KOHULA: The Official Bulletin of The Straight Child Foundation. Vol. 2 No. 1

The Straight Child Foundation is a registered , not-for-profit, human develop[mental organization, whose vision and mission are focused on improved care and advocacy for children with disabilities such as Cerebral Palsy, deformities like Clubfoot and holistic outreaches for children. The organization was inaugurated on Tuesday, 21 November 2017, at an event that was witnessed by many who shared a similar vision for children living with Cerebral Palsy and other childhood disabilities. Over the years, we have done advocacy and attracted measures towards fulfilling our goals.

OUR 2021 ACCOMPLISHMENTS

After the lull brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, we have commenced physical events and gatherings once again. In the current year 2021, we have had some very impacting activities and implemented some strategies in actualizing our mission.

The activities and strides of the year includes:

• A Cerebral Palsy Awareness seminar that was held in the month of March, the globally recognized Cerebral Palsy Awareness month. The month of March creates an opportunity to both celebrate people with Cerebral Palsy and to improve its awareness in our clime. Hence, The Straight Child Foundation on the 24th of March hosted on awareness seminar with the theme “Managing CP and Bringing out the Best in a Child Living with CP”. This CP awareness seminar had prominent persons in attendance including Lady Onyinyechi Nwachukwu, the then Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development together with highly placed officials of the Ministry. The resource persons were Ms Nonye Nweke-CEO Cerebral Palsy Centre Lagos and Dr. RoseAnn Chidomere – a Paediatric Neurologist at the Federal Medical Centre Umuahia. This event also featured the Parent Support Group which helps to provide social support to the Parents.
• World Clubfoot Day celebration on June 3rd. This date being the posthumous birthday of Ignacio Ponseti, the man who revolutionized the non-surgical treatment of Clubfoot worldwide, is now used to raise the awareness on the importance of the Ponseti method of treatment for Clubfoot. This year, the different clinics that are supported by the MiracleFeet/The Straight Child Foundation partnership joined the rest of the world in this celebration by holding activities in their different states.
• The Clubfoot care support from the partnership between MiracleFeet and The Straight Child Foundation, which was previously in three centers, expanded to four new centers in Nigeria, bringing the total number of clinics with such support to seven. The program provides casting supplies for the correction phase and foot abduction braces for the maintenance phase of the Ponseti method of Clubfoot treatment. The participating institutions are the Federal Medical Centre Umuahia , University of Uyo Teaching Hospital Uyo, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital Nnewi (Oba Trauma Centre), Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital Irrua, Alex Ekwueme Federal Unuversity Teaching hospital Abakaliki Teaching Hospital, Federal Medical Centre Lokoja and Most recently, the Enugu State University (Parklane) Enugu. We hope that the remaining state in the SouthEast and other states in Nigeria would also join so that their parents would benefit from this program.
• On the 18th of August, we organized the maiden Booth-camp for children with cerebral palsy. This event which was organized with the aim of providing adequate health care services to CP children, professional advice to their parents/caregivers and advocacy on CP saw different health experts including Speech Therapist, Physiotherapist, Nurses, Medical Social Workers, Prosthetics and Orthotists, Nutritionists and Orthopaedic Surgeons attending and assessing the children and giving their parents professional advice on how to cater for them. We also gave out 5 cerebral palsy chairs to the children who needed them. It was exciting that some parishes of the Redeemed Christian Church of God supported the program as part of their CSR. The Glory Tabernacle Parish sponsored a CP chair for one child . We look forward tp welcoming more CSRs from churchs, banks, and other corporate organizations.
• We also joined the rest of the world to celebrate World Cerebral Palsy Day on the 6th of October. In line with the theme for the 2021 celebration, we invited parents and Caregivers to write on A Million Reasons… The participants were expected to share their stories based on the completion of the phrase with their own words. Winners were selected from those who entered for this mini competition and prices awarded during our first physical event after the celebration. Incidentally, this coincided with the end-of-year event of the organization.
• To the glory of God, the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria, (MDCAN) Federal Medical Centre Umuahia chapter, during their 2021 Biennial General Meeting (BGM) awarded the Community Service Award to The Straight Child Foundation. This came as a recognition of the contribution of the organization to the improvement of health and care services to the community.

CONCLUSION

We believe that it is not just about doing big things, but that little things done in love would mean so much to the beneficiaries. At The Straight Child Foundation, we aim for a world, where deformities, disabilities and challenges do not limit any child from attaining his/her God-given potentials, a world where every child can aspire towards the life beyond limits. We are taking the small steps, aware that achieving much requires the contribution of everyone. We are grateful to God for the modest attainments and look up to Him for greater things in the coming year.

You are therefore, encouraged to be part of this course. You can make your own contribution by visiting our website @ www.thestraightchildfoundation.org.