Dorian Home Celebrates First Anniversary Amidst Pomp And Ceremony

Nigerians from all walks of life were part of history as Dorian home, a first class orphanage celebrated one year of its existence amidst encomiums.

It was indeed a celebration of charity par excellence as guests lauded the founder of the home, Dr. Tolulola Olajibike Bayode for providing succour for the vulnerable children.

In her speech at the colourful event, Dr Bayode said  her desire to providing succour to the poor and harness the potentials of orphans and vulnerable children for national development motivated her to take care of the children without external funding.

Her words: “According to the United Nations, there about 20 million out of school children in Nigeria and this number keeps rising. A large percentage of this children are out of school, not because their parents can’t afford their education but because they’re vulnerable and therefore abandoned.

“Initially, I wanted to randomly support and educate orphans and less privileged children around our community but when we started, we saw that the ones that needed to be done was indeed enormous.

“From supporting the children and feeding them and their education,  saw a bad state of welfare in this orphanages, so, we decided to build a befitting and safe place for them. 10 years ago when we started, it was impossible that we would come this far. Today, we have built the largest orphanage home in Africa with the capacity of 750 rooms and the second largest in the world with no external funding.

“At Dorian home, we place premium on our children safety, education and overall welfare. Today, when you look at the faces of our children, you see smiles that could lighten up the world. This smiles were not there when they first joined us at Dorian home”, she said.

Dr Bayode also revealed that she recently took to Dorian home, an 11-year-old boy who was abandoned by his mother while she embarked on another adventure.

“Children face many challenges especially orphans and less privileged who face even more. A large percentage of them are not in school and they are roaming the street. When we look at the rise in the various vices in our society, we can trace them in one way or the other to lack of law, care and attention to children, the less privileged in particular.

Dr Bayode added that orphans and less privileged children are more likely to be exposed to vices that have negative effect on the society, hence, the need to effectively invest in the children for national development.

“We will be missing out in some of our future greatest assets if we fail to do this because, Chief Obafemi Awolowo left us with the saying that the Children of the poor you failed to train today will never let your children leave in peace and the Bible says the children are the heritage of the Lord and blessed is he who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate”, she quoted.

In their separate remarks, the former governor of the state, Dr Olusegun Mimiko and former Minister of State for Niger Delta, Senator Tayo Alasoadura described the founder of Dorian home as one of the individuals who have made a mark for themselves by living selfless life and seen dedicate their lives  to making a difference, while calling on government to continue to partner with individuals and corporate organizations in complementing projects for the orphans and the vulnerable.

The National President, Naval Officers Wife Association (NOWA), Hajiya Nana Aishatu Gambo and the President, Caribbean and African Faithbased Leadership USA, Dr Agorom C, explained that being an orphan does not determine the greatness of a child in the future, noting that many great men in Nigeria and the world were orphans, hence the need to help the children in the orphanage category.