Warien Rose Foundation Founder, Efe Anaughe, speaks with OpenLife Staff Writer, Isaac Ngumah on the objectives of her foundation
OpenLife Nigeria reports
Can you tell us about your NGO Foundation?
Warien Rose Foundation is an organization that was formed mainly to eradicate poverty and we do it in different ways; we try to empower people through emotional support groups, we also give financial help. We educate people on the best possible way they can go forward in life
Like I said at the beginning it is mainly to eradicate poverty so of course you know that we are going to be very involved in teaching them skills to help them succeed in life.
How long has your organization been in existence?
It has been in existence for many years we changed our name officially to Warien Rose Foundation some six years ago so I think I rather go with that. Unofficially we have been using Rhema Connect and we have been working for many years with that name. We have done alot of supportive programs in terms of impacting our community and society through Rhema Connect but ever since we changed our name to Warien Rose Foundation we have done amazingly much more in that area and that is when we started our Support Groups, one of our support groups is on domestic violence. We run a support group on domestic violence, we help men, women, children on domestic violence.
Can you tell about your passion, drive so far?
I think basically I will say God first I seem to have an inmate believe in helping people in need, I found out I find fulfillment in helping people I think that is just it, I think i got it from my parents; my Mom and Dad are givers to the core so I will say I have a healthy dose of it from both Parents
How do you proffer solutions to household issues in solving domestic violence?
Well on domestic violence issues a lot of people think that some certain factors influence it but I tell people that domestic violence knows no gender, it knows no religion, it knows no social standing or social status, it certainty has nothing to do with tribe or colour of the skin, it cuts across every strata of the society, the rich the poor, the struggling.
You will find it everywhere; you will find it in Ajegunle the same way you will find it in Banana Island, it is everywhere. A number of factors come to play when you are looking at domestic abuse the back ground of the abuser matters, we live in a patriarchal society and so the average African man appears to be a bit on the domineering side especially when he is married, he feels that ‘I am the head of the home, I am the man of the house’, whatever he says is law.
There is a particular section of our society that the men are very passionate about the way they handle their women yes they believe that a women is acquired as an asset may be because of the amount of money they spent during the wedding ceremony. A lot of women are treated as possessions and so they can be seen but not heard. What we try to do at Warien Rose Foundation is to educate people, self-esteem play’s a major role, of course religion is also there, culture is another. It is diverse and hydra headed. It is really not one particular way, every situation calls for scrutiny and we need to be able to identify the cause of the abuse sometimes some people say because the man has lost his job so he is frustrated other times, it is the kind of home he comes from; the father of the man was a wife beater and so as a result he became a wife beater. What we try to do is find out what is the root cause
What created problems? Is it because the man doesn’t have a job? It is not in all cases the man abuses the wife in some cases the woman abuses the husband. Abuse is not just physical, a lot of people think it is only physically but there is emotional abuse, there is physiological abuse, there is financial abuse, there is sexual abuse; it comes in different forms so we first have to identify what the root cause is, the type of abuse going on in the home and that’s when we can address it effectively. We counsel the abuser and the abused,see how we can find the root cause because there is no one solution fit’s all. We need to know the gravity of the case and dig deep.
How many families have benefited from your Warien Rose Foundation in solving domestic issues,
Till date I think physically we can count over 600. We run a support group every month, it is called Domestic Violence Anonymous and we have different locations in Lagos where we run this program.
What we do is that we encourage people who are going through abuse to attend and we try to help them.An abuser is encouraged to attend counseling programs, for those who are abused we try to teach them about self-esteem and we do not make decisions for them. Decisions have to come from them.
We let them know their options; they do not need to remain in that environment or worst case scenario die in it. We try to get them to see that you can get out of this situation and separating from your husband or your wife is not the end of the world you could always come back together later. We do skills acquisition for those who are not working or who didn’t go to school who do not have a skill.
We teach them skills so that we can empower them. One of the major things about abusers is that they try to take financial power from the abused so we try to reintegrate them into the society if they don’t have a job. We get them financially empowered; we find it is easier to liberate them from the situation they find themselves to make a decision. Many times people stay in abusive relationships because they do not have the finance to move on and take care of themselves so they feel a need to remain in that relationship.
Your skill acquisition can you tell us the impact you have made so far?
Oh it is huge we teach them different skills; soap making, bleach, tie and dye, batic, fabric stoning, makeup, hand craft, leather works, fashion accessories etc. We find out that sometimes you teach these skills, these people don’t have faith in themselves so we bring motivational speakers. It is very important to have the mindset of success, it is a lot easier and the person is stronger emotionally to take informed decisions. Many of these people have been psychologicallytraumatized and abused.
AML/CFT CSO Forum
Anti-money Laundering, Counter Financing Terrorism Civil Society of Nigeriais an umbrella Organisation for a group of NGOs that are anti-money laundering. Money laundering goes beyond government officials being corrupt even as individual’s we try to educate on how cheating is affecting our economy, we educate the grassroots; even down to pepper sellers. We have to let them understand that for every time we try to cut corners it affects the economy of our country. Petrol is sold at 169 and people are shortchanging people, increasing prices arbitrarily, those are the things that cause inflation and so much is going on so we have to change the mindset of our people.
Everyone in the society should be part of anti-money laundering and counter terrorism. The Civil Society Organizations umbrella organization for organizations teach on how to educate our people not just about money laundering but also about financing of terrorism. People have to know that they cannot be used as conduits to destroy the economy of our own Country and so there is a lot of teaching and learning process going on. Warien Rose Foundation is very active in that organization. It is one of our core areas of operations.
How many women have you empowered through your vocational skills.
We cannot count them, well over 5,000 over the years. We have names, addresses and telephone numbers. It is different from those that just walk in, we cannot quantify, the 5000 is a small figure, I can say maybe in the last ten years we are well over 10000, we have empowered a lot of people we cannot even quantify it ourselves.
The less privileged what are your impact?
This is our target if somebody already have the money why do you need to empower them, these ones need skills or mentoring. We empower the financially needy including the physically challenged. A lot of things are been done that we cannot talk about but some months back we had a program specially for the physically challenged where we taught them skills and we empowered them. We try to cut across all strata of the society leaving no one behind. Our mantra is to leave no one behind, as long as we know that we can help, we do in terms of empowerment so it is really the down trodden in the society we face that’s the truth.
Has your organization been able to eradicate poverty and develop social development in the society?
When you say eradicate poverty that’s huge, we empower people we cannot eradicate poverty. The poor will always be there, we just keep working as we can, there are other Organizations that are doing their own bit, we keep trying as best as we can in our immediate Communities and beyond, that’s what we are doing wherever we find ourselves we do that.
How and where do you get support to run your NGO?
Support has been more individualistic in nature, I must be very frank than from grants. It is individuals who believe in the cause that give. We have had to tax ourselves, many times you apply for grants but some of the requirements make it impossible to access it. I will not mention this particular organization but there was a particular time we applied for a grant from them and they were asking for turnover of a million dollars. The average organization that is really doing their job, that is working doesn’t have that kind of money.
We work at the grassroots,we don’t have that kind of money, a million dollars per annum? Of course we were not able to access that grant. We encourage people, organizations to come to the field to see what we are doing and decide if you want to partner with us rather than you give some lofty ideas with almost impossible conditions, if truly you want to empower people. I know it is the believe that a lot of NGOs are using it for self-gratification, all I can say is that some of us are really doing the work and Warien Rose Foundation is one of them.
How do you handle the case of rape,drug addict?
For rape and drug addict’s we work with the Office of the Public Defender (OPD), Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty alleviation; they have a Domestic Violence Units, there is there Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team in Lagos State. We do a lot of work in this area. NAPTIP is the Agency that has been mandated to keep records for the sex offenders list. I am sure you must have heard about that some time last year, it was inaugurated by the President. Lagos State has been working on this for a while. Some other States like
Ekiti State are trying in the area of rape and records are being kept but there is also the challenge of accessibility to this record. A situation where somebody commits rape in a School in Ogun State and runs to Lagos State and gets a job in another School where there is no proper background check. Sensitization is important, we tell the schools you need to find out about an applicant before you employ your teachers. Raping of minors is on the increase, example we have cases of gatemen, bus drivers etc raping minors, a lot is going on. Sensitization is the key, rape and domestic abuse is not a family affair, it is a criminal offence! It has been criminalized not just in Lagos State but the Federal Government of Nigeria has done so too.
People have to reprimanded,there is no point covering up a crime, we are to educate and sensitize people not bring in culture; words like‘don’t embarrass our family’ should never be mentioned, Rape should be reported, I must say this, when there is rape please the victim should not take a bath, if you don’t want to go to the police station, you can first go to the hospital so that the evidence can be preserved, the evidence that can be used in court in other to secure the verdict of guilty for the offender. It is important to educate and sensitize people.
A lot of incest is going on, I think that we as a Society we need to look inward, we have Father’s raping their daughter’s, Uncles and Auntys raping their nieces and nephews. As a Society we can sit back and say these has to stop right now, I think it is Kaduna State that came up with the new Law to castrate if found guilty of rape as a man. It is meant to be preventive and a welcome development, a lot of people say castration is extreme but rape for any girl or any child is traumatic and the effects are lifelong, they just learn to cope with the pain but it does not go away and in some cases some people don’t even recover from it,a lot of people have committed suicide as a result of rape and so why not castrate, many times offenders will leave a particular society repeat the same crime in another community they find themselves.
So many of these people do not seek help, they did not seek psychological help or emotional help, they don’t want help, they hide. It goes in Church, Mosques, traditional homes and schools; there is no safe place, women, men, boys and girls are not safe, a lot of boys have been Sodomised by the mallams across the street, have been sodomised in their Schools. A lot is going on, there is a culture of silence that needs to be broken on rape so it is a major issue. I believe extreme problems calls for extreme measures and something needs to be done really fast, if it serves as a deterrent then it is okay. It cannot continue,girls should be able to walk freely.
Some say it is the way they dress, what about babies that are raped? Is a six months old child enticing a man or a three month old baby? Yet Babies are raped regularly, if you go to hospitals you will see what is going on, you will be devastated and so right now it is time to call for extreme measures it is not okay to rape a girl. Consent is key No is No, even though you have been having sex with her and she says No, No is No you shouldn’t go ahead without her consent so yes something very drastic needs to be done if we ae going to halt the trend and I applaud Kaduna state for taking that initiative oh yes.
What is the Federal government doing to intervene?
Federal Government doing a lot of sensitization campaign but beyond that the stigma of rape has kept a lot of people silent, they want to hide and pretend it is not taking place because people are afraid, people are embarrassed, people are ashamed and so they hide. It is time that we begin to shame the perpetrators and not the victims, that is what is going on now, a lot of victims feel embarrassed and there is a lot of body shaming goingaround which is wrong that is why they are so scared to come out to speak up. When a girl is raped she hides it, the Family says don’t let anybody hear, people will laugh at you, they will make mock you, that is all wrong. We should be able to name and shame the perpetrators, they should not be given any hiding place and it is only then that we can begin to hope for some form of reprieve from this pandemic on rape that is going on. It is serious, a lot of cases are under reported and we only know a few. How many have been charged to court? How many convictions have been gotten, there is so much that is wrong.
Drug addict’s what are your impact?
For the drug addicts we are also trying to do a lot of sensitization. Drugs are everywhere I must be frank with you, tramadol they can buy over a counter and so what we are doing? A lot of Parenting Seminars, parenting because most times parents don’t know where their kids go to, those days if you come back with a school bag or a ruler or something that does not belong to you from school your mother will first beat you, when your father comes he will give his own, they take you to school the following day and if care is not taken they will call an assembly for you, you will return that thing and then you will be flogged in front of the whole school and shamed.
In those days it was difficult to steal but nowadays parents don’t care, parents don’t ask questions, you will see a fourteen years old with ten thousand naira, they don’t care where he got the money from only how to spend it, obviously he has stolen somebody’s phone and sold it and that is probably how he got the money. Parents today have failed that’s the truth, a lot of people could put it down to social economic factors or they have to make ‘ends meet’, is that the reason why you don’t know where your child is?
I remember those days there used to be a program on NTA Network called Newsline anchored by Frank Olize at nine pm. He would always start the program with a rhetoric question; Do you know where your child is? A lot of parents do not know where their children are. The children say they are going to school, they put mufti in their school bag, they get to school but right there at the gate they turn back change their cloths and go out.
A lot of youths are robbing today and their parents don’t know that they are harboring hardened criminals at home so Parents have failed and their parenting skills obviously have failed. We are also trying to sensitize Government, those days we use to have Moral Instruction as a subject in School which teaches ladies how to sit,how to cook in the kitchen,how to talk ,mannerisms, how to say thank you, please, I am sorry. ‘Moral Instruction’have been scrapped from the school curriculum, the parents are too busy chasing money to make ends meet, who is teaching the children? They are left solely to teachers in Schools who already have more than enough on their plate.
They are expected to teach the children English, Mathematics and other subjects. Are they also expected to teach morality? That is the job of the Parents; your first teachers are your Parents, so you know parenting has a lot of role to play in our war against drug abuse. Most Youths who are already on drugs are trying to find help, Warien Rose Foundation has in-house Psychologists we work with and we send some of these people to them in the hope of getting them off the drug dependency. We are careful so they do not have a relapse. You can see that there is a lot of work in this area.
How is your organization been able to take care of widows?
We cannot run from it because in the course of doing our job we come across a lot of widows, some are the people we have helped in the areas of abuse as a result of family inheritance; when a husband dies and the family decides to oppress the widow and they take everything from her, we step in as an organization. We have to do of empowerment, sometimes we do only for widows.
We bring them in, we give them clothes, we teach skills, we help them with money to start a little business in order to help themselves and their families and in some cases where they have some entitlement and the family of the husband has stood and said they will not get anything we take up the matter in order to make sure we get them their Rights. We have been able to assist a lot of widows, we teach them their Rights. It is not enough to just teach them Skills but we teach them what their rights are so that they can stand on their own. Knowledge is power, if people know their Rights they are able to help themselves. When they do not know they are blown around by every little wind that comes their way.
Barister Efe Anaughe, Founder Warien Rose Foundation, can be reached via www.warienrosefoundatio.org
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