Wife of the governor of Delta state, Dame Edith Okowa, has said that the care of orphans has been of paramount importance to her. She said for the past five years, the 05 Initiative, her pet project, has worked with care givers in registered orphanages in the state.
Dame Okowa said mothers have the responsibility of caring for people who live with them, “therefore we should be mindful of the way we treat other people’s children because we will not always be where our children are.”
The governor’s wife spoke on Monday, November 9, 2020 during the celebration of the world orphan’s day at the Delta government house, Asaba, the Delta state capital. She said the event was to “re-evaluate the way we treat children around us, especially the ones that are not our biological children.”
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She said:”Most of them have lost both parents and it is no fault of theirs. Some, their parents are poor, leaving them in an extremely vulnerable society.”
In the speech she delivered during the celebration on Monday, she said this year 2020 introduced a new way of life due to the COVID-19 pandemic but “it has not stopped us from attending regularly to the needs of our children at the orphanages.”
She said in the 2020 celebration which usually holds on the second Monday of November every year, provision was made for forty eight registered orphanages and five adopted families including the quintuplet, adding that “this is in fulfilment of our mission to feed the hungry and provide for the homeless.”
She commended the caregivers in the orphanage homes for their care and love for the children, just as she urged them to keep on the good work and that they should not forget to teach them the fear of the Lord as their labour will not go unrewarded.
The director general of the Initiative, Mrs. Oghenekevwe Agas, said within a space of one year, five new orphanges were added to the initial number being reached by the initiative.
“For the 2020 celebration, we were able to incorporate additional five orphanges who were able to complete their registration, thus bringing the number to 48.
“Ordinarily, we were also supposed to mark the celebration in just one day but because of the peculiarities brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for physical distancing, we had to make it a week long programme,” she explained.
The distribution of food items which commenced last Thursday and lasting through to Monday, November 9, 2020 witnessed the 48 orphanages across the state, picking up food items for their various homes.
