‘Women should spend more time decorating their brains than their bodies’

Betty Iganya Abah is the founder and executive director of CEEHOPE, a child’s rights, welfare and development NGO and also a journalist. She was born and bred in Otukpo, Benue State but spent much of her adult life in Lagos, finding a livelihood, purpose

My educational background I have a first degree and a Master’s degree in Literature in English from the University of Calabar and the University of Lagos respectively. I have had several trainings on human rights-related and public health issues over the years. My career background As a journalist I practiced with a number of publications in Nigeria and the USA for half a decade, majorly Newswatch Magazine, TELL Magazine and the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colorado, USA (as a media fellowship reporter). I have five publications including two collections of poems (Sounds of Broken Chains, Go Tell Our King) and a biography (Mother of Multitudes). I also worked for another half a decade with the Environmental Rights Action (ERA), Nigeria’s frontline environmental justice campaign organization. Much of the time at ERA, I led the women’s programme desks which saw me working with women in polluted and impoverished Niger Delta communities hosting crude oil pipelines. I also worked at a point on same campaign at the sub-regional level in a number of African countries. My inspiration CEE-HOPE was born out of the need to address issues concerning children in slums and impoverished communities, children who are victims of conflict, and who are at the very fringes of hopelessness. And not just talking about their issues but also engaging them, and exploring areas where they could be developed educationally and talent-wise so that they can turn out as assets and not liabilities to the society. Our girl empowerment programme (Girls-Go-forGreatness, aka ‘Triple G’) is tailored towards rehabilitating teenage mothers and other at-risk girls via a variety of program including scholarships, leadership and skills training. We currently work in five states (Lagos, Ogun, Benue, Plateau and Bayelsa) and our work is with all children with no regards to religion or tribe. For as long as I can remember, I have always worked with children, actually with other children (laughter). I started mobilizing other children in our neighborhood for a children’s Bible club back in Otukpo, and then I was made president of our Sunday School Children’s Club in our Methodist Church ( Jericho Road section) and then I formed a girl’s mentoring and prayer club at age 17 or thereabout at Wesley High School, also in Otukpo. My father has been a major inspiration in my life. As a young man, he trained as a community health personnel even with very little education and was instrumental in a way to curbing small pox epidemics in my hometown of Orokam. What growing up was like I grew up in a polygamous home, a home I would describe as ‘bursting at the rims with children’. My father married five wives and sired more than 30 of us. So, typically, you sleep with and wake up to a sea of humanity (laughter). I became used to communal living quite early. We would have our food, especially rice, served in big trays and then gather around it and feast on it. It was survival of the fittest! It was basically fun. Challenges faced in life Oh, like every other human being, I have had my own share of challenges, but then, I always choose not to dwell on them but to look for a way out or at worst, look for opportunities out of the challenges, make lemonades out of bitter lemons. My life’s lessons To continue doing good and not expecting the praise of men.That mindset keeps me going, especially because we are in a world where our most altruistic gestures could be grossly misconstrued. My aspirations growing up First, I wanted to be a nun, then a doctor but when at age 10 in primary school, I started writing, I just wanted to be a writer. Nothing else. I am glad I stuck by that dream against all odds. Fond childhood memories I miss Of course spending time with my maternal grandmother in my village. It was pure bliss! We would eat mangoes until our TO CONTINUE DOING GOOD AND NOT EXPECTING THE PRAISE OF MEN.THAT MINDSET KEEPS ME GOING, ESPECIALLY BECAUSE WE ARE IN A WORLD WHERE OUR MOST ALTRUISTIC GESTURES COULD BE GROSSLY MISCONSTRUED