Ofunneka Molokwu
After a controversial outing in Big Brother Africa 2, BBA2, where she emerged first runner up, Ofunneka Molokwu has put aside the scandals that almost smeared a good representation of Nigeria’s image and is dedicating her life in service to humanity. Today, she is keeping busy with two major projects in service to mankind and she says that is what makes her tick.
In this interview, Ofunneka speaks about life after BBA2 and her pet projects.
How has life been since BBA2?
I have been keeping busy serving people. I have two major projects which involve books . I have been setting up libraries for students and mentoring clubs in public schools and I have been involved in treating infertility by assisting couples who cannot afford InVitro Fertilisation . I am helping them with fertility treatment.
What is the other project?
Ofunneka Youth Empowerment Trust Fund , which I founded, is a membership- based , not-for-profit, non-governmental and non-sectarian organization, established in December 2007 with the purpose of empowering youths to become contributing members of our society, through educational schemes, talent enhancement programs, and volunteer opportunities which we believe will help build self esteem and confidence.
We have corporate organisations and non-governmental organisations as sponsors. There are also individuals like Mrs. Ifeoma Idigbe, Mrs. Oluchi Orlandi (nee Onweagba) the first winner of the M-Net Face of Africa, and an endless list of individuals supporting us.
We are committed to empowering the Nigerian youths for positive change within and outside their immediate environment.
We are helping to combat socio economic disparity and empower less privileged youths, allowing them to realize their full potentials, within the year 2015.
We believe that positive youth development orientation involves shifting attention away from problems, and moving towards increasing young people’s exposure to the positive and constructive activities that nurture healthy, responsible, and compassionate young people. We also believe that positive youth development has a dual focus.
First, it is about providing opportunities and positive relationships that help youth gain skills and competencies they need to be successful. Second, it prevents involvement in negative self destructive behaviour, thereby enhancing their ability to deal with life challenges.
So, how do you help couples conceive ?
I have a Fertility Treatment Support Foundation (F.T.S.F), formerly known as Expanding Access to Fertility Treatment which I established in July 19th 2008, as a result of the prevalence of infertility in our society. We provide free fertility treatment to couples who have fertility challenges.
We work hand-in-hand with a fertilty clinic which provides the service to couples registered with us who cannot afford the treatment
We provide a support system or platform for those couples who are fertility challenged to interact and share their problems and we provide counseling for couples who are fertility challenged
How did you conceive the idea ?
I developed the fertility enhancement idea while I still worked at a Fertility Centre, as a permanent staff, but due to regulatory bodies, the clinic couldn’t take it up itself as it is against medical ethics.
So after my participation in BBA2 (Big Brother Africa in 2007), when I unavoidably had to work as a consultant, rather than a permanent stafff, I decided to take up the foundation as the co-ordinator, with the clinic being magnanimous enough to offer free IVF treatment to two couples every quarter, as well as offering free screening to 10 couples, to assess the cause of infertility.
What results have you achieved so far ?
So far, we have set up one library solely on our own and another with support from our sponsors at Surulere Girls (Junior and Senior) Secondary School, Moshalashi. We also helped set up another one at Comprehensive (Junior and Senior) High School, Ketu , a contract which was awarded to us by a big IT firm to supply books and we are presently working on another, in a Girls Correctional Centre, Idi-Araba, on the invitation of an NGO currently working with the girls in the centre to improve on their lives through skills acquisition and education in order to re-integrate them into society.
The fertility service kicked off on July 19th 2008, at Planet One, in partnership with Nordica Fertility Centre , Silverbird Group, NTA, MTech, Planet One, FKG2 and Vanguard. We gave 10 couples free fertility assessment which is valued at N750, 000 (Seven hundred and fifty thousand Naira only) and two lucky couples free IVF treatment which is valued at N1, 600,000(One million and six hundred thousand Naira .
These couples have undergone treatment and their progress have been monitored and documented.
How has your background contributed to what you are doing?
I grew up in a middle class home and was privileged enough to enjoy the necessary things which make life comfortable, but these are luxuries to some people. The desire to help was inherent.
I also have a strong Catholic background and see myself as a spiritual being, always seeking for higher levels of interaction with God but that isn’t to say that I am a saint, cause I have my own short comings, as is the norm in all human beings, but I am striving for sainthood and eternal life with my maker, which really is the reason for our existence. A way of attaining this is by giving when God has blessed you with the ability and sufficient resources .
With my parents training and constant support, I matured into a confident, hardworking, self-motivated young woman, whose dream and passion is to put a “smile” on the faces of those who most need it, even if it requires me putting myself out.
Was it what you studied in school?
I studied Pure Chemistry in the University of Ibadan, but I guess my passion for social entrepreneurship, fazed out my initial “calling” as a Chemist/ Scientist.
What joy do you derive from doing that?
Well I am a young person, so I’m inevitably helping myself, by helping these young one…laughs. Actually, having interacted with young people, both during my service year and now on a more regular basis, I realized that majority of them have lost focus, such that they don’t seem to have any positive goals which they hope to attain in life and are seriously lacking in self-esteem and confidence, especially the female gender (whom I tend to defer to, for obvious reasons). I just felt that I needed to stand up and be a change agent.
Many of these young people need to be mentored and guided, because most of their parents don’t really have time to do so while working or trying to earn a leaving.
So after Big Brother, Multichoice Nigeria, bought into my vision and decided to open a trust fund account to enable my dream become a reality. So I guess my ideas, backed up with the needed resources, both financial and otherwise, made Ofunneka Youth Empowerment Trust Fund ( possible.
Having worked in a fertility clinic, I got first-hand experience of how the challenges of fertility can affect a couple and with research showing that one out of every four couples is fertility-challenged, there is appreciable demand of Assisted Reproductive Treatment (ART) solutions.
So, to keep the dream of fertility-challenged couples alive, the Foundation was born.
I do derive a lot of satisfaction, when I see the young ones in these schools smiling just because you pay attention to them, let alone providing them with books they can use to improve themselves, books they would ordinarily not be able to afford. It’s a feeling of satisfaction and fulfillment I probably won’t be able to get from acquiring all the money in the world.
Being able to assist couples in achieving conception, by paying as much as N800,000 to N1 million, an amount over half the population of married couples who are fertility challenged can barely afford, and furthermore, the joy on the faces of couples when a pregnancy test is positive is enough gratification.
These are the rewards that keep my team and I going.
There must be frustrating moments?
As with everything in life, we have faced and are still facing challenges, especially being a social entrepreneur, where the aim isn’t necessarily to make money, but rather to make positive changes / contributions in whatever sector you have chosen to concentrate on.
One of the hitches would therefore have to be combining these two projects, since they focus on two different areas. Although it is tough to sell these two different concepts, I am passionate about both, and people always see that when I speak with them and whichever Foundation they buy into, they will support.
So it really isn’t so difficult although very consuming, in terms of time and finances.
Besides, it is not easy seeking like-minded people to work with, putting together time lines and sticking to them, attending meetings, then having to seek sponsors for donations (in cash and kind donation) since they are both not-for profit. It can be really tedious, but as I mentioned earlier, I am quite passionate about both causes and that keeps me going, more often than not.
How do people react to these projects?
We have gotten a lot of support, with our main focus being setting up libraries and reading clubs in public secondary schools. As part of our fund raising activities, we host book parties in partnership (under the name POEM- Partnership of Engaged Minds) with an NGO, a networking outfit targeted at women. We were also supported by individuals like Fela Durotoye.
The first book party was held on the 28th of February 2010, with the sole aim of getting people to donate books, but we also had a book reading, interacting/ networking, within a relaxed setting. We had speakers and guests, with the following in attendance, Fela Durotoye, Ms. Barbara Lawrence (a renowed speaker on personal accountability), Mrs. Ifeoma Idigbe, Mrs. Margaret Osibogun – Principal, Surulere Girls Secondary School (Junior),
A total of almost 70 people attended and this we believe was a success owing to the short notice and limited publicity due to funding restrictions. From this event, we got almost 1,000 books donated, from within and outside Nigeria (Ghana and U.K- supporters who couldn’t attend, while we are still expecting 6,000 books from New York , although lack of funds for shipment and clearing is a major challenge. We intend to hold this event quarterly.
The response is however still lower than anticipated, but we believe that with time and positive results, it should increase, because some people still don’t see fertility challenges as an issue which also needs massive support, since Nigeria is so populated. But with the population, there are still couples who are challenged and are desperate to have children of their own, but cannot afford to.
Source:http://vanguardngr.com/entertainment
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