A humanitarian group—Voice of Orphans Africa & Diaspora Initiative (VOADI), on Wednesday disclosed that all is set for the 2019 Orphans’ Carnival, with the aim to promote latent talents and intellectual abilities of orphans.
The disclosure was made at a media briefing ahead of the Orphans’ Carnival, a one-day event expected to hold on Saturday, April 27, 2019 at the National Universities Commission’s Auditorium Maitama, Abuja.
Speaking at the briefing, the VOADI team president, Okokoro Folorunsho, noted that the idea of having the carnival, was to showcase the latent talents and intellectual abilities of these orphaned children and as well spur potential sponsors or donors to helping them have a better life by providing for their basic needs such as Health Care, Education and General Well-Being.
According to him, “The Orphans’ Carnival project is a VOADI yearly project that brings orphans in direct contact with potential sponsors on same platform to promote talent hunt for career, health and education development sponsorship.
“In this current academic year 2018/2019, as a newly founded organization and with collective efforts of Members and other few individuals, we are currently sponsoring four orphans at different orphanages- three (3) for Basic Education and the other who is the first Face of VOADI Beauty Queen crowned during the 2018 orphans carnival is on full sponsorship (till tertiary level)”, he said.
He disclosed that the 2019 Orphans’ Carnival with the theme ‘Leave No One Behind… An Orphan at a Time’, is the second edition since VOADI started advocating for the inclusiveness and hope of a better life for orphaned and vulnerable children.
He further stated that the carnival aims to; Create awareness and a social platform for the discovery of talents or innate abilities of orphaned children; Create the environment for potential sponsors to have first hand information on the plight of orphanage owners and accelerate possible sponsorship and provision of career development for the total well-being of an orphan child; and Create a social exciting meeting point for all the orphans and orphanage owners to broker friendship, collaboration and networking.
He added that the carnival is expected to; Carefully identify sellable talents among the orphans and inspire them for greatness; Sort potential donors or sponsors towards the realization of the discovered talents; Have audience and media attention to the plights of these special kids with special grace and their orphanages, among others.
Responding to questions on how insurgency has increased the number of orphans, the team Vice President, Ikponmwosa Success, stated that the government is responsible for the security of lives, adding that if Nigerians work together with the government, the situation can be curtailed.
“Government is trying and we are out to join hands with government to ensure that these orphans are well taken care of”, he said.
The group called on well meaning Nigerians, Civil Society Organizations, NGOs, Private Corporate Organizations, religious body, Government and the United Nations Organizations to cement effort with Voice of Orphans Africa and Diaspora Initiative to securing a better life for these special kids with special grace.
