DIRECTOR GENERAL, IN A VISIT TO FMR. GHANA PRESIDENT, JOHN KUFOUR IN ACCRA, GHANA.

Pictures from "Dine for a Cause" hosted by the Rochas Foundation Volunteer corps on Friday 25th May, 2012

 

Media houses in Attendance were: NTA, GALAXY TV, LTV, ITV, Abuja Inquirer newspaper, Nigeria pilot Newspaper, Daily Trust, Bridges Magazine, Cool fm, Kiss fm, Hot fm, Wazobia fm, amongst others and special guests.

To Rochas Foundation with Love from Celia Jarvis

Looking back, it is hard to remember my perceptions of Nigeria before I visited.  Like most people from the West I watched Sky News and probably associated that part of Africa with images of guns and tales of poverty set against a backdrop of corruption.

As a born and bred British citizen, stepping off that plane I was in for a huge shock...the people were friendly, the weather was warm, the food was delicious (I gained 10Ibs in three months) and my work colleagues quickly became like family to me.

Part of my role, while in Nigeria, was to visit the Rochas Foundation Colleges- a group of five schools situated in Ibadan, Kano, Ogboko, Owerri and Jos.  The colleges were founded by the current Governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, at the beginning of the new millennium as a way of giving something back to his community.

Before meeting the pupils of the Rochas Foundation I had been briefed that many of them were orphans who had come from families where food was scarce and as a result the majority schooled during the day and then had to work all night at the local market.

 I was expecting to meet tired, sad children in need of a bit of comfort: once again, what I found was very different.