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| Some management and staff of Benola Cerebral Palsy Initiative with those from Modupe Cole Home for the disabled and physically and mentally challenged children and adults with the inates of the home, during the donation, recently. |
…Donates Wheelchairs, Crutches To Modupe Cole
Chioma Umeha
Help
came the way of some inmates of Modupe Cole Home for the disabled and
physically and mentally challenged children and adults as Benola Cerebral Palsy
Initiative presented them with wheelchairs, crutches, and walking aid at the
tune of the N1.8 million.
Making the presentation which was to mark the fifth anniversary of the Benola, AVM
Femi Gbadebo, the Founder, said
his organisation had taken up the challenge of visiting homes for the abandoned
and disabled children on a regular basis.
Mr. Gbadebo called on the government to support
its advocacy campaign stressed on the need to tackle stigma against persons
living with disabilities.
He said; “Without eliminating stigma attached to
disabilities, particularly the childhood variant, most parents will continue to
either live in denial or hide their children.”
He decried the activities of fakers who claim that there is cure for
cerebral palsy and lamented that some ignorant parents fall prey to them.
Mr. Gbadebo said; “A lot of damage is also being
done by the numerous charlatans who go about promoting miracle cures with the
resultant effect that parents waste money that could’ve been better utilised
and when their expectations are not realised, depression sets in.”
Emphasising on the need for more collaboration on
awareness about CP, he said; “Various information organs of government like the
Ministry of information, Voice of Nigeria, NBC, National Orientation Agency etc
and private sector should get involved.
According to him, this should come in form of
sponsorship of advocacy campaigns, support to families in terms medication,
covering the cost of treatment/therapy as well as provision of drugs and
assisted devices.
“Families need to get more involved in the advocacy
campaign, joining family support groups and sharing their true life
experiences; Adults living with CP and other disabilities should also get
involved with advocacy and readily share their stories.”
However, he explained that Modupe Cole was
selected for this particular visit because of its size, number of residents;
the dual nature – home and school; and
having large number of persons living with CP.
“These reason led us to choose Modupe Cole as
venue for our first official visit on First Benola Day to mark Olaoluwa’s
Birthday on June 14, 2013. Since then we’ve made several
visits at various times of the year to make donations and meet with their
vibrant PTA.”
Corroborating earlier views, Mrs. Alaba Gbadebo,
said; “We chose Modupe Cole Home for the donations of wheelchairs and other
assistive devices to mark Benolas fifth anniversary because the home has a lot of Cerebral palsy cases and are in
dire need of these things. The
home has over 300 Adults and children.”
Giving details of the donation, Mrs. Gbadebo said
this include, 10 wheelchairs, each two representing one year of Benola; eight
crutches and eight walking sticks
were presented to Modupe Cole Home School.
Responding the Benola’s plans for the future; She
said; “Our next focus now is to raise money and awareness for our Cerebral palsy family forum in August
where we intend to give out 100 wheelchairs and lots of adult and children
diapers.
She further observed; “We realised the great need
in these areas at our family forum held at the Lagos University Teaching
Hospital (LUTH), Idiaraba, last year when over 450 parents and Children
with CP showed up and we only gave out 21wheelchairs.
We then realised that the need is enormous.
