At the tender age of eight, Daberechi Egbu had already assumed the responsibility of taking care of her younger sibling, Paschal. She hawked pure water, cracked palm kernel, all in a bid to feed and send her brother to school.
This burden of providing for herself and her little brother, as tasking as it that may be, was not the only nightmare young Daberechi and her brother were going through. They lived in a decrepit mud house, which had partly collapsed and contended with the rain and reptiles.
Most nights according to Daberechi, who appeared to be withdrawn, apparently as a result of her experience, they slept without food in their damp mat, while neighbours looked the other way as if they were not aware of them.
She narrated that most nights, she could cry all through, questioning why God allowed them to suffer such fate.
There travail started after they lost their mother in 2007 and their father who was a petty trader shortly afterwards in 2013 in Amaifeke, in Orlu Council Area of Imo State.
At that point, life for them became one long journey of agony, loneliness and frustration. They had no peers to play with, they were avoided like plague, obviously because of the circumstances that surrounded their parents’ death.
Even close relatives could not offer them any form of respite, except for their poor uncle who took them in to live with him, in what later could be best described as running from the frying pan to fire. Their uncle it was gathered started to abuse Daberechi, until she summoned courage and ran away to their hut which had almost been reduced to ruins by the rain.
But they were not deterred, they took every punch life gave to them and nursed the hope for a better tomorrow.
Like the saying that in every cloud, there is a silver lining, the plight of the orphan finally caught the attention of the Imo state governor’s wife, Nneoma Okorocha, after their matter was reported to her by the Transition Committee Chairman of the Council Area, Ijeoma Igboanusi, a lawyer.
And thereafter fate which had shut her bowels of mercy against them for many years, suddenly smiled on them. Not only did they get brand new fully furnished two-bedroom bungalow, but were given enough money that will see them through university education.
The council boss, who narrated her encounter with the orphans, said she was shocked by their tale of anguish and poverty, adding that, “the story is very touching and the fact that they lived in that kind mud house and survived is something to marvel about. After I visited them, I reported their case to Her Excellency who was deeply touched and quickly approved the building of the new home for the children”.
Daberechi who was obviously dumbfounded by their sudden change of status, when asked to make a speech at the event, could only sing songs of praise amid tears, a situation that reduced majority of the audience to tears, especially the women that accompanied the Governor’s wife to the event.
At the highly emotional commissioning and handover ceremony of the new house, Daberechi and Paschal, were shown the kind of love they never knew in their agony filled life. Highly placed individuals hugged them amid suppressed tears. People spoke glowingly about their courage and resilience and even those that despised them came back to make amends.
Wife of the Governor, while handing over the keys of the house to the orphans, assured that her office will continue to see to their welfare and especially their education, assuring that they will never go through such ordeal again.
Mrs. Okorocha, who fought hard to hold back tears, described the case of the children as pathetic, adding that with the new home, the children will no longer suffer the ordeal of sleeping in the old mud house where they were exposed to all forms of danger.
She observed further that the only time the society can be better is when the people learn to care for each other, especially by assisting those who are needy and under privileged.
It will be recalled that the Governor’s wife had built over 172 bungalows for indigent widows and other vulnerable people in the state under her pet project, She Needs A Roof Project (SNARP).
Meanwhile, two other indigent widows, Hope Akali and Katherine Ihenacho, also got new homes, after their case was brought to the Governor’s wife.
At Eziani-Mgbidi, in Oru West Council Area, one of the widows, Hope Akali, was all tears as she narrated her experience while living in an old mud house with her two children, after the death of her husband.
