Every child has a right to a life free of exploitation, violence, neglect, and poverty. Every child has a right to education, a balanced nutrition, and lots of love; all these and more are necessary for a growing child to mature into a confident, healthy and responsible adult.

This is the awesome story of three kids translated from a life of penury on the streets to a life of purpose.

“Our family was a happy home with lots of love and excitement, until the sudden death of our father,” says Sophie, the eldest of the three Oladunjoyes adopted into the InnerCity Mission Home.

“He passed on after a brief illness. My mom tried to cater for us the best she could. She worked as a local cleaner but what she received as salary was too little to take care of us.

To help ease the burden on my mother, my aunt took me to live with her as she promised to take good care of me and send me to school.

She lied!

When we got to her house, I became her domestic help, she repeatedly abused me physically and verbally and I did not go to school as she promised.
Every time my mother called; my aunt would not let me speak with her. She would tell her that I was doing fine, and that I was in school. After some time, my mother got to know that things weren’t as she was told. Regardless of the difficulties at home, my mother preferred having me with her so she arranged for my return back home.

Things were still difficult at home and soon, we were sent out of our house because we couldn’t pay the rent leaving us with no option but to take refuge underneath a bridge.

For the next few months, we lived under that bridge, we ate and bathed there. At night, we would spread out mats and sleep on the floor.

To survive, we sold sachet water on the streets. This was our only means of livelihood and it was hardly enough to feed us, so getting an apartment or even going to school was not an option. We remained on the streets, constantly afraid of being assaulted by people.

We did not have any plans for the future. All we thought of was how to survive each passing day. My siblings and I often wondered if things would ever get better, if this was our fate for life?

Until a certain day…..

Some people came to meet my mother. They had observed that we were regularly on the street and were not going to school. They told my mother they were from the InnerCity Mission; that they would take care of us, give us a Home and also send us to school.

It sounded too good to be true and my mother was very skeptical. After much discussion, my mother finally agreed. We were adopted by the InnerCity Mission, they took us to a Home where they had other children like us and also enrolled us into the InnerCity Mission School.

Eleven years now…….

All three of us have completed our primary & secondary education and will soon be enrolled into the university all thanks to the partners of the InnerCity Mission. When I look back at how far we’ve come, I often wonder what our lives would have been like if the InnerCity Mission hadn’t intervened.

Thank you, dear partners, for taking us off the streets, rescuing us from the clutches of poverty and giving us a life of purpose. We love you dearly!”

Through the unique programs of the InnerCity Mission and with the support of our partners, we are reaching children living on the streets, in the inner cities and in other underserved places of the society, giving them Hope and a Future.
There are many other children like Sophie, Annabel and Jason exposed to the harsh realities of living in poverty but with your support, we can make a difference.

Join the InnerCity Mission to reach 20 MILLION beneficiaries this year. Click to take action –  https://icm.ngo/donate

For more information, kindly send us an email to – info@theinnercitymission.ngo

OR

Call us on – +2348021810059