The wife of the governor of Anambra State,
Chief (Mrs.) EbelechukwuObiano has called on women whose children have cleft
lip and cleft palate deformities to come forward and take advantage of the free
surgery her pet project, Caring Family Enhancement initiative (CAFÉ), is
sponsoring at the NnamdiAzikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH),Nnewi.
The governor’s wife made the call when she
visited the hospital on Monday to assess progress of the children under-going
surgery for cleft palate deformities.
Mrs. Obiano told the women who converged with
their babies at NAUTH, Nnewi that the corrective surgery will restore smiles
and healthy life to their babies who would thereafter eat well with ease. She
advised the women to listen to the nurses on how to take care of the babies
after the surgery.
According to Mrs. Obiano, “You must know how
to feed the babies to avoid infection. Always give them balanced diets to
enable them grow healthy. Cleft lip is a mere birth abnormality which you now
know can be corrected; therefore make sure you tell others who have children
with such problem to come forward. They do not have to pay to have their cleft
lip and cleft palate deformed children undergo the surgery.”
The founder and focal person of CAFÉ who
reminded the women of the significance of the International Women’s Day which
was held Sunday, and commended the
efforts of the United Nations, and other global organizations working for the
promotion of rights of women, stressed
the need for the women to make effort to improve their families.
“In CAFÉ we train
women in various vocations to acquire skills and also empower them to be
self-reliant. Do not sit on the fence and wait for everything to fall on your
lap, get something doing so that you can contribute meaningfully to the good
health and survival of your family.” Mrs. Obiano added.
Mrs. Obiano’s said she founded CAFÉ as a
non-profit, non-partisan pet project which has mandate to care for the less
privileged and reduce women-child vulnerability while maintaining the dignity
of the physically-challenged amongst other programmes. She said that she has
observed a high level of commitment and dignity in labour amongst Anambra
women-folks in the last ten months she interacted and collaborated with some
women groups in the course of trying to create sustainable empowerment
programmes for them in communities across the state.
She explained that CAFÉ equally undertakes
health outreach and provide support to widows who are victims of violence and
abuse while imploring for the support of stakeholders for CAFÉ’s initiatives,
and individual contributions to impact positively on lives of women.”