Help me, I want to bear
my own children
• Cries 15-year-old- Michael whose manhood was
cut off for ritual, four years ago
By GEOFFREY ANYANWU, Awka
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
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Michael
Monday
Photo: The Sun
Publishing
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Even without a male organ, 15-year-old- Michael Monday Ikechukwu
still hopes to raise a family of his own in future.
This hope can, however, be realised if the plan to take him
abroad for a surgical operation to fix an artificial male
organ works.
Consequently, about N15 million is said to be needed to take
Michael abroad for the operation. He is therefore appealing
to Nigerians to save him the agony of growing to a full-fledged
man without the means of procreation.
In 2003, Monday then 11 years old and living with his parents
at No. 11 Okafor Street, Onitsha, had his penis chopped off
by his relation, one Tochukwu now late and a friend of his
for ritual purposes.
The late Tochukwu and his friend, according to the interview
they granted Daily Sun then, had an arrangement with a ritualist
for them to procure a male organ at the cost of about N1.5
million. They were unable to collect the organ however, as
they were apprehended shortly after they attacked the young
boy.
Tochukwu, who Daily Sun gathered died in prison custody confessed
then that Monday always ran errands for him, hence it was
easy for him to get the boy that unfortunate afternoon when
he, alongside his friend, took the boy to the bush and chopped
off his penis.
The boy’s cry however attracted passersby who found
him in the pool of his blood and on inquiry, he mentioned
Tochukwu, who was immediately apprehended with his friend
while trying to escape.
The boy was then hospitalized at the Borromeo Hospital Onitsha
where the doctors worked very hard to save his life.
Today, Monday who later got baptized and given the name Michael
is 15, and is hopeful and optimistic that God would shame
those responsible for his predicament by making him raise
his own children.
After the incident, when the poor parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ikechukwu
could not cope with caring for him, one of the Reverend Sisters
at the Immaculate Heart Convent Nkpor, Sister Mary Teresse
was said to have taken him and was responsible for his upkeep
and medication.
She however, with the consent of the parents transferred him
to Mary’s Perpetual Help Foundation Orphanage Home,
Asaba, where he is now under the care of a former monk and
proprietor of the orphanage, Brother JohnMary Ihezue.
Being the eldest at the orphanage, Michael has automatically
become the big brother of the home, taking charge of all things
and running most of the errands.
Michael told Daily Sun that he usually has pains in the area
and had doctors to attend to him.
He said, “I am fine though sometimes, I feel pains there
and brother would call the doctor and they would treat me
and it will stop. I hope and wish that it would be permanently
treated for I feel bad when I look down and do not see anything.”
He is, however, optimistic that he would have his own children.
“I strongly believe that I will marry and bear my own
children so that my enemies will be put to shame. The doctors
said I can be operated upon and I will be able to marry and
impregnate a woman. That is why I am appealing to Nigerians
to come to my aid, so that I can be taken abroad for the operation.
“I did not do this to myself; it was our brother whom
I went on an errand for that did this to me. I feel terribly
bad and ashamed when I look at other children when they are
naked and look at myself.
Please brother, help me beg the rich people and spirited groups
and individuals, even the government to help me out of this,”
pleaded the boy.
Speaking to Daily Sun the proprietor of the orphanage, Brother
Ihezue said the home has been trying the little it could to
keep the boy on.
His words: “Many a time, the young boy has pains and
we call in doctors to give him medication, but we want to
get a solution to his problem.
The poor parents are worried about how he will feel about
his manhood when he grows fully. Then a doctor suggested to
them that he could be taken for treatment abroad where he
could have a surgical operation to perfect an artificial urinary
path for him.
We are therefore appealing to government, corporate bodies
and spirited individuals to come to this young boy’s
aid.”
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