Radio Stations Support SECHILD in Awareness Creation on the Rights of Children with Special Needs-Kick4Charity

The Kick4Charity 2015 was the maiden edition of inter-radio competition organized for advocacy and awareness creation on the condition, right to life of children with special needs. A football match was played in Maitama-Abuja, Nigeria in which Hot FM defeated Radio Nigeria Capital FM 3-1 penalties. Initiators of the event Ahemdoo Media Consult and Terry Ikome made it known that the event was an avenue to promote the acceptance, care and training of children with special needs, bring to the burner the needs and rights of these children, create fund and entertainment and also raise funds for their cause and others.

The Sedoo Initiative for Children with Special Needs- SECHILD partnered in this event ease of reference and the initiative was also a top beneficiary of the funds raised at the event. The President of SECHILD Kawan Aondofa-Anjira (Mrs.) said The Sedoo Initiative for Children with Special Needs- SECHILD’s mission is to collaborate with partners to improve the well-being of vulnerable children and their care givers while promoting their rights. It was therefore a great opportunity and that with gratitude in their hearts, SECHILD appreciates the organizers for bringing the challenging issue and the plight of children with special needs to the front burner through the Kick4Charity show.

Kawan Aondofa-Anjira (Mrs.) said that in Nigeria, it is traditionally believed that a child born with abnormal development is from the spirit world or a snake incarnate and will bring a curse on the family. Many children with disabilities such as down-syndrome, cerebral palsy, and other deformities in some communities are either buried alive or thrown into the river to return to the spirit world and as a service of purification for the parents of such a child. The truth is that these beliefs and practices have more negative effects on the psychological and social status of these parents. The Sedoo Initiative for Children with Special Needs-SECHILD is an experience-based NGO. Her husband and she are blessed with four lovely children, TWO of these children Sedoo and Aondofa were born with some diagnostic category that made them children with special needs. Sedoo whom the organization is named after died in 2007.

The absence of professional assistance and support centers for the specific condition of these children and the desire to establish an institution for similar children with the reservoir that provides children with cerebral palsy and other disorders, families and their caregivers with access to comprehensive information and resources led to the founding of The Sedoo Initiative for Children with Special Needs-SECHILD a not-for-profit, community driven development and non-governmental charitable organization committed to an often neglected target group; vulnerable children with special needs. SECHILD is focused on improving the lives of special needs children/persons including those with disabilities and medical conditions.

SECHILD’s mission is to improve and promote the health and well-being of children with special health care needs and their families. The organization focuses on providing information to families and health care professionals. SECHILD’s work includes special projects, information, research and evaluation that impact care and support, quality of care, education and family partnerships in health care and support for children with special needs. In doing this, SECHILD is building bridges of partnerships and collaboration with a variety of groups to plan and implement grants and projects that improve care and increase access to support such children and their families. Kawan Aondofa-Anjira (Mrs.) Founder and President of SECHILD thanked the media for the collaboration and making awareness creation on the rights of children with special needs top priority.

SECHILD’s work is to educate communities that children born with cerebral palsy are neither from the spirit world nor snake incarnate and DO NOT bring curses on their families. It envisions that Nigerians across the country will understand cerebral palsy and above all stop stigmatization and show their support and love for the brave families that are affected by this situation.

The President said SECHILD believes that every child deserves to be accepted, supported, loved and cared for.

The Kick4Charity event availed the opportunity of a child with Cerebral Palsy to be admitted at SECHILD Center for care, education and therapies. His father, an ardent Radio listener is elderly and blind. The man was very excited about meeting SECHILD and for his son’s admission.

It gladdens SECHILD’s heart to be in partnership with these prominent media-radio as the Initiative continues advocacy, education and awareness on the challenges faced by children with special needs and their parents/caregivers in the society and what needs to be.

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