FCT: Foundation empowers 70 Kubwa pupils with scholarships, materials

The Catherine Adeh Foundation has empowered 70 pupils and students in Kubwa, Abuja, with scholarships and educational materials aimed at helping them remain in school and easing some of the challenges faced by children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The beneficiaries, drawn from primary and secondary sections, received scholarships, school bags, sneakers and exercise books as part of the intervention.

Founder of the Catherine Adeh Foundation, Catherine Nwesi Adeh, said the intervention was inspired by her commitment to community service and her experience as a Rotarian, as well as encounters with children whose circumstances had made access to education difficult.

Adeh said her encounter with a child who survived polio particularly changed her perspective and strengthened her resolve to support vulnerable children.

According to her, although the organisation could not reach every child in need, it had decided to consistently support those it could reach and make a meaningful difference in their lives.

“I have gone to so many schools in the FCT, but what endeared me to this school was when I heard that most students could not even come to school because of their circumstances.

“So, I told the teacher that I would definitely try and see what we can do. We don’t have so much to give, but the little we can, we will share with them,” she said.

Adeh explained that the foundation’s intervention included school bags, scholarships and sneakers, noting that the beneficiaries were selected from both the primary and secondary sections.

She said the foundation would continue to identify children and communities where its limited resources could make a difference.

“We can’t reach out to everybody, but whichever one we can impact their life, we’ll do that in a good way,” she added.

Speaking on concerns raised about children brought from rural communities by guardians and subsequently used as household help, Adeh condemned the practice of keeping children out of school after taking them away from their parents.

She said children taken into other homes should be treated with the same care and given the same opportunities as the biological children of their guardians, particularly access to education.

“People bring kids to help them and won’t have the sense to even put them in schools. Your kids are in school and these children, you feel they don’t need to go to school. I think it’s wrong,” she said.

Adeh urged guardians who could not provide proper care for a child not to take the child away from his or her parents.

“If you cannot take care of any child like your own, then don’t bring them. Just leave them with their parents,” she said.

She also criticised situations where children living as domestic helpers are made to eat different food, wear different clothes and receive different treatment from the children in the households where they live.

“If they cannot look like my children, then I don’t have any business keeping them in my house. That’s what I think,” she said.

Mrs. Kalu Abibat, Vice Principal Academics, Government Secondary School (GSS), Kubwa IV, appreciated the Catherine Adeh Foundation for its support and intervention in the school.

She said the gesture was particularly important because some children in the school had been brought from villages by parents or guardians as domestic helpers but were subsequently neglected in terms of their education and welfare.

According to her, some people take children from rural communities under the guise of helping them, but fail to provide the basic necessities needed for their education, including school fees, uniforms and learning materials.

She said such children are sometimes enrolled in school merely to avoid criticism, without genuine commitment to their education and wellbeing.

Abibat commended organisations such as the Catherine Adeh Foundation for supporting vulnerable children and appealed to well-meaning Nigerians, government agencies, civil society organisations and other stakeholders to identify and assist children in similar situations across the Federal Capital Territory.

She stressed that the challenge was not peculiar to GSS Kubwa IV, noting that many children who had been separated from their parents and brought into the FCT were in need of educational and welfare support.