Lockdown: Charitable organizations present foodstuffs to Kaduna Widows

EDDY OCHIGBO, Kaduna 

In a bid to cushion the effect of COVID-19 lockdown on the needy, a Kaduna-based non-governmental organization, Gadnite Foundation, in collaboration with Resilient Aid and Dialogue  Initiative (RADI), supported by Bridge that Gap, during week shared food items worthy thousands of Naira to  widows and the needy in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

A beneficiary, whose left hand was chopped off during unrest in Kajuru in March 2019, Rahila Godwin, said she was full joy because she and other women in her area did not benefit from different palliatives earlier distributed by both the federal and state governments. “People like me were not recognized by the government; but charity organizations such as Gadnite and others have come to our aid. We thank all persons who made it possible for us to get the food items.

“These food items will help me tremendously, because my hand was chopped off by bandits who attacked my village in Kajuru on March 11, 2019, I could no longer do my farming work, thereby depending on helps like these for survival”, Godwin remarked.

Gadnite Foundation’s Programme Manager, Kasham Madaki, disclosed that the Foundation, which was established in 2018 – as part of its social responsibility – is determined to uplift the less-privileged and make them self-reliant.

Said she: “We mainly focus on widows because some of them are struggling alone to cater for their children, since their husbands are no longer there for them. We don’t just give them food but we also empower them to make them sustain their family. We have about 300 widows on our register now. Most of these widows are labourers who make their living by engaging in menial jobs on daily basis, but the COVID-19 lockdown has prevented them from doing so”.

Also speaking, a former General Coordinator, Kada City Football Club, Kaduna, Austin Chichi Paul, who was at the foodstuff sharing event said, “it is just our own way of reaching out to the needy. So, doing it this time is a way of assisting the government to reach out to the less-privileged among us.

“Through Gadnite Foundation, we have done a lot of work like soccer clinic in public primary schools and private secondary schools and reach out to widows in Goni Gora and Kajuru. In fact, this is the least of what we have been doing under our intervention called Covid-19 support relief”, he explained.

On her part, Executive Director, Bridge That Gap, Gloria Kasang Bulus called on individuals and corporate organisations in the state to be part the ongoing campaign to help the less-privileged.

“We are still soliciting the support of more public spirited individuals and organisations to be part of this initiative, so that together we can put smiles on the faces of the downtrodden”, Bulus said, expressing satisfaction about the journey so far.