The Rotary Club of Abuja, Gudu on Wednesday distributed learning materials to 195 pupils of LEA Primary School, Gaduwa.
Its President, Chinelo Audrey-Ofoegbunam, said the children and their parents also benefited from the club’s career mentorship training and skills empowerment.
Audrey-Ofoegbunam said the club intervened in the community after it found out that a lot of the children in the area dropped out of school due to paucity of funds.
She said that the intervention which began in 2020 with the donation of a water facility halted the trek of long distances in search of water.
According to her, Rotary adopted the community to bring several interventions such as providing clean water, food and health supplies that will make the lives of its residents better.
“The children do not like going to school, the ones that do are pulled out by their parents, which was the reason for the career mentorship programme.
“We taught them the value of education and helped to streamline their thoughts to the various career options by dressing as those characters – doctors, nurses, professional chef, farmer, accountant and lawyer.
“Basically, it is just to give them hope through service to humanity.’’
The school’s Head Teacher, Mrs. Titilayo Dauda, thanked the club for all its interventions, saying that the children and their parents needed the mentorship always.
“We are happy for this intervention, it is timely so that the parents can stop pulling them (children) out of school to run errands during school hours.
“We all need to understand the importance of education,’’ she said.
The Chief of the community, Abdullahi Randoug, also thanked Rotary for opening their eyes to the reality of things, especially girl-child education.
Randoug called on the FCT Administration to partner with Rotary Club of Abuja Gudu to help make the community a better place to live.
A beneficiary of the culinary training, Mrs. Adama Salami, commended the club for the training, adding that knowledge received would make her realise goal of becoming a chef.
Another beneficiary, Hajarat Hussein, also lauded the club for paying the school fees of some girls who had indicated interest to go to school. (NAN)
