Light complexioned and cloudlessly wrapped up in blue royalty, the front cover page of "WOUNDS THAT TIME WON'T HEAL" presents a picture of a beautiful lady whose arms and ankles shrank in DEPRESSION:
HEAD BLOODY BUT UNBOWED .
Going by this picture of Depression at its gloom ,the Front cover of this book leaves us with the impression of the lady whose wounds are psychological and which TIME has refused to heal.
In this intelligible and intelligent account rendered in the 90-page literature however, I perceive that the evil of procrastination ,is the thief which has been robbing the society of decisive action on how to stamp out the evils of abuses that have been befuddling the African Child .
But with the way the author of this book has intelligently weaved through her account however, her strong clarion call for action gives one the hope that the involvement of an AFFIRMATIVE ACTION for effective participation of women in decision making , would assist in ensuring that the ongoing sensitisation would yield fruit afterall. .
It is therefore good news that WOUNDS THAT TIME WON'T HEAL authored by Feranmi Babatunde has been adopted for use in all secondary schools( junior and senior classes ) in Osun State, having recently received the stamp of approval by the State Ministry of Education.
In recognition of her consistent contributions to the upliftment of the welfare of the girl child, the book, launched on the 2023 International day of the Child was faithfully dedicated to honour Her Excellency, Soludero , Titilola Adeleke; The wife of the Governor of Osun State , Senator Ademola Jackson Adeleke .
This is indeed a great challenge before Her Excellency whom the author ,herself, ( in her opening remarks) described as an Icon of hope .
It is also not by mere coincidence that iron sharpens iron and that Imole foundation, owned by the author , has thought it fit to honour a gubernatorial Adeleke dynasty which has become Imole of Osun state . Honour begets Honour ; Light should equally beget Light for the African child, and this hopefully should manifest in the plan and policy of the office of Her Excellency in carrying the product of this ngo( the book ) to enviable heights .
It is said that the Destiny of a people would be determined by their response ( not reaction ) to the challenges facing them . It is really unfortunate that Osun state appears to be the only state in Nigeria where there is no single woman in the legislature .
How does the hallowed chamber ,in this regard, ensure adequate voice for the girl child ?
Thank God however that this book could be one of the road maps with which Her Excellency( herself an Icon in championing the cause of women) could choose as a vessel of raising the heads of the girl child and in giving education to their parents on how to prevent their girl child from becoming victims.
Amid good signals also coming from the National Assembly which is making it mandatory for schools to include lessons on how to prevent gender-based violence in their curriculum, it would be adding value to this policy if the office of Her Excellency ensures that this book ( which readily fits in ) is given wide circulation in secondary schools.
The only way to doing this is for her office to bulk purchase copies of the book for free distribution in all schools.
There is no doubt that the words : WOUNDS AND HEAL are not words that appeal only to the physical but more to the psychological and the Spiritual. In the holistic healing of the wounds , there is no way religious institutions could be left out of the scheme . The Imole foundation must therefore ensure that it makes up the leeway by ensuring that its book circulates wide in our religious circles .
There is no doubt that this is a critique which should be driven on the fulcrum of objectivity. However, as much as newspapering thrives on facts which are adjudged to be sacred ( even as comments are free ) the soul of any newspaper document worth its salt is its editorials . Just as an editor without an opinion would go nowhere, a critique without its own constructive voice would be pointless. It should be noted here that the International Day
of African Child, being the date chosen for the public presentation of the book, is built on the education consciousness of the African child who were painfully mauled down ( in hundreds ) for asking for their rights to be well-educated. It behoves on government and all of us to support the dreams and vision of this foundation which are being formidably prosecuted in its sensitisation drives through the nooks and crannies of the state .
There is no doubt that the administration of Governor Nurrudeen Ademola Jackson Adeleke is stepping up to higher level its policy on zero tolerance against child abuse in Osun state, it is noteworthy that the African child in Soweto ( in 1976 ) dared bullets fired at them by their assailants in their hunger for true development . They chose the path of true development in their demands to be educated in their mother tongue, even in the African language. We can therefore borrow a leaf from here by ensuring that this book , having been recommended for use in our secondary schools, is given financial muscle , by philanthropists and governments for wider circulation while equipping the foundation with necessary wherewithal to translate the book into the Yoruba language so that parents can be educated on the standards to preventing our wards from falling prey to the whims of criminals masquerading as relatives and child caregivers.
-OLALERE FAGBOLA.
No comments:
Post a Comment