How can you say no to a Catholic Priest who has forsaken all worldly goods to help the widows and orphans of his village? He is humble and soft spoken but his message roars in your head. And The Rotary Foundation is there to magnify his efforts. Father Kingsley Ihejirika gave a presentation to the Rotary Club of Westfield, NJ in August of 2018. The Catholic Church provides his basic needs, plus gives him an allowance of $150 per month. He sends the entire allowance back to the orphans in his home village of Obike, Imo State, Nigeria. Could any of us do that?
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Father has an inspiring life story. He lost his mother at the age of 13 months. The needs of his village are almost overwhelming. The population is 20,000 inhabitants but has no medical facilities or schools. One in 5 children dies before the age of 5. One in 13 women dies in childbirth. Two thirds of all births take place in the home. Life expectancy is in the low 40’s. There are 128 widows and 58 orphans who were all outcasts with no one to help them. | Through years of persistent work, Father was able to create a 501c3, obtain land, and start building a 120,000-sf medical clinic. Included are a well with a water tank, and a generator. Father ships containers and travels there several times per year to monitor the progress. | After hearing his presentation, The Rotary Club of Westfield, NJ decided to help him and his village. District 7475 Foundation Chair PDG Michael Hart pointed out that if we used the matching features of the Rotary Foundation, we could multiply our efforts and a Global Grant was launched. With the help of the Rotary Clubs of Irvington, NJ and RRFC Eileen Rau in the RC of West Hartford, CT, along with the host club in Owerri, Nigeria, a package was put together to purchase $32,000 of medical supplies and was completed in August of 2020. |
Most of the credit goes to Westfield Past President Clark Lagemann who did all the detailed work, along with PP Liz Ensslin and Heidi Obiajulu. Thanks to District 7890 and 7475 for donating DDF. There is a video tour of the medical facility at this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eN3XJ9O7g9D4WTKsVkxC8r1j_GygCvHG/view?usp=drivesdk
The project is still in progress, but the final building will have facilities for routine outpatient care, operating room, prenatal care, and rooms for delivering babies. This will have a profound impact on this village which currently has no medical care and a high morbidity and mortality rate. The next project is to build three schools next to the clinic: Preschool, Elementary and Secondary. Currently children need to travel 5 miles to the next town to find a school, so this will boost literacy rates in town. Nigerians speak English, so our clubs may collect books to stock their libraries. It is remarkable what one dedicated person can accomplish with help from his Rotary friends.