Sola Ojo, Kaduna
In an effort to ameliorate the plight of people of Banono, a community in Kajuru local government area of Kaduna State, after the unrest they experienced in 2017, 2018 and early 2019, Christian congregation Christ Embassy has renovated a block of two classrooms at Banono’s UBE Primary School.
The Ministry, through Pastor Chris Oyakhilome’s Foundation International in collaboration with Inner City Mission for Children, also provided 100 Banono children with school uniforms, sandals, backpacks, writing materials, clothing and food stuffs for their parents in its “Back to School” effort.
Village Head, Angwan Aku, John Makaddas, who witnessed the distribution of school kits and relief materials at the school premises, expressed gratitude, describing the gesture as “heart touching.”
“How can we forget this kind gesture these people have done to us? They have touched our heart. They have renovated two classrooms and that means our children will now have a more conducive environment to learn,” the village head said.
“The attacks we suffered in July 2017, July 2018 and April this year affected everything about us here. With renovation of the primary and empowerment of our children with school kits, it shows we have hope.
“These people must have done a very good background work before coming. This is a community that does not have mobile communication network. None is working except when you climb the hill up there. We thank all of them for this gesture,” the traditional leader said.
Also reacting, Education Secretary, Kajuru Local Government Education Authority, Ishaku Simon, said the gesture would go far in supporting government’s efforts to make education accessible to all.
“Honestly, I’m highly excited in respect of what is happening here today. I just got a phone call in respect of this gesture demonstrated by Christ Embassy. We have to come over here to see for ourselves,” he said.
“We were surprised to see that a block of two classrooms was renovated. This will bring about a conducive learning atmosphere for our pupils for effective teaching and learning to take place.
“We also witnessed the distribution of school bags, sandals, uniforms, writing materials and other things they brought for the children and even their parents.
“This, to us, is a proof that we still have organisations outside the government who are interested in making learning possible everywhere,” he added.
Earlier, Pastor in charge of Christ Embassy, Northwest Zone 1, Marcel Obode, told reporters that the programme was designed to reach out to less priviledged children, especially those in hard-to-reach communities.
“We have only brought a token to these people after a need assessment was conducted. We have seen that the need is enormous and what we have just done is just the beginning,” the pastor said.
“After leaving here, we are going to see how we can assess what we have done and build on it. Chris Oyakhilome Foundation is doing a lot around the world. The whole idea is to touch lives, especially those that seem to have been forgotten in the society.
“We can only do a little but if others too can do this then it will add much. Our original plan was for 100 children at the beginning of the intervention targeting 500 children in this area.
“But as you can see, we have more than 100 children here and that means we may have to come back to take care of the remaining.
“We have a whole school kit carefully packaged for them. We know there were issues in this community sometimes ago and we believe that when we do something for the school, it cuts across all,” Onode told reporters.