Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Relief came the way of dozens of persons with disabilities in Abuja on Wednesday when they received food and other items donated by a non-governmental organization, Survive Fistula Health Care Foundation (SFHF).
Executive Director/Project Manager, SFHF, Mrs Peters Ogunmayin, who presented the items to the beneficiaries explained that the palliatives was made possible through the funding support from CBM Australia. She said the intention was to ensure that a number of women with disabilities in the nation’s capital are able to feed their children and close relations for at least one month. Coincidentally, the items, which included face masks and hand sanitizers, were shared to the beneficiaries at the Kuje Primary Health Care Centre, on a day the United Nations raised the alarm that one billion people with disabilities across the globe face socioeconomic crisis due to COVID-19. Mrs Peters, in her remarks, said the gesture became imperative following the challenges faced by the beneficiaries, as the nation continues to grapple with the effects of coronavirus ravaging the world. She said: “We requested our donor to give us money to assist these people and they did. What we are having today is for the PWDs, the needy ones.
Our targets are blind people, the deaf and physically-disabled persons within Kuje Area Council. We can probably extend it to Gwagwalada, Kwali, that we are also covering.“It is just a palliative for 25 people. Our palliative is not like others. We have 10KG of rice, 10KG of beans, spaghetti, half carton of indomie, oil and pepper and other items inside that carton, for them to cook when they get home; to alleviate their challenges.”CBM Australia Country Programme Manager, Omoi Samuel, who led other officials of his organization to the event, said the palliative was timely and would guarantee good nutrition and availability of meal for beneficiaries for at least a month.He said: “We are supporting SFHS as one of our local partners to implement health programmes.
With the advent of COVID-19, we needed to look at its impact on persons with disability. The intention of this exercise is to provide them with what we called “dignity package.” It contains food that is sizable for at least one month for a household of at least seven and the package has all the nutritional values.”One of the beneficiaries and Chairperson, Deaf Women Association of Nigeria, Abuja chapter, Hellen Beyioku-Alase, expressed delight with the intervention. She appreciated the donors and appealed to other groups, corporate organizations and individuals in the country to be compassionate to the vulnerable people around them.
