By: Mrs Samuel I. Eucharia (ANIPR) – Founder/Executive Director
Sometime in 2004, I travelled for my dad’s burial.
Whilst there, a lady approached me and explained to me that she needed my help as she was ill and couldn’t afford the cost of treatments and series of test that the doctor had recommended for her. Considering the way she was looking, I gave her some money to take care of herself right away and also advised her to go for HIV test in addition.
The following week, she called me that she had gone for the test and was confirmed to be HIV positive, she then hung up saying since there was no hope for her, it was better to commit suicide.
Alarmed, I sought her out despite the difficulty and told her she could be treated instead of giving up all hope.
But there was a problem: treatment was not readily available to her in the village.
So I decided in the meantime to assist with her treatment in Lagos State until I could move her back to the village. When she came to Lagos, I rented an apartment for her, and in no time she was well on her way to recovery. Eventually, she got well, though not cured of the HIV. But her health improved and in no time other HIV positive women and girls cast out by their kins and kiths from the rural community started seeking me out. I was able to put them in a rented apartment with the provision of food, their medical bills and other welfare provisions until the burden became TOO MUCH FOR ME. When my husband found out what I had been doing he was alarmed fearing that my association with people living with HIV could jeopardize our family. Of course, we both needed to be educated better on how to handle this very sensitive issue. On one hand I was passionate to help women, girls and children, but on the other hand, my home was in danger! What was I to do?
It was at this time that I was advised by Mr Peter Ogudoro of Professional Exams Clinic, a public relation professional, to start an NGO and get registered because the help I was rendering shouldn’t be a personal thing but made public and that was what led to the birth of Eucharia Help Foundation.
Eucharia Help Foundation (EHF) is an idea born out of a desire for a better future for women, girls and children. But EHF is an invitation to everyone to change the world. The desire to share my experience and perception is what informed this story, having inquired a more informed understanding of the status of this plague. Our goal is to maximize the use of information for women, girls and children in the rural communities, whose ignorance and cultural beliefs have posed a great barrier for care and management. EHF intends to use different platforms to create space for accessing the basic information about HIV/AIDS in the rural areas.
The task of dealing with any issue whether a small illness or a global pandemic, is onerous. I have since discovered that, but any assignment must begin with early steps. Some of those steps have been taken already in the provision of accommodation, counselling and economic empowerment for some of those living with HIV, cast out by their kins and kiths from the rural community. Other steps include massive awareness creation, sensitization and rural enlighten and rescue for others who feel all hope is lost and can only think of committing suicide.
The next big step is for you to be part of what we are doing and give us your support.
EHF is counting on your support to reach out to many more critical masses in the urban and rural and urban community. This will help to reduce the number of women, girls and children who suffer unnecessarily because of lack of basic information.
Together we can do it. No contribution is too small in this fight.
In the words of Mother Theresa, ‘I can’t do what you can, and you can’t do what I can but together we can do great things. And according to Helen Keller, life is an exciting business, and most exciting when lived for others.