LAGOS (Sundiata Post) – The B.N. Peters Foundation has donated bags of food, clothes and toiletries to the destitutes and special needs children in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the donation is part of activities to mark Bibiana Peters’ 50th birthday which ended with a thanksgiving on Sunday.
The foundation’s donations went to the Yaba-Oyingbo home of destitutes and the Modupe Cole Memorial Child Care and Treatment Home School in Surulere.
The celebrant, Bibiana Peters, told NAN that she was passionate about giving to the less privileged and that she was grateful to God for the opportunity and privilege to be a blessing to others.
“It’s in my heart to help. I have always been this natured person where I don’t like people to cry for anything.
“It’s always been in my heart that, when people need help and you can and it’s in your power to do so, you do so.
“We know that not everybody has enough or is fortunate to have some things in life and we are grateful for the level that God has brought us to.
“So, it’s in my heart to always extend help, not just to them but also to people that you don’t even know.”
Peters said giving was a virtue she imbibed from her mother who currently caters to the needs of about 1,000 widows in the country.
According to her, plans are underway to also build the B.N. Peters Orphanage home in Lagos State.
“We also have a bigger charity that builds houses for displaced people and sends people who are seriously ill abroad for treatment, if need be.
“So, for me, it is something that is my passion.
“It’s something that I got from my mum because my mum also has a charity where she sends food to orphanages, widows, and less privileged people every quarter.
“She takes care of about 10,000 widows in Nigeria; so, I got it from my mum.
“This is also the beginning of my orphanage, which i will call ‘B.N. Peters’ where I want to give the less privileged the orphanage, a home away from home which we intend to build with time.
“But today at least, we are taking some clothes, foods, so they can celebrate Christmas like every normal person.
“So, that’s my first day of my 50th birthday party, to say God thank you for His love, goodness and provision,” she said.
At the home of the destitutes, Chairman of the Leprosy Association of Nigeria, Lagos State Chapter, Sarki Abubakar Dikko thanked the foundation for the donations and prayed to God to replenish the purse of the foundation.
He also prayed for the long life and success of the celebrant.
Mrs Olufunmilayo Bamidele-Osho, the vice principal of the school, said the donations couldn’t have come at a better time.
Bamidele-Osho prayed to God for the foundation’s continued growth.
She said that the school was established in 1960 to cater to the needs of children with special needs.
“We have four classes. They include simulation, Educable Mentally challenged (EMC), and Trainable Mentality Challenged (TMC).
“We have hostels for both male and female as well as the bed ridden,” Bamidele-Osho said.
Toma Onu, a physically challenged artist, told NAN that there was always ability in disability.
Onu also thanked the foundation for the donations and prayed that the celebrant would celebrate many more birthdays.
“I am an artist in a special way.
“I like to paint and use my leg to do so many other things aside from painting, like doing my make-up, feeding myself and washing my clothes.
“So, I am living proof that there is ability in disability,” Onu said.
Also Adebimpe Adeoye, a visually impaired female student who lost her sight about 20 years ago while in the university, corroborated Onu’s view.
According to her, one can still achieve a lot in life even in disability.
“I lost my sight in 2003 to be precise but, before then, I was a student of fisheries in the University of Ibadan.
“I got a second chance of life in 2009 when I went for rehab at the school for the blind in Oshodi.
“During my rehab, I put in for Jamb, passed and got admission to the University of Lagos where I studied guidance and counselling and finished in 2014.
“I then put in for my masters immediately as I couldn’t go for service.
“While I was doing my masters, I saw an application for recruitment to Lagos State.
“I applied and, to God be the glory, I got the job and I am married with a 13-year-old daughter,” Adeoye said. (NAN)
