OMOYOZA: Caring For The Young And Vulnerable

Joy Omoyoza Christiana Idris is in her late 20s. She is the second child in a family of two and grew up in Ibadan. A hard working lady, Joy is convinced she inherited this virtue from her late mother.

“I got the ability to work hard from my mom. Today, I can walk into any organisation and boldly introduce myself and what I do for a living,” she says. Indeed, she strikes this reporter as an energetic, intelligent and thoughtful lady. She is also generous, determined and truly lovable.

She has found true friendship in people that are older than her, especially those who inspire and advice her when she is down.

Presently, Joy is running Oyiza Orphanage and Foster Foundation, a non–profit and non-government charity home, established by her late mother, Mrs. Oyiza Janet Adenuga, to develop and improve the lives and living condition of young orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), especially those that are victims of socio-economic and environmental crisis in the Nigerian society.

“Some of these children come from broken homes, and are orphans from deceased parents. The vision of Oyiza Orphanage is to develop the children and inculcate in them societal values and virtues through the spirit of love and confidentiality,” she explains.

So, Joy and her team consciously train the children to be able to achieve their God-given purpose and destiny through formal education and skills empowerment. Joy herself was born into the Idris family, but her parents got separated when she was young and all her life she lived with her mother.

“My mom was a very hard working woman, who did all her best to train her two children as a single mother. I attended the Popson International School, St. Theresa’s College in Ibadan and sat for the SSCE at Wet-Land College, Lagos.

I also attended Osun State Polytechnic, where I studied Science Laboratory Technology before the death of my mum in 2007,” she says.

After her mother’s death, Joy and her brother couldn’t continue with their education for many years until 2009, when she tried to go back to school. Fortunately for her, she was offered admission into the University of Ibadan, to study Nursing. “I observed a unique thing that runs in my family,” she says.

“The spirit of giving runs freely in my family. My late grandmother was a traditional birth attendant, who took care of people. She used to give out a lot of materials to the needy, even though she only had little herself.

I observed this same kindness in my late mother and people have also attested to it that it is also in my brother and I.” Before their mother’s death, Joy and her brother, Ige, had helped in running the orphanage, which was established in 2005.

And ever since, many children have passed through the home. The orphanage presently houses 37 children, as well as supports 25 vulnerable children within the community.

These children attend various schools around the orphanage and their ages range from infancy to adolescence. “To be able to achieve our goal and get approval of relevant authorities, we work closely with the Ministry of Women Affairs and the Child Development Centre,” she says.

“We also work with the Nigerian Police. The orphanage is also affiliated with other stakeholders such as National council of Child Right Advocate of Nigeria (NACCRAN), Association of Home Operators in Nigeria (ASOHON), Child Protection Network (CPN) and Association of Orphan NGO in Nigeria (AONN).

We are also enlisted with Ministry of Women Affairs and Child Welfare Department of Oyo State and are duly registered with the Corporate Affair Commission.

“For many years, the Home has provided shelter for and secured better future for the children through provision of quality education, good health care, moral and spiritual counselling and training, as well as through psycho-social support and interpersonal relationship and motherly love to the children.

All of this has helped in assisting the children to fit well into the society.” Her late mum hailed from Adavi Local Government Area of Kogi State.

A professional nurse, she had ran her own maternity centre for 19 years before establishing the orphanage. “All the years I knew my mum, she was always radiating love and good affection to all,” she recalls. Indeed, the late Mrs. Adenuga was reputed to have dealt kindly with patients that couldn’t afford hospital bills. She would allow them to go home and pay whenever they had it.

This earned her the love, admiration and affection of the people in the community. The name Oyiza Orphanage was taken from her name, “Oyiza”, meaning, “goodness of God.

Her brother, Ige, an Electrical Engineering graduate of Kwara State Polytechnic handles the administrative work, dropping the children in their various schools, undertaking the home-tracing of some of the displaced children to reunite them with their families, which often takes him far beyond Oyo State.

He equally engages in small scale farming to support the little food they have in the store. On her part, Joy is the mother of the home, the in-house counsellor and trainer. She gives the little ones psychological support and ensures they enjoy good health, being a professional nurse.

She also runs around to put food on the table. “I handle fund raising and writing of letters of support for the orphanage, as well as approach individuals, corporate organisations and others for assistance even while still in the university. I have had to miss lectures and sometimes, even tests to go for appointments just to ensure that the needs of the children are met.

The idea is to carry on where our late mother stopped. We were part of her good works, which is giving us confidence to forge ahead. And the children come home with very good grades, so I know that I am adding value to their lives,” she says.

Despite the joy and fulfilment of running the Home, however, Joy and her team are facing many challenges, chief of which is funding. She explains that in meeting the children’s basic needs, they spend approximately N20, 000 on each child per month.

“This amount covers the cost of supplementary education, nutritious meals, health and hygiene measures as well as recreational activities. We try to maintain the dignified living for the children by giving them good education, clothing, balanced meals and beautiful experiences beyond their status and aspirations,” she says.

Presently, the biggest challenge is the threat of ejection from their present location. “Yearly, the landlady usually increases our rent by N50, 000. Now, she is asking for N350, 000, per annum. We cannot afford it as we must put food on the table, buy provisions, cloth the children, buy drugs, pay fees, pay bills, buy books and pay for transport.

We have begged in vain but she wants to throw us out. We desperately need help, and urgently, too” she says. This is indeed a big problem since there is no financial support coming from corporate organisations and philanthropists.

All they have are a few well meaning Nigerians who have been partnering with them. “We are at a crossroads now. My children are, but I fear we may be thrown to the streets,” she laments. Aside paying rent, the Home also needs volunteer workers, a bus to carry the children to and from school, worship and recreational centres when the need arises, as well as educational sponsorship for the children.

At the Home, efforts have been made to create the background of a normal family setting where there is a father and a mother. The adolescent girls occupy the top rooms, while the boys occupy the rooms downstairs. The children’s daily routine starts at 5am when they are woken up for prayers.

School assignments are centrally done, after which dinner is served. At 8:30pm, they all converge for prayers and by 9pm everyone goes to bed. And while the children have gone to their various schools, the necessary daily records will be filed, attendance at NGO’s meetings, seminars or other activities will be attended to before the their arrival from school. Weekends provide the best opportunities for the cleaning up of the home environment.

“Sometimes we go to places of interest for recreation. We visit parks, zoological gardens and amusement parks among others. Interestingly, during long holidays, we employ teachers to coach the teenage boys and girls in vocational trainings such as fashion designing, catering and hair- dressing. In spite of all she goes through daily, Joy says it has all been worth it.

“The joy I feel in my heart knows no bound each time I open the gate of the orphanage and I see over 30 children running towards me and shouting ‘Mummy! Mummy! Mummy! It’s simply amazing. It gives me a lot of happiness to be able to affect lives positively.

We cherish one another’s company and we have a way of enjoying ourselves. Times spent at home at the orphanage are happy times, fun times.

They are brilliant and entertaining times. When its time for schoolwork, its strictly for work and no play. But when its time for fun, we sure have loads of it,” she says. Outside her tight schedule, Joy loves swimming and handball.

She also fixes the children in their areas of interest in different sporting activities, especially those they love and enjoy such as football, swimming, tennis and handball among others.

Her dream is to be a philanthropist someday, so that she can be of more help to the poor and less privileged.

She acknowledges the role her mentors have played in making her life meaningful. Some of them include Dr. Prisca Adejumo, Dr. Titilayo Odetola, Dr. Taiwo Adebukola, and Mrs Agbaje Kaothar, a lead consultant, Sunflower and a motivational speaker.