NIGERWIVES NIGERIA - ENUGU BRANCH

2018 ANNUAL REPORT

By President: Mrs.Jill DIKE

 

Nigerwives Enugu Branch had another very successful year in 2018.  We had a full calendar of meetings with varied programs.  The Branch held two special events: a Children’s Day Celebration on May 26 and Christmas Family Get-together on Dec. 8.  We also participated actively in the activities of our friends at the Centre for Memories, a new museum of Igbo culture and history as well as other events to which we were invited.  Charitable work continued with the special school for the blind at Oji River and five other charities.  Below is more detailed presentation of our activities in 2018.

 

NEW EXECUTIVE

The following new officers were elected at the first meeting of the year on Jan. 16, 2018:

 

President – Jill Dike

Vice-President – Carol Ojukwu

Secretary – Ransey Nwankwo

Asst. Secretary – Rosa Chukwu

Treasurer – Zeinab Okonkwo

Asst. Treasurer – Grazyna Chukwurah

Joined by Immediate Past President – Claudette Amobi.

 

We were able to combine newer (and in two cases younger) members as the principal officers, with experienced hands in the capacity of assistant.

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MEETINGS 

Meetings continued to be held the third Tuesday of each month, and executive committee meetings on the second Monday.  The starting time was moved from 4:30 to 4:00, beginning with a business meeting and proceeding to a program. The venue rotated from house to house each month, with snacks provided by one of three zones.  Meetings for the year and their programs are listed below.

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SPECIAL EVENTS

In addition to regular meetings, Enugu Branch organized two special events during the year. 

 

Children’s Day Celebration

May 26th was the day of our Children’s Day Celebration, an afternoon outdoor event at the home of Ransey Nwankwo, attended by about 50 children and grandchildren, Nigerwives, husbands and other family members.  A committee of young members provided the food (coconut and jollof rice dishes, pepper chicken, potato wedges, salad) while husbands manned the hot-dog grill. A number of members supported the celebration with donations in cash or kind and loans of such items as chairs & tables and a hot-dog grill.  Children, and the rest of us, were entertained by art activities, outdoor sports (table tennis, ball, and trampoline) and games such as musical chairs and freeze.  It was a relaxed and joyful occasion!

 

Family Christmas Get-together

Nigerwives Enugu held a family Christmas get-together on the afternoon of Saturday, Dec. 8th, with about 70 attending.  The venue was Grazyna’s spacious compound, made cool by the shade of tall trees.  The event was planned by a organizing/catering committee headed by Sindy Onodu.  A number of members donated money and gifts or provided food and drinks.  These, plus loans of tables and chairs, dish service for 70 guests, freezer, and a sound system, enabled us to celebrate without using any of our branch funds.

 

Arriving children engaged in art activities while adults got an opportunity to visit and get to know newer members.  Children then entertained the group with a dramatic reading of the Christmas story interspersed with carols, during which many joined in the singing.  After a first course of fish and goat pepper soups, with chin chin and popcorn for the children, guests proceeded to a buffet loaded with turkey with dressing and gravy, BBQ chicken, lasagna and pizza, varied rice dishes, potatoes with green beans and roast potatoes, salads and more.  This was rounded off by sweets, while children were led in games such as sack race, 3-legged race, and pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey.  The celebration ended with a visit from Father Christmas and distribution of individual book gifts to all the children.

 

COLLABORATION WITH THE CENTRE FOR MEMORIES

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This year brought increasing collaboration between Nigerwives Enugu Branch and the Centre for Memories, a new museum of Igbo history and culture.  Members have served on the Board and helped organize the first two exhibitions.  We have also donated numerous books to start up the museum library and attached children’s library.  Nigerwives Enugu has also been active in attending the monthly book discussion group and lectures and dramatic productions held at Sports Club.  

 

CHARITIES

We continued our financial support for charitable work in the area, donating from the proceeds of the 2017 November charity bazaar.  Donations of fifty thousand naira were given to each of five charities with which we have a long association:  CAPIO prisoners’ re-entry support outreach of the Discalced Carmelites; Therapeutic Day Care Centre, a school for special needs children run by our member Hildegard Ebigbo; Project Comfort outreach to mentally and physically challenged children; Little Sisters of the Poor home for the elderly; and in neighboring Ebonyi State, St. Patrick’s Hospital, Mile Four in Abakaliki.

 

In addition to the donations, we made two visits to the excellent home for the elderly run by Little Sisters of the Poor.  A visit early in the year was to tour the facility and learn more of their current needs.  Then on Dec. 20, 2018 a group of members and their children visited to share Christmas carols and interact individually with residents.  We have resolved to do more and to visit other charities in the new year.

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OJI RIVER SPECIAL SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND

Nigerwives Enugu Branch continued our special interest in the visually impaired, especially at the Oji River Special School for the Blind.  Members visited on March 2 and May 4, 2018 to assess conditions and ascertain their needs.  We provided funds to repair equipment and delivered books and math sets from the Nigerwives Braille Project, both to Oji River and the federal resource centre at the College of Immaculate Conception (C.I.C.), Enugu.  Our special concern has been the lack of Braille teachers at Oji River. To help solve this problem for the remedial students, we are paying expenses for a teacher from C.I.C. who is volunteering her services every Friday, in spite of the problems this travel poses for a visually impaired person.  We have also taken up the application of a volunteer Braille teacher living at the school with the Hon. Commissioner for Education and hope this individual may be employed early in the new year. 

 

BEREAVEMENTS

We suffered the loss of two former members during the year.

 

Khathija and Frank Okeke

Our former member Khathija Okeke and her husband Frank died under tragic circumstances in South Africa, from the fumes of a home space heater.  In August members attended a memorial for the couple at Godfrey Okoye University in Enugu and presented a tribute.  Nigerwives was also represented at Frank’s burial in Nigeria, Khathija having been cremated in South Africa.

 

Stella Okonkwo

Nigerwives Enugu learned with sadness of the death of our long-time active member and one-time president, Stella Okonkwo, who died in Denmark in October after a protracted illness.  The Branch was in contact with her family to offer our condolences and send a tribute.  We also remembered Stella at our November meeting, where members shared memories and took a memorial photograph to send to her family.

 

OCCASIONS

 

Book Launching

Representatives of the Branch attended the launching of member Mary Wadda Onyeabor’s book, Spirit and Mind Care, on Sunday, May 20 at 3pm at Christ Envoy Church, Abakpa.

 

Birth

We celebrated our first birth in many years when Sindile Onodu delivered a bouncing baby girl on August 31st.  Baby Chiamaka joins Sindy and her husband Kenechukwu and sister Chisom.  Members visited with gifts on Sept. 13, 2018.

 

August Meeting: 1929 Aba Women’s Riot: The Aftermath

Members of Nigerwives Enugu attended a stirring 6-woman drama on the aftermath of the 1929 Women’s War, when the women realized they must confront not only the colonial powers that oppress women, but also their own husbands, their society and even conflicts within themselves in order to achieve liberation.  The event was organized by our partners in Centre for Memories in cooperation with Sports Club. 

 

Opening of New Children’s Library

Members helped organize and attended the opening of the Centre for Memories new children’s library on Dec. 6, 2018.  Among others present at the opening were representatives of Fidelity Bank, who provided a porta-cabin accommodating the library and student delegations from numerous primary and secondary schools.  We hope to help with programming for the new library.

 

Memfys Hospital Annual Christmas Carols

On Dec. 14, 2018, Nigerwives Enugu honoured an invitation to the annual outdoor Christmas concert and caroling held by Memfys Hospital of Neurosurgery, a hospital owned and managed by the family of Nigerwife Marcelle Ohaegbulam. 

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​The Branch hopes to build on these programs in the coming year.

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