Then the king will say to those on the right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitability? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you? And the King will tell them, ‘I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me! Matthew 25:34-40
The Call
This is a reminder to us
all that we should not forget our responsibility towards our neighbour. We should never be too busy for ‘good works’. The bible clearly states that we should ‘do
good (deeds)- on purpose’. Hence, we need to make out time and set out
resources to consistently go out of our way to make the life of a fellow human
better.
Yes, the poor will always
be among us; and we will continue to care for them, because it’s our responsibility.
So what do you intend to
do this Easter?
Here are a few
suggestions.
SO SAID Charity Home
SO SAID is located at Ago
Palace way, Okota and it is a shelter and care centre for vulnerable persons,
mentally ill and their children on the streets.
My Encounter: A visit to So
Said.
The Admin officer welcomes
us, while a volunteer nurse takes over to tell us the stories of the occupants simultaneously
showing us pictures that made me cringe and ask in myself, ‘what was it I said my
problem is again?’. The restored destitute
sat behind the speaker (the nurse) all dressed in their Ankara, looking their
best for their guests. It was obvious,
they’ve all had one big issue in the course of their lives and it is also
obvious that they are seriously recovering. They are way better than what they
used to be; Ever better. This is because
what these pictures reveal to me is gruesome. The Children then came forward to sing to us and
pray for us.
The different horrendous
stories got me shocked and I could not help but give an outburst of how I felt.
Is it the Medical
practitioner of 25years who had come home to Nigeria briefly, and then ran mad,
and was left on the streets of Lasgidi, until ‘So said’ came to her rescue? Her phon’e was still there even as she told
her gruesome story.
Or is it the former popular
Apapa mad man who had been insane and homeless for 15years?
Or is the former
destitute guy that was living in dirt and scum plus he had a hand that was fast
rotten at the wrist and was about to come off his arm? ‘So said’ came and took him in and yes they
took him to an hospital and treated his hand. I saw the mark on his healed
hands.
‘So Said’ has 2 centers,
the men’s shelter is at Ajegunle while the women’s shelter is at Ago Palace
way. They are currently building a children’s
church. The children currently stay at the
women’s shelter.
The visionary heeded the
call of the Lord many years ago to care for the mentally ill and their children
and she has since then been doing this. She lives in the same building with these
restored souls.
Aside from taking these
people in and caring for them, they also help reconnect them to their families.
And this is more like a graduation period for the persons from the ‘So said’
home.
So Said needs:
Funds for to build their
children’s shelter
Food stuff
Clothes and other wears (for
children, women and men)
Toiletries
To visit and support,
Please contact:
SO SAID CHARITY HOME
45, Owolabi Street, by
Lord B/Stop
Off Ago Palace Way,
Okota, Lagos
Tel: DL- 08062338837,
08050679161, 07027107239
Email: so_saidnigeria@yahoo.com
Or visit their website
on: www.sosaidfoundation.org
Emmanuel Prisons Evangelism Outreach (EPEO)
As Mr Emmanuel Onuorah related
his ordeal of how he was wrongly imprisoned and was abandoned in a Nigerian
prison, I prayed in my heart that nobody that I’ve ever known or even an enemy
(though I refer no one as none) should ever find him or herself in such state.
I can’t seem to forget a narration
he gave of a typical happening in a Nigerian prison, where the president makes
a call, and the numerous prisoners lap themselves in a manner which he described
and that I cannot even articulate in my own words. But I got the picture...
Imagine eons of able bodied men in a cramped cell and trying to create space for
one man to stretch his legs *shudders*. There is one small bucket that serves as a urinary
and sewage point...
To cut the story short,
Mr Emmanuel was later released after a divine intervention. He started ‘Emmanuel
Prisons Evangelism Outreach’, a ministry that reaches out to prison inmates and helps rehabilitates
ex-convicts with the aim of making them better persons in and out of prison.
He said there were lots of
wrongly accused persons in prison. He revealed that there are inmates who have
been put there for some crime that would have required bail or a few months
jail sentence if there had been a trial or due court process. He says the men behind their ordeal come once
in a while to reimburse the prison authorities so to keep these accused persons
there-in prisons.
According to Mr Emmanuel:
This vision came as a result of personal unlawful incarceration I experienced in one of our Nigerian prisons and with the attendant of inhuman conditions and stigmatization that prisoners and ex-convicts have to go through. Many of them are innocent and some are victims of circumstances. I may interest you to know that some of the missing persons announced over the media are in our prisons without any formal charge or record of their incarceration. It is with great burden and sincerity of purpose that I write to inform you of the state and condition of our fellow brothers and sisters in prisons all over Nigeria especially the ‘Awaiting Trial Inmates’. Many of them are very hungry, sick, naked and dying all because of the insensitivity and insincerity of those in authority
The mission of EPEO is:
To take care of the felt
need of the inmates
To secure the release of
the innocent ones
To rehabilitate
ex-convicts
To prepare them for the
Lord Jesus
EPEO needs your support
in form of:
Foodstuff and beverages,
textiles, bibles, educational materials, buses, legal aids, toiletries,
medical/pharmaceuticals, finance etc.
To donate and support,
Please contact:
Phone: 07038210169,
08059523575, 08065158170
So, I hope you now have a
plan for this Easter and you’ll make it a point of duty to go out of your way
to care for the needy.
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