through our intense sensitization and awareness programs, and as well as putting a long lasting smile on the face of my colleagues who are the suffers, she Affirmed.
Edward further enjoined the government at all level, lawmakers, public and private institutions, tradition and religious institutions to key into their sermon of 'no marital vow' to intending couples whose genotypes are incompatible with a view to ending the proliferation of the sickle cell anaemia gene.
She further reiterated the needs for legislations to be made, enacted and enforced for relevant stakeholders in the society to assist sufferers of the disorder through the association via training, empowerment and scholarship as that will encourage them to impact their society positively.
However, Edward regretted that Anambra State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development had constantly turned deaf ears to their gathering, wondering how they would easily discover their needs having found it difficult to fulfill their promises of attending their programmes, considering series of letters for both appeal for support and invitations to their programs, Thanksgiving and stakeholders meetings.
"I invited the Anambra state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, and their counterpart, Ministry of Health but none turn-up as they promised to be on attendance. It is highly regrettable because we, the sicklers are their children. When I went to the ministry to invite them, one of the top officials there claimed to have adopted two sicklers and she suffers to donate blood to them always. I pitied the woman thinking that her suppose experience will make her shower us with love and care but reverse is the case.
"She had never attended our meetings, church services and events. I wonder if it is when I die, or when we lose our husbands that they will come to our aide. This is because each time you visit the ministry you will keep hearing of how many widows they responded to their clarion calls. May be because most us are not married while some married ones have no late husbands, that is why they chose not to associate with us at all, on the other hand, Ministry of Health is our father ministry but they always shun our activities even when the commissioner is unavoidably absent because of his tight schedules, the department responsible for our management are nowhere to be found despite my efforts to invite them to come and witness what is happening to their patients under their care, we do not know our offense.
"We are pleading to them to consider us. We need them to stop the scourge of proliferation of sickle cell, psychological traumas and stigmatization we are passing through in life i have strongly observed that some of them chose to sit down to read some COSMETICS News especially the scandals associated with their careless conduct, then I will be forced to start protecting their images at the detriment of my members well being and desires. I will like To Whom It May Concern to note that is not a good liar and will not continue to scream that all is well even when it is very obvious that my people die frequently for lack of care and absolute neglect. If some of them cannot be truthful to this Government, then I assure them my absolute loyalty to my weak colleagues. I so much despise an EYE SERVICE because it is very sinful to God and man, This people should note that the media is a very important part of our sensitization program, therefore I cannot continue to disagree with them always neither will I continue to become and image cleaner or maker for any erring functionary with the Government, at the expense of my people's survival. It seems I have exhausted all my strength showing some, respect, patients and understanding with those insensitive individuals." she explained.
Speaking in separate interviews, two beneficiaries, Chidozie Nwankwo of SSS1, Community Secondary School, Ufuma; and Chika Nwafor, JSS1 student of Comprehensive Secondary School, Enugu-Nanka commended the association for settling their school fees, which they claimed had been a great burden to them, and vowed to compliment the effort by facing their study squarely.
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