AKINWALE ABOLUWADE writes on how a corps member’s passion for the less-privileged earned her a traditional title in Iseyin, Oyo State
When posted to Oyo State for the one
year National Youth Service Corps programme, little did Odunayo Amosu
know that so much was lying in the offing for her. However, with a few
weeks more to round off, the 25 year-old Micro Biology graduate from the
Lagos State University expressed joy that despite series of huddles
across her path, she was able to fulfil her set goals in the service
year. According to her, the service year came with different interesting
tasks, trials and challenges.
Amosu said that her ultimate dream in
life was to touch the lives of the less – privileged and the vulnerable.
The road to meeting the goal was rough and bumpy, but she stated, “The
interesting thing is that I’m able to meet up. I came, I saw and I
conquered.”
Amosu was not nurtured with silver
spoon. In fact, she did not have the pleasure of enjoying the warmth,
care and counsel of a mother for long in her growing years. Just at the
most auspicious moment in life when she needed her mother most, she
said, “Death came and took her from me. Since that time I lost the
priceless joy and bond between mother and child.”
Amosu, who is from a family of seven,
lost her mother, Abiodun, three years ago. As the last child of the
family, she said that she was the most traumatised.
Incidentally her travail in life turned
out to be her strength and driving force to reach out to the vulnerable
groups in the society of which widows and orphans are in the majority.
Her love for service sprouted and yielded fruits during the service
year.
Shortly after she reported to the NYSC
orientation camp in Iseyin last year, she met a woman who was torn
between her needs and challenges. Amosu, a batch C, 2011 youth corps
member was overwhelmed with pity on her first contact with the menial
labourer, Mrs. Serah Atilola.
Atilola, according to her, had been
engaging in menial jobs such as laundry, running errands and washing
plates for fresh corps members in the orientation camp for nearly 10
years. The hapless widow also engages in other domestic chores in the
camp.
Amosu said, “You could see that the
prolonged washing had affected her palms up to her wrists. I noticed the
woman when I ran into an argument scene between her and a corps to
member. During my discussion with her I found out that she was a widow
with three children to fend for.
“I got interested in her case, advised
her to quit the job, get some money and engage in petty trading. The
reply she gave touched me so much. She asked, what would she be living
on? I decided to take the women empowerment project up and took the
project to Iseyin mainly so that she could be one of the beneficiaries.”
While serving at the International
Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Amosu embarked on three
personal community development projects. Among them was donation of
N35,000 worth of food stuff, toiletries, baby food, pampers, detergent,
palm oil, groundnut oil and semovita to FOMWAN Motherless Baby Home at
Bashorun, Ibadan.
After her first visit to the home on May
31, she said that she was touched by the vision of the founders of the
home and the plights of the orphans.
“I knew about the home while passing
through Bashorun. As a Christian, what interested me was the fact that
the home is being run by Muslim sisters. I was gingered by the desire to
create peaceful co-existence between Christians and Muslims. This, for
me, would go a long way to sustain peace. We all know what is going on
in this country but in my own way, I’m trying to encourage an atmosphere
of peace.’’
Amosu also gave her widow’s mite to a
widow, Mrs. Flourence Itua, whose story she read in a newspaper a few
months ago. According to the story, Itua, who is based in Lagos, was
about to be sent out of the house by her landlord over a year
outstanding rent.
“Touched by her plight, I gave her a popcorn machine with a sum of N25,000 to settle her rent,” she explained.
She said that emotion ran high the day
Itua came for the gift at Akinyele Local Government Council in Ibadan.
The youth corps member added, “After the presentation that I made, an
NGO that was motivated by my gesture also gave the woman another sum of
N200,000 just a week after.’’
Driven by her pet project tagged, ‘Women
are great tools for community development,’ Amosu travelled back to
Iseyin after her three-week orientation from November to December 2011.
Driven by the saying that whoever trains
a woman trains a nation, she said, “I trained a total of 86 women under
the empowerment scheme on how to produce liquid wash, Izal, stove
thread, bleach, liquid air freshener etc. for five months.”
On completion of the training, she gave
two of the participants two pepper grinders (with Atilola as one of the
beneficiaries), with other materials to 15 women to start off their
trade. In all, 20 women were provided with empowerment materials while
all the participants got a training handout and a certificate each.
In appreciation of her gesture, the
Aseyin of Iseyin, Oba Ganiyu Adekunle Salau (JP), Ologunebi Ajinonse II,
gave her the traditional title of Atunluse of Iseyinland.
Among others, she expressed her
gratitude to the donors who made her project possible, among whom were
the West African Seasoning Company, Deputy Speaker, Lagos State House of
Assembly, Mr. Kolawole Taiwo; the Anglican Bishop of Ibadan North
Diocese, Rt. Reverend Segun Okubadejo; Mr. Charles Oko, Mr. Bayo
Adenekan, and the Commercial Manager, Coca Cola, Mokola, Mr. Kehinde
Fadaka.
Source: Punch
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