The human nature of
the present administration in Anambra State came to the fore with the flag-off
of the presentation of 1,000 Prosthetic Limbs Fittings to physically-challenged
persons in the State, Tuesday December 2014 at the Women Development Centre
Awka.
The Prosthetic
Limb Fitting partnership gesture which
had 270 initial beneficiaries was manufactured by consumable goods distribution giant, Tolaram Foundation of India and sponsored by
the Rotary Foundation of Victoria Garden City Lagos, was
attracted by the wife of the State Governor, Chief Mrs. Ebelechukwu
Obiano, through her pet project, Caring Family Enhancement Initiatives (CAFÉ)
Speaking at the
occasion, the Anambra State governor Chief Willie Obiano expressed delight with
the tripartite partnership which according to him was “essentially to reach out
in special ways to our brothers and sisters who need to be empowered.”
While thanking Tolaram
Foundation and Rotary International for the sponsorship, he said that CAFÉ is
committed to making life worth living for the physically challenged and making those
people proud.Hepromised to increase the gesture by making more prosthetic limbs
available to others with suchneeds in the state.
The governor who
had wished that his wife and founder of CAFÉ who travelled on official
assignment with the Wife of the President was present, appreciated the fact
that the CAFÉ projects have made the wife to toil day and night “to add value
to the lives of special members of the human community,” as she had done before
her present public life.
The Governor
outlined activities the First Lady had carried out to include, renovation of
the Basden Memorial School, Isulo, targeted at giving the challenged children
quality education and boosting the attendance to ante-natal clinics through
enlightenment programmes and advocacy visits to rural and hard-to-reach areas
of communities in the State in order to promote maternal and child health and
to reduce child and maternal mortality; empowerment programmes for indigent
persons and widows in LGAs through provision of seed money as take-off grants;
and agriculture empowerment initiatives like provision of improved seedlings to
rural women farmers in partnership with cooperative societies.
He stated that the Artificial limbs
presentation ceremony to the physically challenged and amputees in the State
falls into the programmes carried out by CAFÉ as “mission of giving back
self-esteem and hope of a better and productive life to persons within this
realm.”
Earlier in his Opening Remark, Hon Commissioner for Health, Dr. Joe Akabuike, said that the government intervention in the health sector is benefitting from the programmes of CAFÉ which reaches out to the less privileged and people in hard to reach areas. He also observed that many organizations are identifying with and ready to partner with the governor’s wife.
In her remarks, Head of Tolaram Foundation,
Ms. Meha Mehra, said that they are committed to producingmore quality
prosthetic limbs to meet the needs of the beneficiaries, sponsors,CAFÉ and
government partners. In his goodwill message, President of Rotary Club of
Victoria Garden City, Lagos Sir Dr. Chris Anyakorah, said that Rotary is delighted
to be sponsoring the project and partnering with CAFÉ and the Anambra State
government to provide succor to the physically challenged persons in the
society. He assured that theywill make available three hundred more prosthetic
limbs to Anambra early next year to keep smiles on the faces of the needy.Reacting on behalf
of the beneficiaries, Mr. Benson Igbokwe from Nnewi expressed their happiness
for the gesture and thanked the wife of the governor and CAFÉ for choosing them
to benefit from what he described as a wonderful Christmas gift to the
physically challenged persons in Anambra State.
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