For pupils of Smile Givers Academy, Babinton community, Akobo, Ibadan and and other poor and vulnerable children at Abidiodan community and adjoining villages, Saturday, December 18, was fun and ecstacy packed as the management of the school gave them an exciting treat, alongside other less privileged children in the neighborhood at its end of the year party.
The climax of the colorful event was the arrival of Santa Claus, otherwise called Father Christmas into the school premises with loads and loads of gifts for the children who had no hope of affording the luxury of having a wonderful moment.
The children were upbeat as they cheered the Father Christmas, dressed in a trademark red and white attire and beaming with smiles and throwing banters.
Most of the poor children do not have it so good, but the organisers of the programme said that they were moved to put a smile on the faces of the children to kindle the hope of a great and promising future in them amidst the growing challenges of the time.
Speaking on behalf of Mrs Adetutu Adegunju, Founder of Child Givers Initiatives and Charity Home, Mrs Mofoluwaso Johnson, an executive member of the Home, described the event as marking its watershed impacts on the society over the three and half years of its creation.
According to her, the occasion is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and to share with the vulnerable children and orphans in the community. She said, “We budgeted for 100 children for the programme, but we had more than 120 children in attendance.
“Following the creation of Smile Givers Initiative and Charity Home, we were able to come up with a school (Smile Givers Academy). By the grace of God, we are moving on; we are fulfilling our mandates.
“This is aimed at ensuring that the poor and the vulnerable children in the society are not taken undue advantage of. We can’t do away with vulnerable children in our community, we can only play our own role. But, we are admonishing the government to touch the grassroots. We are at Abidiodan; we have so many villages that we drew children from.
“Government should prioritise the interest of the poor and vulnerable children in their budget. If this is done, everybody will live well. As we are putting smile on these children, we also want the government to support. We are committed to helping humanity and that is what we are doing here.
“As Nigerians, these children are our tomorrow and whatever we put in them would grow in them. In life, you cannot give what you don’t have. We are trying as much as possible to build tomorrow for this nation and that is why we concentrate on these little ones to put smiles on their faces.”
One of the beneficiaries, Nifemi Obisesan, a primary 3 pupil of the school, said, “I am happy about what they have done for us. I am very happy. The school is blessed and I want other children to come to the school.
Anuoluwa Ojekere a class 3 pupil of Covenant of God Nursery and Primary School, said, “I am here to celebrate with other children. I am happy and I want to tell children out there that Smile Givers Academy is good.”
In an earlier interview, Adegunju said that the core mandate of Smile Givers Charity Initiative was to put a smile on the face of every underprivileged child that the Foundation came in contact with. The projection, she said, was to cover wider ground in that respect.
