Purity, purpose and productivity, (3Ps) were what he had the vision for. He is doing this by finding time to position young people to discover their purpose early, living a pure life and at the same time becoming productive in life. In this interview with Omolara Akintoye, the Director, Breach Repairers Foundation, Nduka Chuks Kingsley, explains how his childhood prepared for the charity work he is doing currently, among others
TELL us how the vision of Breach Repairing started
Everything was dated back to 1990 when I was undergoing my youth service in Ago Iwoye, Ogun State. Also that same 1990, so many young people failed WAEC, especially science subjects. So, I decided as a young corps member serving in an organisation,to go to communities to run free lessons for students in secondary schools. Before you knew what was happening, virtually every young person in the town found their way to the place, and then it became a major problem because the Methodist Church space where I was using to run the lessons became too small. These students began to confide in me, in fact it will shock you to discover that way back then in 1990s, young girls were already committing abortion at an alarming rate and through crude means for that matter; taking lime, local gin and all dangerous substances to commit abortion, we had lots of cult students who were coming for the tutorials.
I had to limit the number of those coming for the lesson, and in the process we began to define purpose. I realised that I couldn’t stay in the location I was sent, I was in various communities. I also decided to raise corps members like me who could teach for free in order to accommodate more students who were in dire need of help to change the culture of learning in that environment. I was able to raise a lot of corps volunteers whom I took through leadership training programmes. While teaching them lessons, they equally inculcated the moral values into them. That was how the vision came into being.
After my service year, I came back to Lagos, and I began to organise youth programmes to talk about purity, purpose and productivity (3Ps). For me, I believe that when a young person is able to get his/her purpose defined, naturally they are envisioned. The programme has been on since 1990until 2009 when it was registered, and has been impacting the lives of young people positively.We are not limiting it to Lagos alone, we are now in Osun, Oyo, Lagos states, some parts of South-South and South-East. We’ve tried to reach out to students and their teachers in the process.
Tell us some of the success stories
Looking back now and talking about the success stories,I will say I’m fulfilled.I remember the instance of a young lady and her husband whom I met at a function andwas shouting “From minimum to maximum’, Orimolusi College Ijebu Igbo”. That was when I remembered the message I preached to them way back in 1990, she was a student then; that for me was a positive impact. She was not even ashamed to tell her husband some of what they were doing then in Girls’ College. She was happy to tell her husband that my coming to their school then was like a turning point for her and they were so happy.
I’ve also met a female rapist before. She was introduced at age six by a female tutor that was like a foster parent; her parents were busy. Then she introduced her into kissing and all sorts of things, she also made her to believe that men are evil. Abuse continued till age 11 when the teacher got married. That was where the problem began; she hadmade her to believe that men are evil and she still got married. At that point, there was a dysfunction; to her, men had taken her lover from her hence men must pay for it. From that age 11, she began to rape young boys. It went on until she was 25 years when she attended one of our programmes and her life was transformed. For me, it was a great victory to get such a deviant to turn around, but it was a difficult one because apart from the spiritual implications, I had to equally watch for my safety.
Would you say that you are doing this as a result of your childhood experience?
I didn’t have it easy growing up. Of course I had parents, who had values and defined values, but with time, work took my father away and my mum too was busy, so I was left with a disciplined paternal grandmother who believed that you can’t grow up without giving to God. Incidentally, she was a high priest of 40 deities.
You mean 40 deities?
Yes, we had shrines all over the place in my village that we worshipped when I was small. But she would tell you that God must be given His own portion first, so we were sent to offer free service in church and communities because it’s your own duty. God has made you alive today and the only way to pay back is to be useful in His house and the environment, afterwards, you give to Caesar his own. My grandmother worshipped both ways and I also worshipped both ways. I was both a shrine boy and also an altar boy in the church, and then I was taught that you have to be obedient to parents, so I couldn’t refuse her. That was the conflict I grew up with until God found me and I gave my life to Christ.
Was there any reprisal from the deities?
Of course, and God delivered me. But you see, God prepared me because the town where I did my youth service was a town filled with deities. By virtue of what I was doing then: transforming the lives of young people, altars were raised against me, people tried different things against me, but God triumphed. So, for me, God is the ultimate.
Role of parents in bridging the gap
Truly speaking, parents must find time for their children, if we don’t, no matter what we preach, there will be problem. So, for me, societies must rise up to rescue families, entities, organisations like churches, mosques, schools. That is my challenge to this country because so much has gone wrong and we need to realign.