We are glad to announce that we have been able to successfully inaugurate yet another club at Atari Kingdom Academy Kichikau. The academy is owned by one of us Mrs. Ladi Adole. It’s to the Glory of God that the children and staff well received the team.
They also showed great eagerness to advocate for Engraced Children. Infact some of the Staff and students have been to several of our events…We return thanks to God.
We return in Thanksgiving for all You did in our midst today. It was all of You and none of us. For answering our questions and answered prayers we thank you, Lord! For excellent weather and for bringing in the people thank You Father in the name of Jesus Amen. #SpecialNeedParenting #PrayingAnsweringGod #QuestionAnsweringGod #UnstoppableGrace
So it was another time of recognition when Ms. Adekoya Adenike, Ms. Kohol Martha and I visited Mr. Simon Bagudu Joshua who was away on National assignment at the time of our last event.
Mr. Joshua heard us speak on Radio once and ever since has not stopped praying and rendering financial and moral support to us. The Engraced ones celebrate you sir!
A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Engraced Ones Prayer/Advocacy group, has charged government at all levels and religious leaders in the country to support special needs children. She also called on private individuals to join the party in ensuring a better future for the special needs children.
“Government should help the children. We are not the only group caring for Engraced children in Abuja, there are several others doing much more than we are. We have a lot of these cases in the country, but the institutions are inadequate compared to the cases. They require special budgets. Government should not allow NGOs alone to handle these cases. More attention should be placed on it like Nomadic education and mobile fishermen education.
“Also, religious organizations where the parents of the children go for succor should help in building them spiritually and encourage them. They also need to be of sound moral which will also help in the development of the children and our country at large.” Speaking yesterday in a chat with our reporter in Abuja, the Coordinator of the NGO, Mrs. Bibora Yinkere said the Organisation will bolster its campaign this year to ensure that children with special needs are properly catered for.
She lamented a lack of support from government and private individuals, saying that the organization relies on contributions of members to take care of Engraced children.
She said the organization is grateful to God for the journey so far. “When we started this year, we had just a few coins but God opened doors for us to end last year on a high note. We got financial support and training from various individuals.” She said she was happy that the NGO achievement all it set out to do last year.
“Now everything we set out to do we got it. We achieved all we needed to do. God has helped us. We have improved on last year’s achievement. We collaborated with a lot of other organizations and the successes were enormous.” She said the NGO will continue to advocate for the rights of special children. “We will continue to advocate for their rights to education, better care, and acceptance. The government should absorb them and cater for their education. We need diagnostic centers for them to get the best care they need. The children need to be monitored at these centers.
“The medical treatment of these children as well as their education is very expensive. The government should provide a scheme or social welfare where these children can go and access affordable healthcare services. Last year we lost a child in our midst because there was no money. For instance, the problem with cerebral palsy is that it is not a uniform condition. It is like a spectrum because every child living with cerebral palsy has his own peculiarity and that is why the school is expensive.
“There are a lot of challenges these children face such as abandonment, rejection as well as illiteracy on the part of the parents who may not know their conditions. The major cause of cerebral palsy is infantile jaundice. We have cases where a woman will give birth today and that same day she is discharged from the hospital. The doctors don’t observe the children. The fact is that most times cerebral palsy is caused by factors that are avoidable.
“Also, the health aspect is important and very expensive. For instance, physiotherapy is from 300 to 7000 per hour. If the therapists come and the child is not in the mood the parent will still pay. Some of the children have a hole in their hearts and they need a constant hospital visit. The government should make speech therapy free to help many parents who can not afford the bills. We have many of them in our government hospitals and if they can help, we will be grateful. They need to be taught everything and the teacher or the parent needs to be patient with them because they are different from other children.
Speaking about the NGO’s School of Grace, the Coordinator said they will intensify and equip the school and give the children the best education. “I am glad that some private individuals and a few Institutions have keyed into our Educational Programme by providing scholarships to the pupils, technical support and even teaching aids.” She said there will be a focus on academics and craft this year to help the children. “We will take the campaign about the rights of the children across the country.”
She proffered that the economic empowerment of the parents of the children will go along way towards assisting the children. She cited an example with their newly launched school, saying “The school fees at our centre are being paid by parents and not all parents are able to meet up the full bill but every effort is highly appreciated. The economic wellbeing of a good number of the parents is nothing to envy, they can’t afford the health demands of their children not to talk about the expensive nature of their education.”
She frowned at some parents who are discriminating against their children living with these conditions. She said that some of the parents don’t even have their children with special needs in the family album, they don’t want the public to know that they have children with special needs and as such, they can’t even take their children with special needs to school. She scolded these parents and reminded them that children with intellectual disabilities deserve a good life like others, they can also excel in life, all that they need is extra support from their parents.
The Coordinator called on parents to take care of their children regardless of their conditions. “Irrespective of the conditions, parents should know that the children are human beings, they should see it as an avenue to take care of them. The parents should be caring and observant so as to better take care of the children. There is a face of denial, but they need to come out of it. Some went through the suicidal stage and blame themselves that probably they didn’t do certain things right during pregnancy, some feel like killing the child while some kill the child eventually.
There is a need for this kind of person to join other groups so as to share their stories. They should not withdraw from society. In the support groups, you will see people worse than you who have passed through the same problem. You will also learn through their experiences and know what to do and how best to handle the situation.”
Talk about destiny encouragers, about revelational depths uncommon to man, talk about rare men like Pastor Oluwatomi Adeoye. I appreciate your support in moving our vision forward. Thank you Sir for the things you do. #specialneedparenting #faithforfearfulmiracles
Welcome to 2020, The theme for the Engraced Ones for 2020 is; ‘Unstoppable Grace’ as seen in Esther 2:17, 2Corinthians 12: 9(a)
Esther2:17- And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti. Esther
