By Bridget Ikyado
A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), UDUKHOTSE Foundation, has donated food, medicals and other personal hygiene products to an elderly centre in Abuja.
The donation is part of the organisation’s mandate to touch lives and uplift the vulnerable.
Founder of the NGO, Amb Lois Otse-Adams, led a team to the Amazing Grace Home for the Elderly located in Kado Area of the Abuja Municipal Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) where the elderly were fed and cared for.
The group also provided services such as clothing, massage, tidying essential boxes, hair making, music, dancing, games, health talks and prayers.
According to the group, the foundation is committed to helping the elderly and the vulnerable.
Otse-Adams was represented by the Founder of Pure Heart Family Development Foundation, Mrs Elizabeth Sam-Sedi, whose NGO also partnered and made donations to the elderly.
“We came here today to visit them; our foundations’ priority is caring for the aged. My foundation is circled around family, like an advocate for families.
“The aged are part of every extended family, that is why we have come here today.
“You know that it is the season of Christmas and we know that Christmas is about love, joy, togetherness, unity and families coming together.
“We also know that the aged, most of them are here in the home and their loved ones are not with them.
“We decided to come and show them love, let them know that somebody cares about them.
“We came with gifts, food items, and vitamins; we intend to massage them because they are old and hardly stand.
“We intend to engage in so many other activities here today,” Otse-Adams said.
Mr Nixon-Patrick Osikhena, a volunteer with the NGO, commended the NGO for the gesture.
Osikhena, a governing Board member of the National Research Institute for Chemical Technology, advised Nigerians to find time to relax with the aged and give them support.
“I came to get the feel from the old folks and, you know, we will all get old some day,” Osikhena said.
Another volunteer, Mrs Ann Ayodele, said: “I am impressed with what I’ve seen.
“I didn’t know that we had such a good place like this, comfortable; the environment, the staff and the elderly people are all warm. I can’t sense any regret for being here today.
“I, therefore, plead with the Federal Government to provide some basic amenities for them, like a gym for them to be doing exercises, because some of them do not walk for a long time.
“Their health status too; there should be a standby clinic around the environment so that they can attend to them free of charge,” Mrs Ayodele said.
Nurse Anyora Sonia gave a health talk on nutrition and personal hygiene.
The Administrator of Amazing Grace Home for the Elderly, Mrs Caroline Abel, thanked the NGO for the donation and prayed for the founder, the staff and the management.
According to her, elders need people around them to make them feel alive.
“Thank God and I thank the foundation that was able to make this happen; I pray that almighty God strengthens them in every area.
“I advise people to try and visit the old, come closer to them and see how they are feeling; those that have elderly ones should not abandon them.
They should make them feel they are still living. As you can see here, they are interacting with each other and they are so happy.
“I also ask the government to try and support the foundation, it is a private foundation; the government should try and do something for the elderly,” Mrs Abel said. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)