Abandoned babies drive FGC alumni to tears

Old students of Federal Government College, Idoani, Ondo visited an Abuja orphanage and were so overwhelmed by the sight of abandoned babies that they burst into tears.

The old students confronted some 21 motherless babies at the Mother Theresa Orphanage in Gwarimpa district of Abuja, some as young as two weeks old.

The visit was a humanitarian tour planned to round off the yearly meeting of 400 old students of FGC, Idoani, who graduated in 1990.

They came with donations in toiletries, beverages and food items, estimated at hundreds of thousands of naira, and took minutes to visit babies sleeping in cots inside the orphanage.

Bode Ajayi, from Akure, was overtaken by emotion he left the infants’ nursery in tears.

“Some of believe God us who should have the heart help us set up something like this,” he said.

“I think I should be able to do this. The government should try and see what they can do to help the situation. The economy is so bad. I believe that’s one of the reason people are dumping babies.”

Moving from one sleeping baby to another feeding on milk, a female alumnus had to flee from the room to avoid breaking down in tears when a toddler reached out to be held.

“We weren’t expecting anything short of what we saw,” said Nwachuwku Godwin, president of the FGC Class of 1990.

“We know what orphanage is all about. Basically most of us have passed through life and we know these children need help,” said Godwin.

Explaining their class’s visit, he said, “For us, it is giving back to society, not depending on government, because Nigerians are really suffering right now. The level of poverty is just too much and we know these less-privileged children need help.”