Wife of the Governor of Anambra State and founder of the charity organization, Caring Family Enhancement Initiative, CAFE, Dr. Ebelechukwu Obiano has appealed for an end to stigmatization against those who have defeated mental health challenges.
Dr. Obiano disclosed this during the formal discharge of twelve persons who have regain their mental health at the Anambra State Centre for the Mentally Challenged, Nteje, Oyi Local Government Area.
Correspondent Daniel Ezeigwe reports that the Anambra State Centre for the Mentally Challenged, Nteje is a social work arm under the Anambra State Ministry of Social Welfare, Children and Women Affairs, but enjoys major support and partnership with CAFE.
Since it’s formal establishment in January, 2015, the centre has rehabilitated a total of one hundred and forty-two persons, with an eighty percent population representation of non-Anambra indigenes.
The rehabilitated persons were also given household materials, food stuffs, cash and equipment to start off any of the vocations they had learned while at the centre.
The twelve persons, four women and eight men, all from States outside Anambra, had been wandering on popular streets around and were brought to the centre by raid team from the Anambra State Ministry of Social Welfare, Children and Women Affairs, where their full rehabilitation procedures began.
Speaking at the event, the Governor’s wife said it was imperative that everyone protects those who have made full recovery from mental health setbacks and give them a helping hand to fully reintegrate into the society, stressing that it was only through successful reintegration that they can succeed and become important for societal development.
She also noted that the stigma against those who have successfully come out of such challenges could permanently detach them from normal life, noting that survivors of mental health challenges are still normal humans beings.
On the activities of her NGO, CAFE, Dr. Obiano said it has become an indispensable part of her life to touch people’s lives, irrespective of where she is, stressing that she would continue to run her programmes in the same way that she always has, even after the end of her husband’s administration in March next year.
On his part, the Executive Secretary of Anambra Health Insurance Agency, Dr. Simeon Onyemaechi, said the Governor’s wife has reminded people of the importance attached to the message of mental health, stating that the current society is in dire need of a lot of advocates, like Mrs. Obiano, whose commitment to charity he said come naturally.
For the Managing Director of Awka Capital Development Authority, ACTDA, Venerable Amaechi Okwuosa, what the Governor’s wife’s humanitarian services reflect biblical precepts in the book of Psalms which states that “blessed is he that considers the poor, the Lord shall deliver him in times of trouble”.
The rehabilitated persons are from Osun, Kwara, Enugu, Rivers, Imo and Ebonyi States.
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