DSWHUB impacts lives, distributes school bags, sandals, others at Lagos, Ogun state schools

Denny Social Welfare Hub (DSWHUB), as part of its Back to School Project is putting smiles on the faces of pupils across Lagos and Ogun states. DSWHUB was at Modamin Nursery & Primary School, Idi-Araba, Mushin, Lagos State on Thursday, October 10, 2024.

This came barely a week after it paid similar visit to another school, Community Primary School Lagun, Ogun State on 2nd of October, 2024.

In all the visits to the schools, DSWHUB provided the pupils with essential educational resources for children in need. The ‘Back to School Pack’ consisted of a backpack school bag containing exercise books, water bottle, ruler, pencil, biro, eraser, sharper and a pair of school sandals.

The children were excited and happy for their gifts. The Head-teachers, the teachers and parents of some of the pupils who were present were very appreciative of the venture and the children received their gift items with joy.

It was observed that most of the children are from very low-income families. The community lack basic infrastructure and social amenities. The indigenes are unexposed due to limited educational background and most of the children looked malnourished and have stunted growth.

The Head-teachers made DSWHUB to understand the financial challenges of the pupils’ parents which led to withdrawal of a lot of children from school. Majority of those in school are still owing these levies. DSWHUB promised to pay N40,000 for four pupils at Lagun. Out of them is a child of a very poor lady who has 2 children in the school but could not afford to pay their levies. The limited level of the parents’ educational background is also a very big challenge because they do not appreciate the importance of education and would rather have the children drop out of school.

Abosede Mary Otukpe, a Social Worker and the Executive Director, Denny Social Welfare Hub speaking on the activities of the organisations disclosed that it was the second phase of project Back to School Drive. “We are here to do the second phase of our project ‘Back to School Drive, We actually selected two schools, we did one in Ogun State last week and today we are here in another community in Idi- Araba, Mushin, Lagos State.

We are doing this because we want to make the children happy because of the situation of the country. We found out that majority of our parents in the community find it difficult to send their children to school, and even if they send them to school, they don’t have enough to get them school materials like school bags, sandals, stationeries, so we think that we can be of helping hand by raising funds to come to schools in these communities to empower the children and to make them smile.

“You can see me smiling, I am fulfilled that I am doing this, with the help of our team, we feel we have fulfilled our dream of making the children happy. Part of what Denny is doing is to Impact life, how can we impact life? By doing what children really want, what society really wants for those that are vulnerable. We thank God we have achieved that through our great sponsors, family, friends, some are in diaspora and some are in Nigeria here,” Otukpe said.

The soft spoken Social Worker who revealed that Denny Social Welfare Hub is four years old, said the organisation has intention of doing more if they have more funding. “We were in Ogun State, we were able to empower about 50 students, and today above 50, and we want to do more if we can get more funds from our sponsors. We are going to Holy Rosary Nursery & Primary School and Lady of Fatima for the Girl Child Day, 11th October.”

She stated that she is also looking forward to getting assistance from the Government. “We have a lot in our hand and we can’t do it all alone without the government supporting and also other companies that have CSR, they can also support even in kind. Most of the things we shared here today were donated by people and companies.”

She expressed her willingness to go to other states if there is fund “We look forward to going to other states, last week we were in Ogun State, I am from Osun State, I would like to give back to my society, but we can only do that if we have more funds.”

Aminat Kodija a staff of Modamin Nursery & Primary School, speaking on behalf of the Head Teacher, Miss Badamosi sai, “I want to thank this organization for everything you have done today, we are very happy, may God enrich your pocket, you will never lack. This is the second time we are seeing this kind of thing in this school, but this one is massive, we appreciate you.

“These items are going to be useful to the children, some parents cannot afford to buy school bags for their children, but they have all been given school bags; some of them come to school in slipass, thank you for providing sandals for them, some don’t have water bottles, those who have, they have broken them, thank you so much for bringing those things,” she stated.

Speaking on behalf of the parents of the pupils, Mrs Audi, said “We are saying thank you, may the almighty God reward you and repay you abundantly. We are very happy and excited; this will even motivate other parents to be eager to send their children to school.”

One the pupils, Ibrahim Musa was so happy that he spoke his mind, “We are happy that you came to Modamin Nursery & Primary School to share bags, exercise books, sandals, water bottles, pencils, erasers, we are happy, God bless you abundantly.”