Paul Orude, Bauchi
A Non-Governmental Organisation, The Kairos Initiative, has rehabilitated an overhead tank at the Special Education Centre, Bauchi, to solve the water problem of the physically-challenged students at the centre.
Speaking on behalf of the NGO during the handing over of the facility to the school management on Wednesday, a member of The Kairos Initiative, Dr Aminu Babayi, explained that the 35, 000 litres overhead tank had been abandoned for years.
Babayi said that the organisation installed solar panels on the tank and carried repair of the taps in the school including the staff quarters to enable the school to have 24 hours portable water supply.
He said that the gesture was part of the organisation’s efforts to put smiles on the faces of the less privilege.
“The Karios initiative is a group that is just about one year old, small group but we have big hearts and always want to reach out to people with love and kindness and compassion,” he said.
He said the group has also carried out medical outreach to an orphanage and feeding of orphans among other projects in the past one year of its existence, adding that activation of the overhead tank was to bring smiles to the faces of the student in the Special Education Centre.
Also speaking, a member of the group, Barrister Saratu Andrew, disclosed that N1 million was spent on the project.
Andrew urged the school management and the students to ensure that the facility was properly maintained.
“I want to beseech you students. If this facility is working, you will be happy and if it is not working you will be unhappy because there is no water to use.
“It is your responsibility to take care of it which means if you see someone tampering with it you call the person’s attention or report to the principal. Mosey has gone in and you wouldn’t want the school to be wasting money changing and fixing things, It is your responsibility to take care of the pumps, the tank and the taps,” she said.
In his remarks, the principal of the school, Ishaku Dauda, expressed gratitude to the Kairos Initiative for rehabilitating the long-abandoned overhead tank and urged the students and staff to reciprocate the gesture by maintaining the
He said that he would write a formal letter to the State Ministry of Education to inform them of what they have done to provide water for the school “because this project was not executed for the school alone but to the Ministry.”
The Principal expressed confidence that the newly activated overhead tank would solve the water problem of the Centre which has a population of 630 students and staff strength of 40.
He expressed the hope that the facility will bring to an end the shortage of water experienced in the school.
Founder of Kairos Initiative, Mrs Ije McDougall who spoke with journalists from her base in the United Kingdom via WhatsApp video call, expressed gratitude that the organisation was putting smiles on faces of children.
“It humbles me. It is a humble feeling because I know what it is not to have water and I remember when I was growing up and I had to go and fetch water from our neighbour’s house or go further to fetch water, it was not easy so somebody who is disabled either blind or deaf, that kind of situation is double trouble. So to be able to just make life a bit easier for them humbles me., I feel privileged that God is using me to be able to do that,” she said