FCT: the Foundation offers 70 Kubwa students scholarships and materials

The Catherine Adeh Foundation has empowered 70 pupils and students in Kubwa, Abuja, with scholarships and educational materials aimed at helping them stay in school and alleviating some of the challenges faced by children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The beneficiaries, drawn from primary and secondary sections, received scholarships, school backpacks, sneakers and notebooks as part of the intervention.

The founder of the Catherine Adeh Foundation, Catherine Nwesi Adeh, said the intervention was inspired by her commitment to community service and her experience as a Rotarian, as well as encounters with children whose circumstances had made it difficult to access education.

Adeh said his encounter with a child polio survivor particularly changed his perspective and strengthened his resolve to support vulnerable children.

According to her, even though the organization could not reach all children in need, it decided to constantly support those it could reach and make a significant difference in their lives.

“I have attended so many schools in FCT, but what endeared me to this school was when I heard that most of the students couldn’t even come to school due to their circumstances.

“So, I told the teacher that I would definitely try to see what we can do. We don’t have much to give, but the little we can, we will share with them,” he said.

Adeh explained that the foundation’s intervention includes school grants, scholarships and sneakers, stressing that the beneficiaries were selected from both the primary and secondary sections.

He said the foundation will continue to identify children and communities where its limited resources could make a difference.

“We can’t reach everyone, but whatever way we can impact their lives, we will do so in a positive way,” he added.

Speaking on concerns raised about children brought from rural communities by guardians and subsequently used as domestic help, Adeh condemned the practice of keeping children out of school after removing them from their parents.

She said children placed in other homes should be treated with the same care and given the same opportunities as their guardians’ biological children, particularly access to education.

“People bring children to help them and they don’t even have the common sense to send them to school. Your children go to school and you feel that these children don’t need to go to school. I think that’s wrong,” he said.

Adeh urged guardians who cannot provide adequate care to a child not to take him away from his parents.

“If you can’t take care of a child like yours, then don’t take him with you. Just leave him with his parents,” he said.

He also criticized situations in which children living as domestic workers are forced to eat different food, wear different clothes and receive different treatment from children in the families in which they live.

“If they can’t look like my kids, then I have no right to have them in my house. That’s what I think,” she said.

Mrs Kalu Abibat, Deputy Principal Academic, Government Secondary School (GSS), Kubwa IV, appreciated Catherine Adeh Foundation for its support and intervention in the school.

He said the gesture was particularly important because some children at the school had been brought from villages by parents or guardians as domestic helpers, but were subsequently neglected in terms of their education and well-being.

According to her, some people take children from rural communities under the guise of helping them, but fail to provide basic necessities needed for their education, including school fees, uniforms and teaching materials.

According to her, these children are sometimes enrolled in school just to avoid criticism, without any real commitment to their education and well-being.

Abibat commended organizations such as the Catherine Adeh Foundation for supporting vulnerable children and appealed to well-meaning Nigerians, government agencies, civil society organizations and other stakeholders to identify and assist children in similar situations in the Federal Capital Territory.

He stressed that the challenge is not peculiar to GSS Kubwa IV, stressing that many children who were separated from their parents and brought to the FCT were in need of educational and welfare support.