Wife of the governor of Anambra State, Chief (Mrs.) Ebelechukwu Obiano, has called on women whose children have cleft lip and cleft palate deformities to come forward and take advantage of the free surgery her pet project, Caring Family Enhancement (CAFÉ), is sponsoring at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi.

She made the call when she visited the hospital on Monday to assess progress of the children under-going surgery for cleft palate deformities.

Mrs. Obiano told the women who converged with their babies at NAUTH that the corrective surgery will restore smiles and healthy life to their babies who would thereafter eat well with ease. She advised the women to listen to the nurses on how to take care of the babies after the surgery.

According to Mrs. Obiano, “You must know how to feed the babies to avoid infection. Always give them balanced diets to enable them grow healthy. Cleft lip is a mere birth abnormality which you now know can be corrected; therefore make sure you tell others who have children with such problem to come forward. They do not have to pay to have their cleft lip and cleft palate deformed children undergo the surgery.”

The founder and focal person of CAFÉ reminded the women of the significance of the International Women’s Day which was held on Sunday. She commended the efforts of the United Nations and other global organisations working for the promotion of rights of women, stressing the need for the women to make efforts to improve their families.

“In CAFÉ we train women in various vocations to acquire skills and also empower them to be self-reliant. Do not sit on the fence and wait for everything to fall on your lap, get something doing so that you can contribute meaningfully to the good health and survival of your family.” she stated.

Mrs. Obiano said she founded CAFÉ as a non-profit, non-partisan pet project with a mandate to care for the less privileged and reduce women-child vulnerability while maintaining the dignity of the physically-challenged amongst other programmes. She said that she has observed a high level of commitment and dignity in labour amongst Anambra womenfolk in the last ten months she interacted and collaborated with some women groups in the course of trying to create sustainable empowerment programmes for them in communities across the state.

The governor’s wife explained that CAFÉ equally undertakes health outreach and provides support to widows who are victims of violence and abuse. She appealed for the support of stakeholders for CAFÉ’s initiatives, and individual contributions to impact positively on lives of women.

•Photo shows wife of Anambra State Governor, Chief (Mrs.) Ebelechukwu Obiano, carrying one of the babies when she went to the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH), Nnewi, on Monday to assess progress in the free cleft lip surgeries sponsored by her NGO, CAFÉ.

Update news