CEMF EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMME
CARE EDUCATIONAL MISSIONS FOUNDATION is a project, which envisioned bringing in social, economic transformation by educating the less fortunate indigent and under privileged children in Obajana Community and it environs, oworo land, Lokoja and Kogi State and indeed Nigeria. Obajana, oworo district of Kogi State is a multi-ethnic community which is history almost all the tribes and ethnic groups in Nigeria. There are many chances in today’s Nigeria of which Kogi State and of cause Obajana that most families are enable to support themselves and keep their children in school throughout the year or session because of the level of poverty in the community.
In a process to reach up to the vision, the strategy is that at least 70% of the orphans, vulnerable children, are out of school children in the community who are wondering why they were born because they are without anyone to help them.
So, by God’s grace, by 2033, these will have access to:
- Free Basic Education in a very conducive classroom/ environment.
- Have scholastic materials provided to them free of change
- Have school uniform and access to basic treatment free of change.
- Live in a better environment
- A home for the poor children in the community.
- Improved hygiene and sanitation among the children and their guardians.
Being aware that children are Kogi and Nigeria’s greatest future resources, the project intends to ensure and support to the child’s complete development that mentally, physically, socially, spiritually and economically liberating and equipping them as they unwrap their full potentials.
Project Description
“The true measure of society is in now it cares for those who can care for themselves. Those in the dawn of life – the children. Those in the twilights of life – the elderly. And those in the shadows of life – the sick, the needy, and the handicapped” – Huberts H. Humphrey.
We face a critical problem national parentless children and children who cannot afford quality education due to their parent poverty. In Nigeria million of children are homeless and parentless (orphans) and in need of foods, cares, nurture, education, and other things necessary to make life meaningful for them. There seems to be avoiding of “encouragement and positive solution to these dilemmas. These children need cares whether or not a family is available for them.
In kogi state from which Obajana community has its own shares are so many thousands of these helpless children-hundreds of thousands of them. Some of them lost their mothers in the clinic during birth from AIDs, accidents or some other complications. Others are born to alcoholic or drugs – addicted parents and unwed parents and abandoned in hospitals across the state.
In this Obajana community, an important town in Kogi State located in the oworo district of Lokoja LGA. It is the site of the largest cement plant in Africa and the 2nd largest in the world owned by Dangote Cement Plc their state or level of illiteracy is quite unequal while comparing with other “important” towns in Kogi State. In Obajana are all the tribes and ethic groups in Nigeria with thousand of their children in the bush looking for rabbits in the street playing ball, bet naija, naked in the street also with child’s plays, in the farm doing labourers etc. not because they want hope for them but because there is not hope for them to go school and because of the level of poverty in the land.
Rather than these children to be embraced by the society in which they found themselves, they are discarded, rejected or abandoned.
These children hardly get a chance to move up the social ladder. Rather, they are exposed to violence, battering, chose to become things for the politicians and other dangerous activities or occupation in life and become a threat to the peace of the society. Thus, they face early or untimely death.
The high poverty level in Obajana once again due to less food production, unemployment disengagement from work, lack of entrepreneurship skills, poor health among the working group together with HIV & AIDs and illiteracy have knit out the vulnerability web mainly among women youth and children, resulting in broken families, early marriages, rapes and defilement, drug addiction and abuse increase crime toll. All these factors collectively result in cause of early deaths or imprisonment of parents, consequently making the children vulnerable. The aggravated problem therefore is use vulnerability of children rendering them unable to access their rightful basics of healthcare, education good nutrition and psychosocial uplifting that really need to be molded and empowered by them accessing the aforementioned basics skills that can make them happy, useful and resourceful citizens in society.
Project Justification
It is justifiable apparent that in the entire Obajana community there is only one public care centre others are private which makes it difficult for the vulnerable children and the less fortunate to access health care.
Secondly, due to this lack of cares, the vulnerable of these children is now resulting into a high level of prostitution, child labour and child abuse. Therefore a school cum orphanage homes with a highly enriched skills vocational centre can have both long and short term solution.
Thirdly, there are more than forty (40) primary and secondary schools in the area which belong to private individuals or organization with high, unbearable and unaffordable fees by the parents of these vulnerable children. Though privately owned, some of them are of low academic standards and not suitable deliverable to the vulnerable children.
Therefore the project is intended to demonstrate true love to the less fortunate or less privileged children and hence committed to delivering services to the true and rightful beneficiaries without any discrimination of any from (religion or ethnic groups).
Project Plan & Goal
In light of all the above problems, we have got a plan. We are initiating Scholars World Academy and Lighthouse Leadership Schools Centres and we are proceeding with this plan. In partnership with the ministry of women affair and social development, and other national and international partners, we have planned to provide opportunity for the vulnerable and out of school (dropouts) children to access quality formal education, teach them how they can play a significant role in their education, all free of charge teaching them how to overcome the challenges of life, set and achieve goals, teaching them the power of being positive, the importance of taking personal responsibilities and teaching them God’s love and care. This is because when the less privileged children are giving opportunity to access quality education and at the aforementioned skills and how to play a significant role in their education and future, they will learn how to take more educational ownership with a standard and stimulating goal setting programme. With the emergence of this centre in Obajana community not less than 15,000 less privileged children in Oworo district of Lokoja and its environs in Kogi State will be positioned to set and achieve realistic goals in the next ten (10) years. Any child who will go through this centre will realize that there will be challenges to block their path to their future. Rather they will develop an “I will make it happen” attitude and also become Godly member of the society.
Part of our aim for initiating these centres is for it to become a base when a range of technology related service will be rendered to the children. We will make computer education technology and access to outline educational resources avoidable in the centre for the children.
We will use computer course to teach the children how to use computer and also use it to build in them skills that are marketable and that can help them to generate income for themselves as they grow up into their adult lives this will go along with other skills.
This programme will be one of the cornerstones of this centre and our strategy to bring technology to the less-privileged and the vulnerable children. We will also sue computer education technology in the centre to provide an after-school programme for other teenagers in the host community so that they come and be taught computer technology education from the introduction to computer to the HTML and to graphic design.
Our main goal is to see at least 70% of the vulnerable children, out of school (dropped out) children and orphaned children access basic education and good health by 2033.
Project Output
- Increased number of orphans and the indigent’s children attending school free of charge.
- Lest privileged children attend school in clean new uniform free of charge
- The children attending school with enough school supplies and provisions.
- Improved living and sleeping conditions among these children.
- Improved nutritional status and reduced physical ailments and have productive populations.
- Positive thinking towards sustainability of projects.
- Enhanced enlightened community on child care, thus creating a viable and sound future.
Project Activities
- Registration of orphans and vulnerable children-OVC who are less privilege.
- Construction of children and teenagers orientation chapel.
- Provision of tuition-free education, free uniform and free scholastic materials
- Moving from street to street looking for the street children – the vulnerable who were supposed to be in the school at that hour of the day but were not, identify and advising their parents to bring them to school.
- Construction of conducive classrooms and creates a conducive learning environment
- Construction of “home like” Hostels for Boys and Girls who are interested in staying in the Hostels.
- Supply of all the educational needs to OVC’s (children) in the centre.
- Providing hot meal to the children school/centre who are not staying in the Hostel before going to their respective houses after closing from the school daily.
- Training of children and women on livelihood skills
- Construction of play ground and recreation centre for children.
- Organizing seminars, symposium, inter school competitions in games and quizzes, debate etc. for the children
- Employing qualified and quality teachers and trainers to work of the centre.