In its quiet corner in Effurun, Delta State, the Margaret Evieramen Foundation has been working silently to bring succour to the less privileged, especially orphans.
Stephanie Patrick Zeze runs the foundation from her base in the UK but despite the distance and tough economic situation of the country, she is not deterred.
“Rather than curse the darkness, light a candle,” that’s her driving force.
In this interview, she gives an insight into the motivation, scope and plans of the foundation.
How did you find yourself with a foundation?
I am a carer in the UK at the moment. I am also studying to become a mental health nurse. My mother founded the Margaret Evieramen Foundation. She is a safety officer with one of the IOCs. She founded it in 2020 in Benin City, which is her hometown, but it was moved to its present location in Ugboroke, Effurun, in Delta State.
Back then, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we gave the little assistance that we could in our community in Warri. At that time, the foundation had not been registered. It took us about six months to get registered. We gave the support that we could to the needy, unofficially, though, because we were yet to be registered. But once we got the foundation registered, we chose our areas of focus.
What are those areas of focus, and why?
We are into charity work in general. As students are about to go on their long-term holiday, we are preparing things for them to go back to school. We are giving out things like water bottles, school bags and books to children to enable them to resume. We are giving it out to children that we know that their families will not be able to assist them, especially for school. As time goes on, we’ll help see them through school by giving them scholarships until Primary 6, depending on how the organisation is going.
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We also go to orphanages. We have videos and pictures of orphanage homes we visited in Edo State. This orphanage is managed by reverend sisters that work at the University of Benin. Things are really difficult for them. So we try our possible best to give out things that we can for the children. They have children who are disabled and vulnerable. We have tried to reach out to one or two persons by going deeper.
What inspired you to start this charity organisation?
As I said earlier, it’s owned by my mum. I helped her bring it into the limelight. What inspired both of us to start this charity organisation is the fact that this is what we have been doing even before I got married. My mum and I have always visited orphanages in Warri. My mum doesn’t like seeing people in need, especially when she knows that she can help. She has always been this person who is always there for people. She is a former safety officer at Shell Petroleum, although, a contract staff. In their company, they called her Mama Africa because she was always there for everyone. Most times, during their contributions, when people had problems, she’d assist them with her money. She was always there for everyone. That was one of the inspirations we got. We decided to go further by making it an organisation.
How has your organisation impacted the community it serves?
In Benin, the place we started and launched the organisation, we have always been going there. We work continuously to assist the orphanage I told you about. We have been supporting the reverend sister. We work in collaboration with an organisation called Passionate Partners.
The orphanage is trying to get a bigger place that is spacious enough. We are supporting them in that quest with the little we can provide. In the meantime, we have been visiting them to give provisions such as food and clothes to the children. We also provide money for those who are going to school. We try to see how we can help out with their schooling; that’s what we have been doing for some time now.
For some of them who couldn’t go to school, we tried to register them. For those who need new school uniforms, we also make sure they have new uniforms. We are planning to visit them again by next month, and we are trying to put things together so that we can go there.
While we also visit other places, our focus is on this orphanage because things are difficult for them, especially since they have some vulnerable ones and they don’t have enough sponsorship.
Why the focus on this orphanage?
Because they have vulnerable, disabled kids. As I said, we go to other places, but we try to visit the orphanage as much as possible because, for now, we believe that their condition is more critical. They need a lot of attention, and we want them to know that they are loved and that they are not alone.
You mentioned that the Foundation works in partnership with other organisations…
Yes, the Margaret Evieramen Foundation has been collaborating with Compassionate Partners only, for now. We are trying to take it one step at a time. As time goes on, we know we will collaborate with others because we need to have a community breakout. A lot of people are going through a lot due to the harsh economy of the country at the moment.
The big picture for us is to be able to go further, just like the Red Cross, which is spread everywhere. We want to see how we can also contribute our part to any other organisation around the world. As the saying goes, charity begins at home. We will begin in Edo State because that is where my mum is from, although she lives in Warri. The address is in Warri, but we are trying to get an office in Benin too. As time goes on, we will see how we can expand, and as we grow, we will get others involved.
What are some of the biggest challenges your organisation faces?
One of the biggest challenges the organisation has faced is the dearth of volunteers. The volunteers do it out of their own will. They just want to help serve the people, and we don’t pay them. We provide them with transportation from their various locations. Most times, what we do takes the whole day. Some people complain that they volunteer the whole day without you giving them something.
Financial support is another issue we face, especially now that Nigeria is getting tougher. At the moment, we are funding it from our own pockets. But I believe as time goes on, as people see the things we do, they will willingly donate to the cause.
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People do donate items, such as food and clothes, but as for the monetary aspect, we are funding it from our pockets.
There are still kind-hearted people in the world who would part with their money for humanitarian causes, but transparency and accountability are the reasons for their hesitation when it comes to donating to charity organisations.
Have you tried to address these?
As for transparency and accountability, the Margaret Evieramen Foundation is an open book. Everything we do, we show our donors. This is not the time to hide something. We try to show what we are doing so that everybody can see it.
The organisation already has an account, we let them know how much we got and what it was used for. We show them photos and upload them on our Facebook and Instagram pages. We also show them our receipts.
We do not compromise transparency: whatever we are doing and whatever people are donating, we put it there so that everyone can see.
What are the future plans?
In our future plans, we want to expand our scope to include empowerment
For those who are unemployed and want to learn how to work, or those that want to trade, especially, widows. Instead of staying at home and doing nothing, we want to see how we can support them to become self-sufficient.
For example, if five or six people say they want to go into fashion designing, we can say from the Margaret Evieramen Foundation Foundation, we are sponsoring these six people for fashion designing. We will have them taken in by good fashion homes that we know can train them well and bring out the best in them. After they have started their business in fashion designing, they can train others.
How can people get involved with and support your organisation?
As I said earlier, the organisation has a page on Facebook. Our account details are displayed. Whatever assistance is given will also be put out there for others to see, whatever amount is given out, the receipts and the balance are available for people to check. Everything will be out there for everyone to see. Sometimes, we don’t need to post certain information on social media. However, if a person wants to support us, we get their WhatsApp number, and we let the person know the scope of what we have been doing.
Drawing from your experience running this Foundation, tell us what does it feel like to run a charity organisation?
Founding or running a charity organisation is a good thing. It is a noble cause. However, not just anybody can start a charity organisation. It is like a calling. It takes a heart of empathy and the love of humanity. Remember, it is non-profit; there is no money to gain from it. Rather, you would be thinking of what you want to give to society to make it a better place.
For anyone who wants to go through the process of running a charity organisation, it means you want to help put smiles on people’s faces and to let them know that ‘we are together.’
You give, not because you don’t have things to do with your money or your time; you do it because it’s just your kind of person. You are someone who has love and compassion. Most times, it’s not about the fact that you have too much money; it’s just that you understand that you are in a better situation than the next person.