Several years ago, I had the pleasure of writing about the heartwarming feat of Oba Adedokun Omoniyi Abolarin, Aroyinkeye I, the Orangun of Oke-Ila, in establishing Abolarin College, the first free secondary school for the underprivileged in Nigeria. Today, products of that school have gone on to exceed the expectations of many people, and several are still navigating their destiny in different tertiary institutions.
It takes one person to get things moving in any society. Anyone can complain. Indeed, pointing out what is wrong with the society is one of the easiest preoccupations of man. Being part of the solution is not attractive because it requires a loving heart, commitment and sacrifice.
Philosophically speaking, it is in giving joy to others that a good person finds fulfilment. Wealth is good, but to what end? Is it just for personal aggrandisement or to lift up fellow citizens? Bob Marley famously said, “Some people are so poor all they have is money.” There must be some other purpose greater than primitive acquisition.
Compassion as a philosophy is the ethical framework that positions empathy and the alleviation of suffering as central to human morality and social connection. It recognises our shared vulnerability, turning the feeling of care into active moral responsibility.
What is Life?
Over the ages, the masters have wrestled with this subject and have come to the conclusion that a life shared, a life of charity towards fellow men is the life worth living. Lifting the downtrodden entails supporting, empowering, and providing relief to the poor, broken, and oppressed, often associated with divine justice or moral duty.
“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honourable, to be compassionate and to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well”, said Ralph Waldo Emerson. Dalai Lama agrees and adds that our prime purpose in life is to help others, while Pablo Picasso declared that, “the meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.”
Just the other day, I was privileged to encounter the kind of project we should be recommending to every genuine philanthropist out there. There is so much hardship in the land, many would say. Yes, the nights are dark and lonely. But there are people who have chosen to light a lantern instead of cursing the darkness.
The reality of contemporary life in Nigeria — and, indeed, in many African villages and towns — is that, in many homes, the children are overseas or in the big cities while the elderly remain in the rural homestead, literally waiting for death. Many family compounds are full of elderly people in various stages of disrepair, whose constant companion is biting, dispiriting loneliness.
Some of them receive regular stipends from their children; others don’t. However, even those who receive regular cash gifts cannot convert the money to human company. They want to be loved, to know that somebody cares; but loneliness is their constant companion. No amount of money compares to a simple hug or conversation. So, the elderly begin to suffer some form of psychosomatic dislocation.
Ilerioluwa House of Hope
Enter the Ilerioluwa House of Hope with the mission to “Bring Hope” and “Bridge the Gap”, serving as a critical healthcare lifeline for grassroots residents in Ondo kingdom. The humanitarian initiative has demonstrated consistent and regular engagement with the community through providing essential medical support and care. Outreach efforts typically include free medical consultations, diagnosis, and distribution of medications to those who otherwise would not have been able to afford such care.
The organisation also sponsors surgeries and organises regular visits to the elderly to make them feel loved. In six years, the non-governmental organisation has conducted over 300 free medical outreaches for widows and elderly people in Ondo City, providing ongoing health check-ups and treatments. The foundation has registered over 1,000 patients and supports more than 400 beneficiaries on a fortnightly basis. Beyond medical care, the foundation frequently provides palliatives (food, supplies) and transport fares after outreach programmes to support the widows.
The Ilerioluwa House of Hope building houses a fully equipped primary health centre appropriately staffed as required. There are medical doctors and other health professionals who also collaborate with the organisation in addition to the permanent staff. The organisation has arrangements with the Nigeria Eye Foundation for surgical interventions where necessary. The impact of the work of the NGO is better felt when one looks at some individual cases, like the case of a man who had been blind for eight years and had his sight restored after surgery financed by Ilerioluwa House of Hope. The cost of the surgery was less than Nigeria’s minimum wage, but the man had spent eight years living as a blind man because he could not afford the cost of the surgical intervention.
There was another patient whose surgery cost several millions. The outfit not only paid but also continued to monitor his post-operation rehabilitation, encouraging him that there was still a lot left for him to do on this side of the grave.
“When old age is compounded by poverty and ill-health, death looks attractive”, said Grandma Abigail; “I used to be an old, sickly, poor, lonely woman until the Ilerioluwa House of Hope offered a helping hand”.
For every Grandma Abigail, there are hundreds of fellow beneficiaries whose twilight years have been transformed into pleasurable ones by the Adam Foundation and the Ilerioluwa House of Hope which it endows to cater to the health needs of widows and the elderly in Ondo kingdom.
Founded by Mr. Hakeem Oladipo Oyeneyin (a.k.a. Jejenuwa), a banker, businessman and supply chain executive, the initiative has conducted over 311 medical outreaches in six years, attending to an average of 400 patients monthly.
Elderly citizens and beneficiaries in Ondo have taken to social media to express overwhelming gratitude to the Ilerioluwa House of Hope (IHOH), describing it as a vital lifeline without which their lives would have been miserable indeed.
Oyeneyin himself says he wishes he had enough money to cover a larger area and impact more people. The experiences of life, he says, had taught him that life is transient and that the only lasting thing is bringing joy to people.
Life of Purpose
Perhaps it is about time we all examined our purpose and priorities in life. Maybe the donation of a facility to the community would be a better investment than acquiring a private jet?
Wouldn’t the elderly in our villages live a healthier and happier life if more NGOs like Ilerioluwa sprang up in our communities?
The incredible thing about the philanthropic establishment is that its founder is absolutely not interested in politics. In some other places, charity is tied to votes in a quid pro quo manner. The politician rubs your back by giving you a gift in cash or kind, and you reciprocate by voting for him. Apparently, to people like Oyeneyin, happiness is when one’s endowments are shared with the less privileged in the community without strings attached.
If we closed our eyes to avoid seeing bad people, we wouldn’t know when good people pass us by. But if we keep our eyes open, we will see that, in spite of our many existential problems, there are still many good people in Nigeria.
May their tribe increase!
