
Its International Women’s Day 2018!!! To celebrate today, the team at Diplomacy Opportunities celebrates Fiona Imarah Oghenerukevwe. For Fiona Imarah, the decision to be a change maker was fueled by the tough experiences she witnessed women, girls and children suffer for most of her life.
Fiona was first Leader in Agape force at age 15, but started leading consciously at the University level when she served as assistant financial secretary in Christian Fellowship International; one of the leading campus fellowships in Delta State University, Abraka. And she has since been an enthusiastic and inspiring member and leader in various youth groups; Including at Hallmarks Initiative and Girls’ Health and Education Foundation where she has enhanced the development of over five thousand Teenagers in grassroot communities, advocated against Teenage Pregnancy, promoting healthy menstrual practices, supporting girls from poor homes with sanitary pads to help them stay in school during their periods, helping undeserved kids stay in school and supporting other vulnerable groups in the society.
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In 2017, as a youth Passionate about SDG1 and SDG2, she founded an organisation, Graceland foundation, that is promoting the wellbeing of people, and helping women and children in grassroot communities (especially those at the Orphanage) rebuild their lives. And through this organisation, she secures food for kids in several orphanages. She has raised over a thousand cloths donations for these kids, and for widows. Periodically, Fiona and her team volunteers for cleanups at the Orphanage, spends time playing and teaching the kids and supports them with other basic amenities.
Someday soon, Fiona hopes to create an asset building empowerment program that will help widows and low income women learn new skills and provide startup capital to help them rebuild their lives. Fiona also thinks kids at the Orphanage are not any less than other kids, and should be given a great start in life as everyone else. She believes that the Education-For-All-Agenda should not exclude kids at the Orphanage. And so she hopes to create a system that will provide fully funded secondary school and university scholarship for orphaned kids.
@Theinspirator99 A girl is much more than a 4 letter word. She’s born 2 make a differenc in all ways possible. #InternationalDayOfGirlChild pic.twitter.com/1disI28qK0
— Fiona Rukky (@Rukkyfiona) October 11, 2017
Fiona Imarah believes the world can only be better if more people gets involved in community development. “Don’t just think about the welfare of your family alone”, she says, “Think of the whole country, or at least your community. Yes, social entrepreneurship or rural entrepreneurship is twice as hard as for-profit entrepreneurship, but if you are unsure of what to do, start off with part-time work, small side community projects and a few hours of volunteer work monthly. I volunteer and partner with Hallmarks Initiative, Girls’ Health and Education Foundation and other organisations at every opportunity I get. Take some time off if necessary, to reflect, assess and prioritise. Choose something which attracts you, motivates you and inspires you. Create your own identity around your passion. I am an undergraduate, and a change agent, yet school doesn’t interfere with my passion for the less privileged. Regardless your social status, gender and age, you too can be the development Africa needs.”
Connect with Fiona Imarah Oghenerukevwe on twitter and facebook