The Founder, Hope for Survival Orphanage, Mrs. Ruth Ibrahim on Wednesday, solicited financial and material support from individuals, organisations and corporate bodies to enable her provide food and quality education for the children.

Ibrahim made the appeal when the Rotary Club, Abuja, and the Rotary Club, Gwarinpa, FCT, visited the home to donate food items, toiletries and blankets in commemoration of the 2015 ‘World Humanitarian Day.’

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the United Nations has set aside Aug. 19, of every year to recognise those who face danger and adversity in order to help others and also to celebrate the spirit that inspires humanitarian work around the globe.

The 2015 theme for the celebration is ‘Inspiring the World’s Humanity.’

While showing appreciation for the generosity the club had extended to the orphanage, Ibrahim said the orphanage still faced the challenge of paying the children’s school fees.

She said that eight of the children were currently in the university and the orphanage could barely pay for their tuition, adding that feeding them a balanced meal as often as possible was also a challenge.

“You know that we do not own any university so we have to pay school fees and right now it is only God that has been helping us. My husband and some people have been assisting so far.

“Their feeding is also another challenge because most of the time people who donate food items bring starchy foods like rice, spaggetti, indomie and so on but we need protein like beans, milk to support these.

“Sometimes I slaughter a cow when the electricity in the area is good and we have a powerful and reliable generator so that the meat can take us up to two months.

“You can only imagine how little the children can have of that meat everyday for the next two months.”

The founder, who was also wife to the former Controller General of the Nigeria Prisons Service, Mr. Zakari Ibrahim, said since the inception of the orphanage a school and hostel was built to cater to the educational needs of the children.

The founder said that due to such efforts, about three sets had so far been graduated from the school, adding that these children also sat for WAEC and passed with at least a 75 per cent average grade score.

“When we first founded this orphanage we could not find a good school to enrol these children and so we employed graduates to teach them. We also have a good science laboratory for the children.”

Ibrahim said that if more Nigerians could show more acts of kindness and love to others the country would be a better place for all especially the poor.

She said that the children were happy with the kind gesture shown them and called on more organisations to emulate the act of love members of the club had shown.

The President of the Rotary Club, Abuja, Mr. Adejo Danjuma said the club visited the orphanage to key into the activities marking the world humanitarian day.

“The orphanage has many abandoned children and those who have lost their parents and guardians. It does not take much to assist the less privileged and bring happiness to those around us.

“Some members of the club contributed as little as N1, 500 and this is enough to buy a carton of Indomie for the children. This shows that you do not need to do much in order to bring smiles to the faces of these children.

“The items we donated range from food items and toiletries. We also donated duvet and blankets which we received from Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, as their contribution to support our humanitarian cause.”

He said that the club chose the orphanage due to the zeal the founder had shown over the years in caring for less privileged children and orphans.

The president said that as part of her humanitarian effort, the founder was currently feeding and training over 40 orphans she adopted from a village located in Kaduna state aside other children who were sheltered in the home. (NAN)

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