The groups paid a visit to oko-baba community to access the effect of the fire incident on the children, women and aged in that community.
According to Mrs Toyin Shode Idowu, A Board of Trustee Member of the CPE Initiative
“I saw women who didn’t realise the power of a woman to change the narrative of her generations yet unborn by placing a premium on education. I saw women who believed they couldn’t rise beyond where they are and have thus resigned themselves to this ‘fate’. I saw young women, barely out of their teens already bearing, nursing and carrying children. Young women who have no dreams as they do not realise the power deposited in woman to turn their community around through her decisions, I saw young men who have gotten ‘lost’ along the way without even realising it. Young men who felt the system had cheated them, I saw young men who had the potential to ride beyond their circumstances had they been given proper education. Skilled young men who due to the absence of education cannot ‘package’ their skill and use it as a tool to turn their lives around, I saw men and fathers who are highly skilled and talented in woodwork but poor/lack of education is their handicap hence they are exploited regularly, I saw children who are likely never going to know a better life because there is no one to lead and guide them there through good education. I saw hunger, poverty and lack in its raw form and children who have been raised in it” she said.
She also stated that “Education is key and is truly the way out of the grip of poverty, its power must never be underestimated, Education opens the eyes to a world of endless possibilities and helps that young child to know that there is a much bigger world out there to conquer”.
According to Mr Olanrewaju Yusuf, the Coordinator of Give Back Group, “Education is a non-negotiable pathway to an improved quality of life, The crux of the matter today was education: its absence, presence and essence. If the ones we met today had better access to quality education, would things be better? If the ones we work with can harness the simple opportunities we struggle to provide, would it matter much in all the rot they have to wade through? If we preach it blindly to these ones without acknowledging the rot and rigors that block their understanding, would we get through or end up doing more harm than envisaged?
This lesson is one I am still learning and its story will be told in later when today’s story is told in full. For the first phase of CPE’s Intervention at Oko-baba, the lessons ring true and deep and the lessons imminent in subsequent phases of impact of this illustrious group in that community and in the many that my organization, Give Back Group provides access to is one that I cannot wait to learn”.
The Founder of CPE, Mrs Yinka Ogunde, thank all the donors that made it possible for CPE to donate food and other items to community.
