Nigerian retiree sacrifices savings to reintegrate, shelter returnees

Ambassador Amarachi Kene-Okafor is the President of Ihuoma Girls Care and Support Initiative, a non-governmental organisation based in Nigeria.

She had a successful career in the banking industry before she retired to establish the NGO.

She told voiceforafricanmigrants.org how her love for saving endangered girls made her to invest her retirement savings on establishing a shelter where she accommodates and rehabilitates returnees. Excerpts:

Q: Tell us about your life as a banker?

A: I joined the banking industry in the 90s as a WAEC holder at Union Bank PLC Akpakpava Branch, Benin City. I was employed at the Head Office Lagos  and transferred to Benin City as a clerk. About two years after my employment, I got admission into the University of Lagos Distance Learning Institute (DLI). Soon after, I graduated in the year 2000 with BSc Business Administration. I moved to University of Calabar (Lagos Study Centre) for my Masters and graduated in 2006. I rose through the rank while upgrading my educational status. In 2004, I resigned my appointment with  Union Bank Plc as an officer and joined Union Homes Savings and Loans PLC as a Sub-Manager (a Mortgage Bank) where I worked for 10 years.

Q: When and why did you resign?

A: I finally resigned from the Banking sector in 2014. Having survived the stock market crash of 2009/2010, witnessed a lot of financial mismatch of investments and loan applications and having  being in the Treasury Department of the bank where banks’ placements were shrinking and nose diving on regular intervals, I knew that the banking sector will be facing a serious challenges so I thought about career switch. 

 Soon I enrolled to study Social Work at the Institute of Social Work of Nigeria now Chartered Institute of Social Work Practitioners of Nigeria and on graduation, I resigned from the banking sector to fully pursue that cause.

Q: What were the challenges you faced working in the Banking industry?

A: The challenges I faced while working in the banking sector was the problems of managing the Branch Operations and maintaining my Unionism position as the Deputy President of the Senior Staff Union of the Bank. Another challenge was  that  of meeting the target being set for you as a Marketer. I was once the Operations Manager at Union Homes Broad Street Branch Lagos and the Chief Marketing Officer of Union Homes, Opebi Branch, Ikeja Lagos. The constant thought of meeting the allotted target was a nightmare.

Q: What made you to have interest in migration issues?

A: Soon after I left the banking sector, I established my own non-profit organization which is focused on the Girl-Child known as Ihuoma Girls Care and Support Initiative.  After sometime, we heard about 1,500 Nigerian young girls that embarked on  irregular migration and they all died on the Mediterranean Sea while crossing to Italy. This heightened my thoughts and interest on migration issues. In 2018, our organization held its first campaign against irregular migration at Odo-nla Odogunyan, Ikorodu, Lagos.

I had further interest on issues pertaining to women and girls because of the multiple challenges they are exposed to in the society. One key challenge of dealing with female gender is prostitution which many times require a lot of female migration and their emerging consequences.

Q: Tell us about the shelter you run in Enugu?

A: Our shelter at Enugu was established at the peak of COVID ’19 when the spate of rape and other gender based violence were on the increase. The shelter is a safe haven for girls at risk emanating from abuse, trafficking or returned migration. It is transitional in nature because we also provide skill acquisition to them while at the shelter and they can be accommodated there between 6-12 months before they are reintegrated. Currently, the shelter has accommodated about 25 survivors since it was established.

Q: What is your experience running the shelter?

A: The joy of seeing some of these female  survivors being back on their feet and become responsible and dependent gives me more reason to move on. It is usually a thing of joy to provide a safe haven that can snatch a girl away from abusive and stigmatised environment. The joy of seeing these depressed girls on arrival beaming with smiles and freshness after being in our shelter for sometimes is fulfilling.

Q: How did you get money to start the shelter?

A: As at the time the shelter was established, I was a lecturer at the Federal College of Dental Technology, Enugu now Federal University of Health and Allied Sciences Enugu and I took a loan from the bank using my salary as collateral but when my pension was paid after my resignation, the bank recouped their funds 100% with interest. That was how the money used to establish the Shelter was raised. Furthermore, most of the other items used to equip the shelter came from my family members.

Q: Have you ever received any financial support since you started running the shelter?

A: You know running a shelter is a very capital intensive venture. I have never received funding or sponsorship of any kind since the shelter was established either from international organisations, government agencies or philanthropists. However, we have received some little of cash support and in-kind support from friends and colleagues.

Q: Since you haven’t been getting financial support, how are you managing to sustain it?

A: Sustaining the shelter till date has been very excruciating. The shelter is being funded fully by the President’s personal savings and family support and that’s why it is underfunded and lack many infrastructures. It’s very tasking paying the rent, care givers’ salaries, feeding survivors, their personal body care,  their medicals and sometimes their home school just by an individual family. It’s financially draining.

Q: Is it not frustrating and discouraging using your personal resources to run the shelter?

A: It is so discouraging and frustrating using one’s personal resources to run the shelter but when you remember the impact being made on the lives of these girls, you feel fulfilled.

Q: How do the survivors feel about your support for them?

A: The days of appreciative humanity are gone. All you have, generally, is people with entitlement mentality who think that the support they are receiving is their entitlement. But somehow, sometimes, you just see one or two persons who are so  

 genuinely grateful for the assistance they received. These are the reasons we go on.

Q: What are the challenges you faced running the shelter aside from not having any support?

A: One of the challenges we face apart from having funding support is lack of awareness. Costs of creating awareness calls for more money to be spent. We need money and support  to do this. There are lots of young girls in abusive environment that need to be rescued. 

Q: What are your plans going forward?

A: My plans going forward are to purchase about three plots of land for the building of our permanent site for the shelter. As it is now, we are moving forward. We believe that God will send helpers our way soonest to help us achieve this. We are not closing down.

Q: Have you ever thought of closing down the shelter because of challenges?

A: Yes, I have thought of closing down the shelter severally. When your own personal finances are receiving serious bashing and then you are compelled to look the way of the shelter. Honestly, it can be a nagging palava.