Aduragbemi Animasawun Euba, the chief executive officer of signaturesbyadura, Rhazarie Apartments and Teleois Apartments as well as co-founder of Deborah Animasawun Foundation(DAF), is not only into fashion business, she is into entertainment, hospitality, productions and politics. In this interview with YEJIDE GBENGA-OGUNDARE, she speaks on efforts to reach rural children and ensure they get education, funding an NGO and other issues.
What influenced Deborah Animasawun Foundation(DAF)?
The NGO was founded in memory of my late mum who was an educationist, philanthropist and a missionary. She founded a nursery, primary and secondary school with the aim of providing free education for underprivileged kids and kids in the rural areas starting from Badeku and its surrounding villages, because Badeku was her mission base. She was able to fund over 300 kids from nursery to secondary school from personal and family funds while she was alive. As her daughter, I saw the passion for kids and true service to humanity because aside from school, she went ahead to start a charity maternity home and other things out of her love for humanity; not out of greed because she was blessed and very contented. As her daughter, I also saw her struggle in trying to find ways of raising funds to help more children. She made sure my siblings,my dad and I got involved financially every month to keep these kids in school. My mum didn’t know how to raise funds and ask people for financial assistance even with her good, welcoming,charming, brave, giving and honest personality. She made sure I was fully involved and understood her vision of raising sound kids. She believed no child should be deprived of basic amenities and proper nurturing as they are the real future of our country and those that can correct our wrongs. So, in her honour after she passed and also seeing her struggles in achieving what she wanted with education and being fully involved before her passing, I decided to carry on in achieving those goals and even do better by involving more people to walk on this journey with us.
How easy is it to fund an NGO?
Funding an NGO isn’t an easy thing. Sometimes people will take up kids in our school and stop funding them along the line and later relent or become inconsistent. In that type of situation, we’ll have to use personal funds to keep those kids in school. It’s a government-accredited school where we have qualified teachers and other staff that we pay well monthly, running of our school bus to pick children from other villages and also maintaining other facilities in the school, getting educational materials and sometimes, we feed and clothe some of them. All those things don’t come cheap and easy. It’s not an easy journey but we will keep pushing because the future of the kids and pushing them to succeed is our goal and priority.
The school has been in existence for about 19 years while we started the NGO four years ago after the demise of my mum.
We currently have 180 people under our NGO. We also have some in the university. One of them is a blind young man and some other kids living with disabilities.
What are the expectations from government on complementing the NGOs’ effort?
Government should recognise the efforts of nongovernmental organisations, look into their various need and support in whatever way. Trust me, a little support always goes a long way. Each NGO is peculiar, so, their needs can’t be the same
What challenges do you face?
My type of service is what I sometimes refer to rehabilitation and reorientation because we are dealing with children who are wired and restricted to a lifestyle and mindset that is totally different from what we know and see in the city. We deal with children whose parents don’t value education, so we sometimes need to even reorientate the kids. It has to be done with patience and wisdom; sometimes you get almost frustrated for wanting to help. We deal with teenage mothers, teaching them hygiene and how to be put together and so many other habits that I wouldn’t want to mention. Each day comes with it’s challenges but I’m always happy to see positive and very significant changes in the kids under the foundation. They understand better and are willing to be better. Aside from patience and wisdom, it takes someone that understands children psychology to be in my field and achieve these things.
Why are there many helpless children on the street?
Number one factor is bad and failed parenting. Aside from the parents doing their parts, I will also say the government can do something about it by implementing policies that will keep kids out of the street
How do you select beneficiaries for the NGO?
We pick kids whose parents can’t afford to educate them and kids on the street. Some kids even walk into our school and some also come with their parents to make enquiries and register. Then recommendations too. We also organise entry examination and one-on-one interviews in order to help us meet, understand each child and place them where they fit into
Will you say you have attained your vision of reaching the unreached?
No I haven’t. We have pending projects. My vision for children and education is so broad that the thoughts sometimes scares me but I know they will be achieved. I’m a very positive person that carries the spirit of excellence. God who has given the vision and knowledge will definitely complete the rest. And of course I won’t relent.
What are your thoughts on women having streams of income?
If you have the zeal, please go for it. I’m a woman with streams of income myself and I can tell you categorically that I am super proud and happy that I’m on that path. It makes me happy. I’ll tell women that we shouldn’t be held back by limitations, especially in our prime because you will end up wishing you did those things you had the zeal for. Women with multiple streams are never financially stranded. Let’s not put aside diligence and the God factor in all we do because it’s not about multiple streams. Excelling in them is very key and should be the focus. Let’s also note that it’s not all women that can deal with having multiple streams. Diligence In your field will make you stand out, stand before Kings and not ordinary men
Can women be good leaders?
Yes women can be good leaders. I won’t contest for the position of governorship of Oyo state if I don’t believe so. I still aspire for that position one day and as a woman, I will excel In it. My gender carries so much wisdom, strength and resilience that we under-utilise. We also have great women doing very well in leadership positions all over the world.
It is said that some men do not want their wives to have a voice, what can such woman do to avoid suppression without jeopardizing their home?
I will say talk it through with your husband, don’t be stubborn about it, be submissive about it, listen to his fears and talk about balancing everything out.
I don’t believe any good man will want to stop his wife from achieving. Most times we just need to get to the root of the rising issues with love, patience, wisdom, right thinking and prayers.
What is your opinion about women venturing into politics?
My opinion about women in politics is that it’s an encouraging thing. I think women venturing into politics is something that will eventually have positive effects on governance
You contested the last gubernatorial election in Oyo state, what was your experience?
My experience was a good and life changing one. Getting votes in all 33 local government in Oyo state as a first timer isn’t child’s play. Neither is it something that was easy to achieve. I was able to discover and utilise my inner strength and was able to understand people more
Why did you move from your party to the PDP after election?
My reason for going into politics Is what made me join PDP. I joined politics because I wanted to get involved in good governance and not sit back to watch or criticise from a distance when I know my inputs will make great and positive impacts. I didn’t want to go silent or relent because I lost the election. The People’s Democratic Party under the leadership of his Excellency governor Seyi Makinde is thriving, the governor has also promised to do better than his first term and I believe him. So joining the PDP is a step I took in order to play my role more and better on a bigger platform under the leadership of who I believe in his governance and capacity.
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