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Hope for Modupe Cole Child Care HomeHope for Modupe Cole Child Care Home
This Day
Funmi Ogundare
19 June 2007
Hope for a better living condition is on the way for no fewer than 100 physically and mentally challenged children, cramped in three small dormitories at the Modupe Cole Child Care Treatment Home School, Lagos as the foundation of an eight-room dormitory block and multipurpose hall were laid by the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola.
The project, jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Education and the International Association of Lions Club District 404A Nigeria, is expected to be completed within the next nine months. Fashola, who was represented by the Director of Child Guidance and Counselling of the Home, Mrs. Memudat Bello, said the project will go a long way in alleviating the acute shortage of accommodation being suffered by the school.
She called on all Nigerians to come to the aid of challenged children so that they can have access to basic education and equal opportunities in life. She expressed the ministry's appreciation of the good gesture of the Lions Club in remembering the less privileged in the society, saying, "You have always demonstrated that there is hope for children with special needs and their parents."
President of the Club, Chief Thaku Chugani said the project was aimed at rehabilitating the mentally challenged children in the society and providing them with adequate facilities so as to make them more useful to the community. He said, "We did our research and we thought we could give them a better education. We want them to be independent. We have also sent five teachers, including the principal of the Home to India for special training on hygiene so that they can impact this on the children." Chugani, who promised to maintain the structure when finally completed, appealed to individuals and corporate bodies to donate to its speedy completion.
Head Corporate Affairs and Communication, Ecobank Plc, Mrs. Yemi Wilde-Halim promised to see to the completion of the project by donating her time and money. Rev. Adebayo Adeyemi-Cole recalled how his mother, after who the Home was named, had started it by setting up the Women Voluntary Organisation in 1960. He said, "she was a Magistrate in a Juvenile court and was always worried with the way the challenged children were treated. She brought some of these children home and took care of them like her own. She spoke with her friends about this and together they decided to form the organisation.
With the support of the government, non-governmental organisations such as the Rotary Club among others, they got the land and the building in which the home is situated." He described the gesture from the Lions Club as 'fantastic and a miracle. According to him, "It was one of my mother's ideas and her dream is coming true." The Principal, Mrs. Folake Durowoju said a lot needs to be done to make the society accept the mentally challenged. One of the beneficiaries of the training in India, Durowoju said with her new experience, she would be able to impact positively on the lives of the children in the area of hygiene. She said, "my perception of the children has changed. No child is incapable. They need all the care and support that they can get, especially in the area of hygiene."
Copyright © 2007 This Day
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