By: Monday Danladi, Bauchi
A total of Thirty-One Secondary School students in various schools across Bauchi State, have had their school fees for the current academic session, settled by a Bauchi based non-governmental organisation, Radiant Care Foundation.
The NGO also distributed starter packs in various skills and trades including sewing machines, filing machines, grinding machines, beans cake and soya beans making machines.
A beneficiary speaking on behalf of others
A beneficiary speaking on behalf of others
The distribution of the items was done on Sunday during the official unveiling of the NGO established in the memory of late Dcns Abigail Bosede Bello who died 20 years ago.
The items given out included two sewing machines, four grinding machines, three shoe filling machines, three business support packs in addition to the tuition fees to 30 less privileged pupils.
Executive Director of the Foundation, Comfort Bello-Aliyu, revealed that the organisation was purposely established to give back to the society in honour of her late mother, Mrs. Abigail Bosede Bello.
Comfort Bello-Aliyu further said that the family, having acknowledged the kind of selfless life lived by their late mother, who accommodated many less privileged people in her community, in Kogi State as well as in Bauchi, established the Foundation in order to continue her charity efforts.
She stated that, “Yeah, I’m celebrating a woman who lived a compassionate life. She lived for people, and she was a woman who was God-fearing, who taught me, especially me, how to pray and how to live an exemplary life after Christ. My mom, just like I said, was someone, she wasn’t rich, but the little she had, she shared it with people.”.
According to her,”If you come to our house then, my parents gave birth to Seven of us, but we had almost 22 people living in our house, both in the main apartment and then the boys’ quarters. She was somebody who liked bringing people around her, liked training people, liked people who are hardworking because she was never lazy.”
She added that,”You can see it in me. I actually took after her. Do you understand? So when she was alive, we had gone to hospitals with her to visit the sick. In fact, in my Church, when we were young, every woman that had given birth, she was the one that goes to take care of that woman.”
She also narrated that,”There was a time while we were growing up, my father’s house became like a mini guest house for all our Pastors coming from all over Nigeria. Whenever they were in Bauchi, in fact, the master bedroom that my father lived, was for them, and then she took good care of them. She taught us to love God. She taught us to be forgiving. In fact, if my mom knows that she has offended you, she would not be able to sleep. First thing early in the morning, she would go and ask you for forgiveness.”
“And she doesn’t like to see where people are giving money. She makes sure that she settles that worry. What I remember about her is to always wake up in the morning, gather my children, and pray,” She added.
According to her, “One experience I don’t want to forget about her was when I gave birth to my firstborn. He was sick and then they admitted us in JUTH, Jos. You know the cold weather in Jos. She came from the village and then every time, when she arrived, she was sitting and sleeping on the floor. I would tell her, Mama, please come and sleep on the bed. Let me go outside. She said no.”
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She added that,”In fact, there was a time the Nurse came and said, if you are not the mother of the patient, go out. You understand? She stood up on the ground and I said, no, Mama, you come and lie down on the bed. Let me go out. She said no. For more than 14 days, she was lying on the floor. I can never forget that. I can never forget that.”
Comfort Bello-Aliyu added that, “The name of the foundation is Radiant Care Foundation. And then what we do majorly in Radiant Care Foundation, for long, we have been doing a lot of corporate social responsibility in her name. But the stuff that we are formalizing it today, we are unveiling it today. We have gone for medical outreaches. We have gone to the prison. You know there are people in the prison, who didn’t really commit an offence. You understand? And at the prison, we found out that there are people that need just N10,000, there are N20,000 to be freed. So that is what we have been doing in her name, you understand.”
She further stated that,”And then in the teaching hospital, we have gone there several times to offset medical fees. Today, we are unveiling the Radiant Care Foundation officially, that is registering with the Corporate Affairs Commission, and then also empowering people today in her name.”
“We have been doing business support, and then we are doing medical outreach support, because some hospitals will be benefiting here today. Then we are also empowering some widows, giving them grants in the form of grinding machines and then sewing machines. And then we have some youths also that we are also empowering, like giving some youths who have learned how to make shoes, by giving them filing machines. In total, for the educational sector, we have 31. Then for the business support, we have four. Then for the empowerment to widows and other people, with down trodding, we have six.
The beneficiaries of the starter packs are mostly widows. Other beneficiaries include thos were trained by Kairos Initiative on shoemaking, tailoring and others
The team lead of the Foundation, Comfort Bello-Aliyu, said that the organisation has reached out to thousands of beneficiaries across health, education and empowerment support.
“Last year, we were at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH), assisting patients across the wards of the hospital.
“We have also carried out medical outreaches at the community levels to screen and treat many people. We have been doing these in honour of our late mother.”
The launch and the 20th remembrance was attended by prominent clerics including the Chairman of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) Pastor Promise Nuhu Yohanna, who delivered a short exhortation challenging well to do individuals in the society, to imbibe the culture of philanthropy and giving back to the society.
One of beneficiaries receiving her starter pack
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