TQM Report,
The Engraced Ones prayer support Group on Saturday, 27th November marked their end of year in Abuja with theme “Evidence”.
The event took place in last Saturday which is what used to be their usual gathering for prayers but they used that of the November as a day of sharing testimonies of what God is doing in the lives of their children and also merry to mark the end of a successful year in the life of The Engraced Ones.
Mrs. Bibora Yinkere, the Founder and Convener of the group during press time told The Qualitative Magazine TQM that the year 2021 has been a blast for the group because it is a year that the group organized the biggest World Cerebral Palsy Day, a celebration that saw the group organizing world press conference in collaboration with IKE foundation for Autism where the media were sensitized about these conditions.
2021 celebration saw different people under the auspices of The Engraced Ones celebrating the day simultaneously in different states in Nigeria and beyond. And the awareness about the conditions were taken to so many places.
She also informed that the group had so many media outings within the year, appearing in many notable media platforms such as Aljazeera, AIT, NTA and many others.
She also said that the group participated in so many collaborative events which indicates that the group is gradually becoming prominent in the area of advocating for the rights of the persons with disabilities.
Speaking on the activities of the group, she said that the group all started from the praying and encouraging one another because they are a group of parents with children with cognitive disabilities, then they saw need to start taking some drastic moves to ensure the rights of the children are protected and that is why advocacy aspect was brought in and it has been all about advocating for the wellbeing of the children alongside their parents using every medium whereby continuing to pray for divine intervention.
She advised parents not to hide their children with cognitive disabilities because when you are doing so, you are doing a grave disservice to the child. She also urged them to seek knowledge about their children condition and engage the best practices of taking care of them.
She urged government to subsidize the education of children with cognitive disabilities because most of the parents cannot afford high cost of educating children with cognitive disabilities, paying for physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy etc. Economic empowerment of the parents of the children should be of utmost importance to government because it would enhance effective caregiving services the parents has been rendering.
She informed that the group is seeking for support to buy a school bus because the School of Grace being run by the group for children with cognitive disabilities because many of the parents who enrolled in their children in the school cannot afford to take transport to the school so they used to trek long distances to bring their children to school. A bus can go a long to lessen their difficulty and that of their children.
She projected that 2022, the group would be putting their children to the limelight, showcasing the talent to the world and the group would also do more towards ensuring the implementation of Discrimination against Persons With Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2018.
The event witnessed a lot of sharing of testimonies, fashion parade, singing and dancing.
The event was well attended by parents and some friends of the group such as Omotunde Ellen Thompson of Centre for Advocacy for Person With Disabilities(CAPWD) and Agbo Chris, ED, The Qualitative Magazine.
The Engraced Ones is a prayer support group whose members are mostly parents of children with cognitive disabilities with the sole purpose of praying and advocating for the rights of children.
