A cross-section of the beneficiaries of food items and clothing donated by a Non-Governmental Organisation, Hope for the Village Child Foundation in Kaduna on Wednesday. (NAN Photo)
By Sani Idris
A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Hope for the Village Child Foundation, has distributed food items and clothing to at least 210 vulnerable children, elderly women and Internally Displaced Persons in Kaduna communities.
The News Agency of Nigeria of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the communities included Kasuwan Magani, Damishi, Kujama, Marmara, Kabam, Rimi, Marabam Rido, Rido, Unguan Bulus, Unguan Gimbiya, Sabon Tashi, Jan Ruwa and Unguan Mainasara, among others.
The communities cut across Kaduna South, Chikun and Kajuru Local Government Areas of the state.
The food items donated were noodles, spaghetti, beans, cooking oil, seasoning, satchet tomatoes and salt, amongst others.
NAN reports that the NGO was supported by some foreign donors, Access bank and Microvis Micro Finance Bank.
The Deputy Director of the foundation, Juliana Ekwoanya, said their usual encounter with vulnerable people when on field work, made the donation imperative, especially with the Christmas celebration barely a few days away.
Ekwoanya said that when they go on field excercises on various activities in line with their foundation’s mission, they often come across women and children in need of food and clothing.
She further said that the Christmas festivity, which is by the corner, also called for the gesture in order to make the beneficiaries have a sense of belonging and memorable celebrations, like other children.
Ekwoanya, who is also in charge of the foundation’s health section, said that women with malnurished children also go to hospital for medical services.
She said it was heartbreaking and touching, where the women engage in begging for food for their vulnerable children.
She said that the food items may not go a long way, but would help to cushion hunger and make the children feel loved at Christmas.
Some of the beneficiaries, including 70-year-old Alice Jonathan and nine-year-old Blessed Patrick, described the foundation’s intervention as timely.
They thanked the foundation for its kind gesture and appealed to other well-meaning Nigerians to emulate the gesture “because people are in very difficult conditions”. (NAN)