In a time when people living with disabilities (PLWDs) are neglected, Rotary Club International, District 9110, covering Lagos and Ogun states, last weekend visited Surulere South community for the inauguration of a water project and donation of food items to children of Atunda Olu Schools for the Physically and Mentally challenged and Heart of Gold Hospice Motherless Babies’ Home.
Receiving the district governor, Rotarian Remi Bello and his team in his office, chairman of Surulere Local Government Council, Hon. Tajudeen Ayide, expressed delight at the visit, assuring them of his support in any way.
In a chat with journalists, Bello said that the visit was part of his yearly responsibilities to assess the wellbeing of each of the clubs under his district to know: “how they are performing in service to the community they belong, how they are connecting, engaging the community and how they are faring in terms of touching lives and the provision of life-touching projects.”
He revealed that the touching life objectives of the club was in tandem with Social Development Goals number 13 of the United Nations adding that It was a good thing that the event coincided with World Humanitarian Day (WHD).
He said. “When you talk about SDGs goals 13 which has the environment as a part, Rotary Club has its own areas of focus which are seven in number. One of them is support for the environment, which we contribute by planting of trees to ameliorate future challenges with regards to climate change.”
He disclosed that District 9110 visited Surulere South community to commission some life-touching projects, one of which was the digging of the borehole to Atunda Olu public schools Surulere which takes care of physically and mentally challenged children. “We noticed that the school was lacking portable water supply and made provision for it. We don’t just go to a community and give them something because we want to, we carry out need assessment so that we give them what they really need. And that is what we did in the places we visited and made donations.
“In the case of Atunda Olu, we found out that they get their water from public waterworks that had not been forthcoming. In other words, they have been buying from the cat pushers hence the club stepped in to nip that area in the bud and that is what I commissioned during the visit to the place.
“The second place we visited was Heart of Gold Hospice orphanage home where the club donated basic needs for the home. Unfortunately, we were not able to see the children because of their vulnerability to their problems.
“What we intend to achieve by these types of gestures is to fulfill our objects of supporting the community hence the theme for our Rotary year is:’Serve To Change Lives,” Bello said.
The president of the club Surulere South, Rotarian Kunle Oshodi said that the gesture was what the club needed to do to appreciate people living with disabilities, despite their condition because they were human beings.
He disclosed that the focus of his administration was to locate physically challenged people to be able to make a change in their lives. He added that the club’s biggest projects had been concentrated with the normal schools. He identified finance as the Club’s major setback to projects that impact lives within the community.