1/2 From the moment I had my baby, I knew there was a problem.
My new born baby had a deformity of her leg, but I felt it was something that could be handled medically. When she was six days old, my husband and I were told we needed to amputate her leg. It was so devastating. We didn’t agree to do so. As she grew older, we saw that the leg got shorter. We eventually travelled to the United States, after we had done a lot of research and my daughter’s leg was amputated.
I never thought I would start a foundation. I just wanted to make sure that my daughter had the best. Before her amputation, we carried her everywhere.
One day, I was home and a woman came in. She said she was looking for Beulah’s mum. (Beulah is my daughter.) I told her I was the one and she collapsed. People came and rushed her into my house. When she came to, I asked her what the issue was and she said her son had a congenital deformity of the upper arm. The arm was not there at birth. She’d kept the child at home for 2 years, so he was not interacting with anybody. He couldn’t even talk. She was shocked to see a small woman like me with so much strength. She thought Beulah’s mum was big and hefty.
She later asked if her son could come over to play with my daughter and I agreed. They went to church with us and then I stayed outside with her son so she could attend service. I guess that broke it for her because she said in 2 years, she hadn’t experienced any form of love or care. My husband and I were able to work with them to get their son into school. The boy was 2 and at the time, my daughter was just 3. I was ecstatic. I was excited that the boy was in school. I told everybody that cared to listen to it.
One day, I told my husband I wanted to start a non-profit organisation to be able to address people with these kinds of issues. We would provide support for caregivers and kids, provide prosthetic limbs and educate people on disability.
2/2 I got a call from a hospital saying there was a bilateral amputee that needed prosthetic limbs. I raised some money with the help of friends and my husband. At the time, one prosthetic limb was 500k. We got the girl the limb. I travelled to Enugu to see her and spoke to the family.
What God told me was, “Comfort people with the comfort with which you have been comforted. Encourage someone else.” I said okay. I asked him what name I should use for my foundation and he said Irede, which is my daughter’s name too. And that’s how “Irede Foundation” started. So it was the story of a boy that I didn’t know, to a bilateral amputee, to me just wanting to ensure that my daughter lives life to the fullest. Not just her, but every other person around her.
The Foundation will be 5 this year. At the end of 2016, we had given out 48 prosthetic limbs to amputees.
Once we take on a child, we provide them with prosthetic limbs and are responsible for the changes until the child is 18. We call it, “Adopt a Child.” Even though we’re not housing the kids; we are a part of their lives during those years.