The wife of the Governor of Anambra State, Chief (Mrs.)
Ebelechukwu Obiano has called on Ndi Anambra to help in stemming the trend of
stigmatization of persons living with HiV/Aids by avoiding discrimination and
gossip about their status.
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Wife of the Governor of Anambra State, Chief (Mrs.)
Ebelechukwu Obiano handing over empowerment items to a beneficiary. She is
flanked by Special Adviser on Youth Empowerment and Executive Director ANSACA,
Dr. Onyeka Ibezim, and His Royal Highness, Dr. Emeka Ilounoh, Igwe of Ifitedunu
during the empowerment of 210 Care Givers at Government House Awka recently.
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The wife of the governor made the call over the
weekend during the handover of empowerment equipment to two hundred and
ten Care Givers for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) at Government House,
Awka, Anambra State. The successful care givers were trained in Bakery
and Confectioneries, Hairdressing, Beads making and Soap making under the
Anambra State Agency for Control of Aids (ANSACA) empowerment programme with
the technical support by the Caring Family Enhancement Initiative (CAFÉ).
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Wife of the Governor of Anambra State, Chief (Mrs.)
Ebelechukwu Obiano handing over empowerment items to a beneficiary. She is
flanked by Special Adviser on Youth Empowerment and Executive Director ANSACA,
Dr. Onyeka Ibezim, and His Royal Highness, Dr. Emeka Ilounoh, Igwe of Ifitedunu
during the empowerment of 210 Care Givers at Government House Awka recently.
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Mrs. Obiano stated that the trainees were carefully selected
to include both carriers and non-carriers so as to defuse the tendency for
stigmatization of those suffering from HiV/Aids. Said she:
“You are well aware that drugs for the treatment are
expensive hence the need to support them with income stream that would help
them sustain their treatment. It is important for us to stop stigmatization
because HiV/Aids is no death sentence, and is not contagious once you do not
have contact with blood. Once one is able to get regular treatment, the
person can live a healthy life. As you can see the mix of the trainees being
empowered today shows that both HIV/Aids carriers and others can co-exist.”
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Pix 4: Empowerment materials including gas cookers, hair
dryers, soap making equipment, and Sewing machines were amongst the items
handed over to the 210 Care Givers during the empowerment at Government House
Awka recently.
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Mrs. Obiano, the founder of Caring Family Enhancement
Initiative (CAFÉ), a Non-Governmental, non-partisan, non-religious Organization
engaged in the training and empowerment of women especially indigent widows and
the less privileged, explained that the NGO encourage people to get engaged in
productive ventures so as to be self-reliant and therefrom gain self-confidence
and have high self-esteem. She called on interested persons to come forward and
register in her office to be trained free; and confirmed that over two thousand
five hundred persons have benefited from the empowerment initiatives of CAFÉ in
the area of bakery and confectionaries, hairdressing, tailoring and fashion
design, and telephone repairs
Special Adviser on Youth Empowerment and Executive Director
ANSACA, Dr. Onyeka Ibezim, said that the programme was conceived in 2016 by
ANSACA in collaboration with Ministry of Women Affairs, and CAFE to train and
empower the Care Givers.
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Wife of the Governor of Anambra State, Chief (Mrs.)
Ebelechukwu Obiano handing over empowerment items to a beneficiary. She is
flanked by Special Adviser on Youth Empowerment and Executive Director ANSACA,
Dr. Onyeka Ibezim, and His Royal Highness, Dr. Emeka Ilounoh, Igwe of Ifitedunu
during the empowerment of 210 Care Givers at Government House Awka recently.
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He noted the importance of empowering care
givers to be able to sustain treatment of those infected by HIV/Aids to ensure
that the treatment is complete.
He explained that 210 trainees were carefully selected to
reflect a spread across the twenty-one Local Governments of the state. He
thanked the wife of the governor and founder of Caring Family Enhancement
Initiative (CAFE) for providing ANSECA the expertise for the training
programme.
Earlier, the Chairman of the event, His Royal
Highness, Dr. Emeka Ilounoh, Igwe of Ifitedunu, thanked the governor’s
wife for making available her the expertise of her NGO in empowerment
programmes available to train the Care Givers who are being empowered to
start-up on their own. He also praised the commitment of ANSACA to the
welfare of persons living with HIV/Aids and called on the beneficiaries of the
empowerment programme to make effective use of the empowerment equipment.
In a vote of thanks on behalf of the beneficiaries, Ebuka
Ndubuisi a native of Ojoto commended ANSACA and wife of the governor for giving
them a life changing opportunity with the empowerment and assured that they
will not disappoint.
By Emeka Ozumba
