Over 250 women were trained at a workshop in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, during the Yuletide season. The orgnisers, Siefani Care for Indigents Foundation (SCIF), said the participants were coached for three days on different capabilities as part of the women skills acquisition programme.
Beginning from 16th to 18th of December, the programme took place at the Love Channel Event Centre, Off Ada George and witnessed a huge turnout of participants who expressed satisfaction at the end of the enriching sessions.
Grouped into four classes from day one, the women were made to acquire skills like: bead making, gele bridal, hand-fan, umbrella, wig making, makeup, soap making, ankara bag, shoemaking, sandals, small chops and accessories.
One of the beneficiaries of the training, Isioma Esene, said she made up her mind to attend after receiving a flyer invitation on the street. Speaking about her experience at the end of the workshop, Esene expressed profound gratitude to the initiator for the boundless opportunities the programme availed.
“I want to say a big thank you to the initiator of this programme,” Esene said. “I want you to know that success is not determined by the number of houses or cars that you have but by the number of lives that you are able to impact. Human development is the best and I want to say that this vision is a great one and God will see it to the end in Jesus name. I was at the gele and bead-making class and I have gained so much. From here, I am going to get my tools to make my beads tomorrow. I will be travelling for a wedding and I’ll definitely be tying my gele myself”.
For Patricia, the skills garnered during the workshop are enough incentive for her to excel in life both locally and internationally. The enthusiastic Patricia said, “I was at the soap making and ankara craft session and I have learnt a lot about soap making. I can now use the ankara to design so many things and with this, I know I am going higher even beyond this country”.
Throughout the duration, classes were held simultaneously and conducted with utmost diligence by each facilitator in order to carry everyone along. Going by the awesome feedbacks from the numerous participants and observers alike, testimonies abound of how impactful the event was which goes a long way to accentuating the vision that birthed SCIF in 2016. A Non-Governmental Organization, SCIF aims to empower the girl child, indigent women– with focus on widows and divorcees who are faced with the challenge of surviving in the midst of harsh realities.
It has always been the dream of Marian Sotonye Godfrey, the executive director and founder of Siefani Care for Indigents Foundation, to make positive impact in the lives of women. Watching participants testify of how much they benefited from the workshop reminded her of this vision and how far her NGO has gone in bringing the dream to fruition.
“I am so happy for Siefani Care for Indigents Foundation” said Godfrey while giving the vote of thanks after the three-day practical training came to a glorious end. “I’m thankful to God because it was my dream as a young woman to start up this foundation back in 2016. In my quiet moments and challenges as a woman, I asked myself how I could reach out to other women and young girls to make an impact; how I could send out messages to young women so that they will know that every power is in them…”
Godfrey spoke further about how her life experiences inspired the establishment of SCIF. Since then, she said, “the NGO has embarked upon many transformational programs for women and the girl child”.
In the past, SCIF has worked on numerous projects like—celebrating the World Menstrual Day with the students of Government Girls Secondary School, Rumuokwuta in 2018, sharing thousands of sanitary pads and personal hygiene tips with students; the 2018 Women Outreach in Opobo Town, where valuable items were disbursed to needy widows; annual commemoration of the International Day of the girl child in October, skills acquisition workshops for women, among other collaborative endeavors.
SCIF is also involved in girl right advocacy including tackling issues like: child marriage, education inequality, gender-based violence, self-esteem and other related activisms. Siefani Care for Indigents Foundation is open to partnership with other NGOs who share the same ideologies and is eagerly looking forward to expanding frontiers to other cities across the country and beyond.