Blessing Bature, Abuja
As the world commemorate the 2023 World Water Day, the Sam Empowerment Foundation, has commissioned a sanitary facility project, 12 units 3 block classrooms, 3 block toilet facilities and renovat a 3 block classrooms in Gwarinpa estate junior secondary school, Abuja to address the unhealthy practices of open defecation in the school.
The Foundation Project Director, Kiema Ogunlana during the commissioning of the project said the project was strategically apt considering the challenges the girl child could face in the school especially when there are in their monthly period having to go to bush to change their pads was really deplorable and unthought of.
She stated, “the toilet is also socially inclusive because we did it for persons with disability and we took them into cognisance because we didn’t want to leave them out. So basically it’s a success story for us and we are happy that today has come to pass.
She maintained that the foundation whose thematic focus is health education, vulnerable children, programing and empowerment has been embarking on several lives touching programs around FCT and the sanitary facility project is the latest.
Ogunlana said, this year world water day with the theme “accelerating change” is imperative that we have to give each child opportunity to replicate the change we want to see because we believe that change begins with you.
“Before now it was open defecation that was the order of the day in the school, the kids has no place for sanitary facility where they can change even as they are in their period, so you see kids going to the bush to change, it was really deplorable state and so we took it upon our selves through our founder, president and our partners and were able to talk to the government agencies in charge of the particular school in FCT to give us the permission to come and start something to build the facility which we are now done and today we are commissioning a 12 units, 3 block classrooms, 3 block toilet facilities, in addition to this we are also renovating a 3 block classrooms to the school”.
She Urged NGOs to work hand in hand to galvanize efforts with government in order to touch lives, because government alone can not do it considering the paucity of funds and the budgetary allocation at their disposal.
Responding, the school principal, Mrs Zainab Hassan while expressing her excitement over the commissioning of the facilities, said she is overwhelmed by the gesture and thanked the foundation for the show of love and care for humanity, adding that the students are equally overwhelmed with joy.
“You can imagine a girl child who is on her period and will not come to school maybe for the first three days of her heavy flow because she does not have a place to change, but now they can come to school conveniently and can change or do whatever thing they want to do, so we are very appreciative and we pray that God bless them more and more”, she added.