Posted by From CHIDI NNADI, Enugu on
For most people from Umuchukwu, formerly known as Nkerehi in Orumba South Local Government Area of Anambra State, God may have come down to them in the image of man.
For most people from Umuchukwu, formerly known as Nkerehi in Orumba South Local Government Area of Anambra State, God may have come down to them in the image of man. Before now the community had contended with hardship that starred almost every family in the face. The community had lacked virtually all social amenities. The people could not even boast of a good school.
But one of them, who saw all thee sufferings and fled to the United State of America (USA) soon returned home to wage war against the people's common enemy - poverty.
Today, Dr Godwin Maduka, medical director, Las Vergas Pain Institute, USA, has become a one-man development agent in Umuchukwu. His crusade against poverty, he said was borne out of his experience in growing up in the village where he too experienced severe hardship.
But Maduka's magnanimity is being kicked against by the Nkerehi Town Union (NTU) branch in the USA and the concerned citizens of Nkerehi community, particularly about the change of the name of the community from Nkerechi to Umuchukwu.
Nevertheless, in Umuchukwu, Maduka's philanthropy has brought to many new hope and residents are quite appreciative of his magnanimity, which was why they organized, on his behalf, a thanksgiving to God for His favours on December 28, 2007 to say 'a big thank you" to him for what he had done for them.
Maduka is said to have built more than 50 houses for his kith and kin at home, a secondary school complex, a church and a town hall.
That fateful Sunday, the St Jude's Catholic Church, Umuchukwu, was bursting at seams. The people had trooped out in their large number to thank God for the life of their illustrious son who has become their messiah.
After the church service, Maduka and his entourage proceeded to the school where he was received by the school authorities and the pupils.
The Principal of the Immaculate Conception College, Umuchukwu, Mr Basil Ucheonye in his welcome address read on his behalf by one of the students, Master Valentine Ugo, thanked Maduka for all he had done for the school and the community in general.
'There is nothing we can give to you now that will make you to be more prosperous. Do not look at how little it is, it is the spirit of the giver that matters," the principal said.
He prayed God who had made him what he is to continue making him to prosper.
Maduka in response, urged the students to study hard as education is the key to success.
He promised them that he would deploy the best facilities to the school that would enhance learning like those obtainable in the US, advising the pupils to be prayerful.
'Pray always, study hard and be the best you can," Maduka enjoined the little ones at school.
He later spoke with Daily Sun, revealing what led him into community philanthropy.
Excerpts:
Growing up
I grew up here as a child. I experienced a lot of hardship, but my faith in God and the plight faced by the common man here at home are the factors that are driving me to do some of the things I am doing in my community.
The community projects
Actually, the first project is erecting the church and the town hall. There was a big fuss in this town when the Catholics went and demolished the town hall in order to build their church and the rest of the community was angry. Because of that, they said they were not going to allowed them to build the church until they compensate them for the demolition of the town hall. At that point, I came in and started building the civic centre which I called the town hall and the church at the same time. We completed and commissioned them simultaneous. Those were the first two projects in terms of building.
The secondary school
This actually started in March, the idea came because since the inception of this town we have never had a secondary school. Most of us went to school outside this community. I did my secondary school at Umunze. So, I felt that for what we are doing to be complete after the primary education, there should be secondary education and maybe in future there will be a university, so that everybody around us will have asses to education.
Hardship
Well, it is sometimes good to allow somebody to experience some kind of hardship, but not so much. Some kind of hardship will mould your life as an adult; growing up, we had nothing here, the road was a single lane, it was not even motorable. We had a small church, a thatch house, the primary school was in the church and there were no amenities to talk about. And people were leaving here to go to Enugu , Onitsha , Aba and Lagos . Basically, we are farmers, most of our fathers were native doctors and all types of ailments were treated with herbs and roots and nothing was adequate. These were the motivating factors, we wanted to see how we can change the way we were to what it should be. And having lived in the US for close to 30 years, I know what human beings need in order to live long. Already, infant mortality, premature death and tropical diseases are high here.
Need for other people to help
Well, I am always asking for organizations to come and help us. But I am a man who is driven by what I believe in. I believe in God and believe in His miracles. Everything you see here today, as a Catholic and a Christian, came down from heaven. I think God decided to help us; there is no other individual than God Almighty who has contributed to this. Now, whatever He gives me I bring it out to help my community. And with the help of my younger brother, Barrister Kenneth Maduka, he is actually the one who did all these, I only finance them, but he is the one working day and night with other people around to achieve all these.
Building houses for the poor
Quite a lot, I even saw a man today with one leg amputated, he usually goes to Ekwulobia to ask for money and his house has collapsed. As I was passing by, he said doctor, my house is gone, it is a mud house, it has fallen apart, I wish it could be rebuilt. That was a legitimate request, what are we going to do? Are we only going to come to this one storey building we live in and when the rainy season comes the poor man will be suffering, with the coming of rain until he catches pneumonia? I think he is one of us and he has equal right to existence and I don't think that God made all of us to have the same thing, I have never seen anybody or any group of people that have the same amount of money, the same amount of intelligence. My belief is that if God gives you, He gives you for you to share it, so that everybody will be happy as you are. So, the houses many, somewhere between 20 and 50.
The cost
In terms of cost, it is quite exhausting because I know that whatever I make I take home. As you can see, I am not even concerned about my own home here, my brothers and I, we live here and I need to build my own home, but I think it is more important to let other people have their homes. Now, I don't know exactly the amount we have put in, it is something we have done up to 10 years, and I believe that every year we will do something, so it is not something you put monetary value on.
My dream community
In terms of the quality I want for this town, I want it to be of international standards. I want the same access road, the same access to light, the same to medication, the same to religion. There are two main religions in this country based on God as we know it, Christianity and Islam.
I want to bring this town to a standard where everybody will be happy. This morning, I saw people going to fetch water from the multiple boleholes around the town. Then, we used to fetch water and we used to defecate life worms, I am one of the people who went to the latrine and worms would be excreted. I have also vomited worms in the village because of the poor sanitary condition of our village. You can't be fetching drinking water downstream while people will be defecating upstream. These are really the issues. We will be hearing about Abuja , Lagos and all the cities but when you go to the villages, people are living life not different from that of dogs. Their living conditions are pathetic, and children are catching infections that can be prevented by clean living environment.
My appeal
I don't even know if I can, I am only asking the government to help us. They have constructed new roads and we know we can't keep upgrading them everyday. I hope to see His Excellency (Governor Peter obi) today and I will tell him to come and help to tar our roads. Second, there are many philanthropists around, so you don't need to come from Umuchukwu before you can help us. So, whatever we do here, if you have, you come over and help us because you are not only helping us but also helping humanity. If you do something and somebody is happy for it, you have validated his or her sense of being.
The outcast system in our community
It has been going on since I was born. We grew up asking our fathers why they should call some people outcast. These are people rooted in paganism, we know that but this time around, I told them that you know I am coming back from the US for this occasion, I don't want it to be just a standing ovation, I am not for politics or recognition. Peace of heart is what I want. I also know that there are individuals who cannot marry women they want to marry, they can't drink with you, they feel a sense of ostracism because of paganism.
So, I came back and they told me that everything about paganism will be abolished and I funded it. All shrines were demolished, whatever they did I don't know. But this time around, I told our Rev Father that if I'm coming home please organise a thanksgiving to God, since we have adopted a new name, Umuchukwu. We used to call it Nkerehi. But we are able to come together to transform it to Umuchukwu with the efforts of the Igwe's cabinet together with the majority of people in support of that name and now we are known as God's own town.
So, there is no need for the outcast system again. Gone are the days in Igboland when you say you are abolishing outcast system and people were afraid. We are abolishing it today and it is abolished. And after today, we can mingle freely with our brothers and sisters under the same name, Umuchukwu.