Ahead of the Christmas and New Year celebrations, an Abuja-based non-governmental organization (NGO), Helpline Foundation for the Needy, has donated various kinds of food stuff, clothes, and other items to about three hundred and fifty (350) widows, persons with disabilities, and other vulnerable people.
The special end-of-the-year party, said to be the 20th edition, provided an opportunity for clusters of women groups, that were empowered by the NGO with skills acquisition, to showcase their products.
The President, Helpline Foundation for the Needy, Dr. Jumai Ahmadu, who presented the gifts to the beneficiaries over the weekend, said that this 20th edition was packaged in collaboration with Mrs Chinasa Ohaa, the President of Right Care Foundation and Mrs Mariam Haruna of Ladies of Grace, a women empowerment group.
Ahmadu disclosed that the beneficiaries were carefully selected from over 50 clusters of women groups, across the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nasarawa and Niger States.
She also disclosed that her group has evolved strategies to make the yearly celebration of the less-privileged people more impactful by “teaching them how to fish by themselves, rather than just giving them fish to eat”.
“We decided this year to make a progress report of what we have been doing. The women we have – we brought them out to teach them some skills.
“We now said let’s see what they have done by way of inspecting and monitoring their progress, and see if the efforts we have put in place are yielding results. We are very happy with what we saw this morning.
“So, this development is what will encourage them, and it will portray that women are just waiting to be given an enabling environment to express themselves. They are widows and have lived above their situations.
This would enable them to earn money and to see their children through school, and also support other vulnerable widows in their midst.
They have made that commitment. And by this time next year, we hope to see them inviting us for various launch of their products, and that is what they are going to do,” said Dr. Ahmadu.
Also, the President of Right Care Foundation, Mrs. Chinasa Ohaa, who was represented at the event by Richards Omotayo, said helping to ameliorate the conditions of the less-privileged people was a patriotic national service.
In her goodwill message, Mrs. Mariam Haruna of the Ladies of Grace called on all stakeholders to join hands in empowering the downtrodden in the society.
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