We Need Government Collaboration To Assist The Less Privileged-Gloria Ikhifa

Mrs. Gloria Ikhifa Ukagwu is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Hands of Love Family, a Non-Governmental Organisation she established to cater for the needs of the less privileged in the society.
In this interview with Kunle Bakare of First Weekly Magazine, she narrated how the idea was conceived.

How did you conceive the idea of Hands of Love Family?

That’s one of the questions I often answer, it’s something I have been doing, but because I don’t put it in the social media that’s why people don’t know and I want to also tell you that I am a mother and I have gone through a lot in life.
I know the pains of not having what is required to cater for the family. It came to full blown when the pandemic was announced two years ago and I prepared myself very well for it. I had everything I needed to face the though period but one day I was short of cash which prompted me to approach a friend of mine to send one thousand naira to me which he actually did.
So when I was praying, the Holy Spirit ministered to me that with all that I had I can still be short of cash.
The Holy Spirit told me that there are many out there who cannot afford what to eat. So, I called my bank manager to transfer N500, 000 (five hundred naira) to me and I went on the social media to announce to people if they needed money.
Infact the response is far from my expectations and I gave out all the money. Later, people began to request for support to settle hospital bills, and when some of my friends saw the way things went they joined hands with me.

How many people can you say have benefited from the gestures?

Thousands of people, I have even lost count, but specifically we have distributed 500 school bags to pupils in public schools ,we also helped people to settle their hospital bills.

How has it been since you began the outreach?

It’s been marvelous, we have a lot of people us. There was a time I got a message from a woman with fibroid, she was being given seven paints of blood daily at the University College Hospital (UCH), and she needed to be operated upon at the cost of N300, 000 (three hundred thousand naira). I then spoke with my partners and just one person settled the bills and that was how the woman was restored and we gave her a new lease of life.
We have settled medical bills for a lot of people. There was a pregnant woman whose child died in her womb and the husband could not afford the bills. We went to the hospital and cleared the bills and we still have a lot that we are working on. Currently, we are handling the case of a 12-year-old girl who is diabetic. She was placed on insulin injections since two years ago and the parents buys the insulin every week. I learnt that an insulin costs about four thousand naira (N4,000) and we are trying to raise money for her.
I am a mother and I know what it is for a child to go through such pains of being injected everyday.

Has the government assisted you at all?

No I haven’t requested for anything from the government because I know they have lots of things to do.
But I think they are really not doing enough when it comes to assisting the less privileged, but the people need them. They are not really doing much, when it comes to charity. They only think about themselves, they only concentrate on the projects that people see and not the ones they hardly see, but we are thinking of meeting the Oyo State Government for collaboration. I have sent a message to the Governor’s Personal Assistant, but I assumed he has not seen the message. It’s not that we need money from them, but we just want to expose them to many people that need help. This is a way to help the government to be alive to their responsibilities because they don’t go on the streets to see what people go through.
Also, there are lots of things that some rich men abandoned at home. I want to appeal to then to bring them out because what they consider not useful will make some people happy .

Have you ever faced any emmbarassing moment in the course of assisting people?

Yes, I have seen a lot but the one that comes to my mind was the time I went to Oja’ba market in Ibadan with 50 chickens, bags of rice and some other items to distribute to widows. They thought I was a politician and they shouted at me that they will not vote for me and they also attacked my car.

On another occasion, I was driving through Molete and I saw a young boy being beating by mob because he stole corn. The boy was shouting that he was hungry. I was touched and a week later I prepared over a thousand plates of meal for distribution in Molete. Infact the rush was too much and I knew that people were really suffering.

What do you think the government can do to help the less privileged?

There are lots of things they can do, but you can’t force them to do what they don’t want to do. What we are doing is selfless service to humanity and it’s the passion that keeps us going. The government can come out to help because we have so many projects to do, so many people to be assisted. It is said that a tree can never make a forest. We need their help, if they can call us to request for our needs, it will be better because we know the right people that needed the help.

What advice do yoi have for the government on how to care for the less privileged?

I can only tell the government to put the right peg in the right hole. Our politicians distribute items to people, and most times what they give are what the people don’t need. So, the people end up selling the items, but if sincere NGOs can be identified to take charge, things will definitely get to where they are truly needed and that is why we are trying to involve the Oyo State Government in what we are doing.