As part of events to herald this year’s Social Media Awards (SMAs), the conveners of the award embarked on a charitable visit to a Lagos-based hospital and orphanage to identify with the less privileged.
The hospital visit saw the SMA team picking up the bills of some patients who were in critical conditions but could not afford to pay for their treatment.
At the Vigilant Heart Charitable Society (VHCS) in Lekki, the team donated various items including some bags of rice, cartons of noodles and beverages, among other household items.
The team equally volunteered to sponsor two of the children through university education as well as pay the registration fees of the forthcoming WASC examination for those who will write the exam.
Speaking on the charitable visits, the Chief Executive Officer of Alternative Adverts Ltd/Convener of the SMAs, Mr. Emmanuel Nwafor, said the gesture became necessary owing to the trying times people are contending with.
Nwafor noted that, “the economy is biting hard on everyone so we thought of a way of ensuring that some others are part of the Social Media Award charity programme.
“That’s why we chose to add an hospital and a charity home to the social media event this year. At the end of the day, its not just about those who are healthy or those who are comfortable; what about those who are not as fortunate as we are. We just want to do something; we just want to give back to society.”
Nwafor, who appealed to well meaning Nigerians to reach out as much as possible to the less privileged, said, “with what I heard and experienced here today, I wish that more people can go to any of these charity organisations to see what is going on because when we are out there, we don’t know what other people are going through. When Mrs. Maria Osawemen was explaining the situation back there, I felt bad. I felt that we are not doing enough and that was why I took the decision to include a scholarship programme to our commitment to the charity home.
“What I saw at the hospital too was disturbing. I’ve not been to an hospital in a long while so what I saw there broke my heart but there’s a limit to what an individual can do, so whoever can, reach out to the less privileged. Let’s be our brothers’ keeper at this time.”
Reacting to the kind gesture, the Founder of Vigilant Heart Charitable Society, Mrs. Maria Osawemen, expressed gratitude to the SMA team for extending a hand of fellowship to the less privileged.
She said the VHCS, which was established “to provide shelter and care for orphans and vulnerable children” as well as “promote formal education for orphans and underprivileged children is driven by the need to transform despair to hope for poor, vulnerable and underprivileged children.”
She seized the opportunity to appeal to other organisations and individuals to invest in changing the circumstances of these vulnerable children by taking up sponsorship of their educational pursuits.