WRITTEN BY EJIKE ANYADUBA
For thirty-five odd years that she was in the wild, presumed lost and given up for dead, her family was in shambles.

Nothing suggested she could be alive, much less traceable. The disappearance had taken a heavy toll on the family, leaving it totally desolate. By no stretch of imagination was redemption thought possible. The children had resigned themselves to the “awful will of fate”. But on Thursday, March 8, 2018, Mrs. Rose Anene, 62, emerged among the inmates healed of varied ailments at the Nteje Mental Home, Oyi.
Her long years of mental challenge and split-personality disorder, which saw her journey aimlessly for years until admitted a patient at the Home, established by the Caring Family Enhancement Initiative (CAFÉ), a non-governmental organization of the wife of the state Governor, Chief Mrs. Ebelchukwu Obiano, had been cured.
While reuniting her with the family she left 35 years earlier – when unable to withstand bouts of depression, arising from the mental challenge – Chief Mrs. Obiano expressed happiness at the development and assured that CAFE was committed to restoring the fabric of the family as well as the society.
The case of Mrs. Anene was one of the many which the First Lady, through CAFÉ, had handled since assumption of office. The treatment and reunion was in fact a tiny drop in CAFÉ’s ocean of numerous charitable works. Acts of charity holds special attraction for the First Lady and predates her office.
Those who know her before now insist that what CAFÉ does in the State is an extension of Chief Mrs. Obiano’s life of charity. They were quick to add that working to restore the fabric of families and the society is to Mrs. Obiano a labour of love. That may explain perhaps why in less than two months in office she made a number of visits to Sick Homes and Special Schools, among them Basden School of the Blind at Isulo in Orumba South Local Government Area of the State. In less than two months she had visited enough to prepare her for the responsibilities CAFÉ has borne to date.  
She defied a number of challenges that threatened her course. Not once was it reported that a visit to one of the target audience in the riverine area of the Anambra West was threatened by lack of access road. In a split second, she alighted from her vehicle, flagged down a motorcyclist (Okada) and mounted it. It is reasonable to argue that any person not as passionate would baulk, and possibly discontinue the visit. But the First Lady has greater persuasion.
The beautiful aspect of her work is that it is not perfunctorily done, and as such could not be put at risk easily. Not even the funding of the project, which is sourced outside of the government, could impede the success of it. The level of passion that goes into the work is so infectious that many good spirited individuals support it.
To that extent, she has been muted in conversation as being of the same persuasion as Mother Theresa. Though their works may differ in scope, but they are not altogether incomparable. Like the Missionaries of Charity established by the revered Catholic Nun that provided medication, dressings and food to the Leprosy Outreach in Calcutta, the Caring Family Enhancement Initiative of Chief Mrs. Ebelechukwu Obiano has done no less. The 77- bed facility at the Nteje Mental Home has treated and rehabilitated well over sixty-two inmates from such States like Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Edo, Oyo etcetera within its short time of existence.  
Touching the lives of those on the wrong side of life like waifs, disabled persons, indigent widows and those in need of skill acquisition has set CAFÉ apart as distinct. In skill acquisition alone, over three thousand, two hundred women have been trained on various skills and promptly empowered. Over eleven houses have been built with modern facilities and handed over to that number of indigent widows across the three senatorial areas of the state.
Twelve toilets and boreholes were also built in various markets in the state to ease the difficulty of the call of nature and to promote hygiene. More than that, free cleft lip surgeries for over forty-five children had been undertaken by CAFÉ. Artificial body parts (prosthetics) are made available to paraplegics
 
and others in need of them. The icing on the cake is that beneficiaries of these works of charity have the ears of the First Lady and are invited on occasion to wind down with her. At other times she could visit them to assure them of care and attention.
Admittedly, no time in the history of the state was charity work taken to the level where it is now under the government of Chief Willie Obiano which they fondly call ogugua ndi olusi, secured re-election in the state.

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