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•Says, over 1m widows, vulnerable children have benefitted from NGO’s initiative
By Kehinde Aderemi
For more than two decades now, more than a million widows and vulnerable children have benefitted from the various programmes organised by Lagos-based non-governmental organisation, GoldCrest Family Centre.
Recently, the President of the organisation, Reverend Agatha Chukwura celebrated her 79th birthday in Lagos.
Instead of throwing up a party to celebrate the day, the cleric spent the day with widows and vulnerable children in Lagos.
In this interview, Rev Chukwura spoke about her life at 79, how the organisation was established as well as the various areas her foundation has impacted the society positively in the last 23 years.
You just turned 79. Many people keep wondering why the day was marked modestly when you could have had a big party?
What is the essence of having a big party when so much can be done to better the lives of the widows and the vulnerable children in the society?
As a cleric and somebody that has enjoyed the grace of God since the beginning of my life, I think what I needed most as I celebrate my birthday is to continue to put smiles on the faces of the widows, who we call the wives of Jesus Christ. By doing that, my spirit will be fulfilled that I am a bit closer to fulfilling the vision given to me by God.
Anyway, I am very happy for all God has done for me. God has been faithful to me, though, I have had both the good and bad times, God takes all the glory.
How was your growing up like?
Growing up for me was wonderful. I am the second born of my family. My father was a big contractor in those days and he worked with the British men then.
While growing up, the British Catholic Sisters wanted to take me abroad but my mother said no, because she couldn’t allow anybody to take me away. So, I grew up in Delta State, then Midwest, but I am from Anambra State.
While growing up, I had the best education and when it was time for me to choose a career, my father choose nursing for me.
Though that was not what I wanted then, you don’t argue with your parents you only obey, unlike these days when children of nowadays will always challenge their parents’ decisions.
In my own case anyway, it turned out that God had a hand in it. And it went well from the beginning till the time I retired as a matron I started my nursing training early in one of the best hospitals in those days, St. Mary’s Hospital, Ukwashi- Ugu. We were taught almost everything that has to do with health services.
We were also trained to act as mini- doctors because in those days, there were very few doctors. So we did almost everything, including minor operations.
Shortly after my training, I began my nursing work and I eventually retired as a matron.
Having worked at various cadres of my profession and as a matron, I decided to start something new.
Initially, I wanted to start a maternity home and that was towards the end of 1985, but the procedures were not that easy. Part of it was that you must have working doctors and all of that.
So, I opted for pharmacy as a better alternative for me. Pharmacy was also difficult because even though I was a nurse, I needed a pharmacist that would help in securing my registration .And fortunately for me, we have a family friend who was a professor of pharmacy and a physician who was very close to my family.
He was my husband’s friend and he was also in charge of a big pharmaceutical company in Lagos. One day I told him about my plans to start a pharmacy and the requirements was that I would need a pharmaceutical licence to be able to register my company. I wanted to do it properly. He eventually gave his licence to me. So, I used his licence certificate to register my pharmacy which later became very prosperous for a long time.
What was the name of the pharmacy and where was it located?
It was Edgar Pharmacy Limited, located at Maryland, Lagos. We were supplying drugs to big companies, big organisations and it became very successful.
How did you come about Goldcrest Family Centre?
I was in California in America when I had a strange vision. It was in February 2000 and I was in one of my friends’ house when I had the vision. God told me to start a charity organisation that would take care of widows and vulnerable people in our society.
The vision was so big that I couldn’t figure it out initially because all my life I have been a nurse, a minister of God and a pharmacist, but engaging in charity for the vulnerable people looked too much a vision for me.
From the vision, I saw how many children were wasting their lives and nobody cared about them.
The vision was also about transforming both the spiritual and physical life of the poor. I became worried and I asked questions: how will I start? Where will I start? So, when I returned to Nigeria I called few of my friends and I told them about the vision. I was even shown the place in the vision. It was so big and I saw vulnerable children running about, and there are different departments and flowers are everywhere looking so wonderful, I said how will I do this?
So, I put it over and left it there. Eventually, in 2002 ending, around the end of the year 2002, I was in London and then, I saw the vision again. Even in that vision, I spoke. I said, I don’t know how to do it. And the voice said, take up a pen and write. So, I took up a pen and started writing what was coming through my spirit now. At the end of the day, when I got off, saw pages of what I had actually written since the voice said take a pen and I took a pen.
So, I now became conscious and saw what I had written. That was how the inspiration was coming and I was writing.
When I came back to Nigeria, I also showed it to people. So, I now called somebody. I said we must start planning on this because the way it came, it was like I told you to do something and you didn’t start. I am repeating it again. I must start.
Initially, most people say it was too big. They don’t understand. They are not interested.
The whole vision became possible for me because I was a missionary under the International Christian Mission. It was through the ministry assignment that we were able to meet with the people from the remote communities and see how we can improve their lives. So, when the vision of Goldcrest came up, it was very easy for me to continue impacting their lives positively.
I just used the money I have from my pharmacy and did some publications, did some information, gather people, talk about it. And some people started taking interest. So, that’s how we started.
We started Goldcrest Family Centre in my living room with a few people. That was how we started going to communities. Then I found out that most of our communities had nothing at all. So, I would carry drugs from my pharmacy, go to the communities, do medical, then do the message, then gather the people. People were joining us. When we go, we treat them. We do so many things for them.
We give them clothes, we give them food, we treat them with drugs free and they were very happy. We started from a remote community in Magboro, I had been there as a missionary when we got there. There was nothing, no road, nothing and because we are truly taking care of the vulnerable people, God was faithful to us. People of like minds started supporting us and the vision became a reality.
How did you come about the name Goldcrest Family Centre?
It was given to me by the Holy Spirit through the revelation I got in the vision. God said the centre is going to be like a family, a place where people will come and we are doing things together. And we are building up families.
So, when I got the name Gold crest, I looked it up in the dictionary and I find out the meaning which was okay with the vision I had. I had to leave my flourishing pharmaceutical company to focus completely on Goldcrest Family Centre after sometime as the Holy Spirit led me with nothing but faith in the will of God.
What was the reaction of your husband, your children and the rest of your immediate family?
Initially, my husband could not understand why I would leave my pharmacy company and start an NGO. But he became convinced when he saw how I was passionate about the vision with nothing. My children were very supportive because they knew I am a missionary by nature and they supported the vision.
Before we started the widows programme, I did a research on the lives of the Nigerian widows and I found out that issues that concern widows in Nigeria are complex.
I spoke to Rev Dr Femi Paul on this and he investigated and told me that many things are going wrong with Nigerian widows. So, I began interacting and started interrogating the widows. Many of them told me their personal life stories. Whenever they talked, I was always very emotional. I never knew that widows are being maltreated like that because they lost their husbands.
So, from there, we started changing their thoughts, we told them that their lives can be changed for the better. We started engaging them, giving them stipends to start businesses on their own so that they can find their feet and be independent and look after their children.
From my background as a missioner, the idea of bringing vulnerable children together under one umbrella was easy. I started bringing the children together from our church.
I started talking to the children about their future and how they can be useful to themselves and to the society. We initiated kids club and I will give the children tips on how they can build their lives in other to build a good society. We went to communities across Lagos and Ogun states to see how we can help those children.
In some of these communities, we saw children that were not going to school. We saw a small boy doing Vulcaniser and the mother was there selling little items for them to survive. We sensitise parents on the need to take their children to school. Most times, we enrol the children in school, pay for their uniforms and other things .
I could remember there was a family with four children and none of the children was going to school. Their father and mother were there and we agreed to sponsor the four children.
What have been the achievements of Goldcrest Family Centre in the last 23 years?
We have records of our activities and achievements in the last 23 years. We thank God GoldCrest Family Centre has done well in the area of widows’ empowerment and taking care of vulnerable children. In the last 23 years, GoldCrest Family Centre has established over 50 branches in Lagos and Ogun States. We take care of over one million widows and millions of vulnerable children
Where do you get the funds to cater to the needs of the widows and vulnerable children?
Well, like I said earlier, God has been faithful to us. We have people who also share in this vision and have been very supportive.
My Pastor and former chairman of Goldcrest Family Centre Rev. Dr Femi Paul, our current Chairman, Dr Seyinde O.Fadeni, Chika Balogun and many others who are part of the vision as directors have been helping us because they believe in the vision as given to me by God.
Through their supports, we train the widows in various self independent programmes like fashion designing, bead making, catering services, soap making, how to produce insecticide and we give them start up capital to help them become independent.
We educate and enlighten the widows on how they can be productive and be useful to themselves and also to the society. Through our annual educational programmes, we give scholarships to students from the elementary school to secondary and to tertiary institutions. We have records of numbers of students that have graduated and doing well under the Goldcrest Family Centre scholarship initiative.
Annually, we organise free Medical Health Summit to communities in Lagos and Ogun States. And we hold medical outreaches to several communities each year. Through this, we invite medical practitioners and caregivers to take care of the health needs of the people, checking their blood pressure, health status, eyes condition and complete health diagnosis. It is usually an outreach programme designed to solve the health needs of the people at the grassroots.
Some pharmaceutical companies usually give us drugs to support the initiative and we are always ready to offer support to people that are poor and less-privileged. Every December, we invite all the widows where we give them foodstuff, clothes, and a token as part of our end- of- the year programme.
How do you feel each time these charity events take place?
I feel fulfilled and I feel like I have been useful to God and to the people. It is always a feeling of being able to give, being able to restore people’s destiny, being able to return people to their calling, to their way, to know what they have come to life to do, because there’s a reason why we are created. It is always a feeling of adding value to the lives of others, a feeling of being there for them.
My greatest joy is the feeling that God has sent me people to support the work and run the vision. I pray God to bless them all.
Yours is a non-profit organisation. What are the challenges faced by Goldcrest Family Centre over the last 23 years?
For an NGO to start taking care of widows and vulnerable children, it is not that easy. We are faced with various challenges, and that is not peculiar to Goldcrest Family Centre alone. We are in a society whereby the government is always aloof to the plight of the citizens. It is not like that abroad. There are government interventions in all areas of the citizens’ lives.
The total responsibility of the government is to take care of the citizens, especially, widows and vulnerable people.
Not everybody will enjoy the luxury of coming from a rich home. There are some very low people and it’s our duty to bring them up.
There are a lot of challenges because it’s the responsibility of the government to support organisations like Goldcrest Family Centre.
We face a lot in all the areas of government relationship. We are managing because we know what’s going on. So we try to stand strong. We try to advocate our vision, our mission. Our mission is to enhance what the government is doing. And we are trying to see how we can contribute our quota to make sure our society is better by ensuring that poverty is reduced, crime is also reduced and in the end, the widows and the vulnerable children become part of the strong mechanism for peace and societal growth.
So, part of our weekly advocacy programme is that every Tuesday, we meet at our headquarters at Fadiya Street Ketu, Lagos with the leaders of each of the zones. We pray together, we enlighten them on the best way to handle life’s challenges and become problem solvers rather than being the problem and we give updates on our various programmes.
