What would make a 22-year-old widow, Grace Udeme Essenowo of Ikot Abia, Okon Eket, Eket Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State to resort to feeding her four children with chicken and fish feeds?
That is the question that Akwa Ibom First Lady, Patience Umo Eno through her project, Golden Initiative For All (GIFA), is trying to unravel.
In fact, many believe it is quite unusual for Grace to have contemplated using chicken feed as food though the economic hardship is hitting hard.
This unwholesome incident was blown off the lid by QueenPraise John Uzoma popularly known as Nridioma on her instagram handle a fortnight ago and it has continued to attract attention and generate debate in many quarters by people including mental health advocates.
Grace works on the farm run by John Uzoma, a popular clergy of the Anglican communion from where QueenPraise was able to notice how the 22-year-old widow was feeding her children in the unusual manner.
It is not known how long she had been indulging in this act, which has attracted public sympathy from numerous members of the society including the First Lady who has initiated moves for her rehabilitation after the initial donation of N500,000.
Now, the women’s mental health is set for evaluation.
Was it hunger, is she suffering from depression, what is her mental health status?
These questions will be answered and evaluated after Patience Eno, having been confronted with these nagging issues and being touched personally is not taking the matter lying low.
Uduak Utip Ekong, Chief Press Secretary to Patience Eno, made this known during her interaction with journalists in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, adding that the woman who dropped out of secondary school, also lost her husband who left her with four children.
“Meeting her we got to know she was pregnant at the age of 16 and dropped out of Senior Secondary one. She speaks impeccable English and comes across as an intelligent person.
“So, we are not just giving money and going away. We are going to provide a lot of support. The next thing before empowering her will be mental evaluation.
“What caught the Governor’s wife attention, first, was what would propel any human being to consider feeding her children chicken feeds?
“After the mental evaluation, if Grace is okay, next is to go for skills acquisition and then set her up in her skill and an alternative business.
“The mentorship also includes tutoring her on how to manage her finances and income she will be generating, so she doesn’t waste her capital and she can sustain her life. There are plans to take her back to school and for her children’s school too.”
Grace has been provided with furnished accommodation with kitchen utensils, food for three months, adding that plans are underway to train her on skills and business management as well as enroll her back to school to complete her secondary education.
She disclosed that Grace’s monthly salary has been increased from N15,000 to N35,000 explaining that her employer will still be paying her the agreed amount of N15,000 while N20,000 will be added to her monthly salary to make it N35,000 from the monies realised in her name.
Grace, though a mother of four, is still a child and should be guided on how to manage her finances to forestall falling prey to some boys with ill motives, it was gathered
“So, like parents do, she got pregnant and they sent her out of the house. So, she moved in with the guy who impregnated her. Unfortunately, the man was caught for theft of sweet potato.
“He got beaten and left to bleed to death. When he wasn’t dead, no-good thing happened, things though got worst after his death. Grace with four children, including a four-year-old, three-year-old, two and the last that is one year old.
“A sister to the late father of her children had taken the three-year-old, leaving her to fend for the other three.
“From her initial N500,000 intervention release, she got others to reach out to say they want to support her to take care of Grace. The First Lady directed all the traffic to the lady who took Grace’s story to instagram. Her details were shared for all who needed to send in something.
“From her tribe of over 300,000 followers, she raised almost N2,000,000. Normally she runs little humanitarian campaigns where people contribute bit by bit for medicals, school fees and sundry goodwill to help the needy.
“But she said this was the first she has raised this much. Within days away from what Her Excellency plan for Grace, she had raised more than N1.4m.”
Ekong explained that, “The plan for Grace is, she didn’t have where to stay. That has been secured. A room apartment has been paid for, furnished and she has moved in with her children last week as we speak. A phone has also been gotten for her.
“She’s been given three months’ supply of food. She didn’t have anything. She got bed, cooking utensils, a dining set up for her children to enjoy their meals. The room apartment is big.
“We are mindful that this is a girl that is still a child, doesn’t have a bank account, no phone. You don’t raise money and give to her bulk. She is already vulnerable. So, anything you give her that could make her live flamboyantly, she is going to fall prey. People will come under guise of love and deceive her.
“We are working on having her trained on managing income she will be making, because we are going to give her a skill. We notice her children’s hair; she was the one that made it.
“We noticed she learnt how to use attachment on her own. So, we will give her formal training along that skill and be set up a place she will sit to make hair and then an alternative trade on foodstuff or provisions.
“After the mental evaluation if Grace is okay, next is to go for skills acquisition and then set her up in her skill and an alternative business.”
Indeed, though the times are hard and tough, understanding why she turned to fish and chicken feeds as a source of meal for her family will show the extent humans can go to survive economic hardship.
