It was nice to meet Mama Jolaade Osho at Ikere-Ekiti this afternoon. My organisation, Ekiti Development Foundation (EDF) is about to start a Food Outreach Program for the elderly known as Ounje Arugbo.
During the verification exercise in Ikere last week,the project team discovered that Mama Osho could not make it to the meeting because she was very frail,so they went to her home. Mama is over 105 years old (there are claims that she might be much older) and she lives alone.
Mama Osho does not have any living children, she lost all her three children over 30 years ago and she has been on her own since then. Some people labelled her a witch and taunted her endlessly.
Occasionally a few kind people give her money to buy food, but wicked souls steal whatever little she has from her. When the EDF project team visited her, she was found living in such squalor; they were badly shaken as they were giving their report. We all swung into action.
One week later, Mama Osho now has a new place to live in, while her family home is being renovated. She no longer has to worry about when her next meal will be.
We arranged two carers for Mama to work in shifts. They will prepare her meals, take her for walks, supervise her medication and keep her company. There was not a dry eye in the room today as we all laughed, joked and danced with Mama.
In the Ekiti that we all knew back then, like in other African communities, every child has a mother and every mother has a child, biological or otherwise. Let us look out for those amongst us who do not have children to care for them for one reason or the other.
It diminishes us all when our elderly are found in the kind of condition Mama Osho was last week. We might not be able to help everyone, but we will try our best. Long live Mama Jolaade Osho. Your God has not forgotten you.
