Bella Foundation for Child & Maternal Care drills students on ending early, forced marriage

For Bella Foundation for Child and Maternal Care, the liberation of the girl-child is non negotiable and a must-accomplish.

The group, for sure, is determined to ensure that the lot of the girl-child is better reshaped in any hostile environment that they found themselves in the country.
The Bella Foundation for Child and Maternal Care has always complemented government’s efforts at making the Nigerian girl-child find its right footings in the land.

Again, on Friday, July 5, 2024, the Bella Foundation for Child and Maternal Care, was at it again. This time, however, its girl-child advocacy took an educational dimension when it organised a quiz competition for selected secondary school students centering on ending early and forced female child marriage.
The quiz competition was put together by the non-profit, non-governmental organisation but in partnership with Evoca Foundation and Nommontu Foundation, who both sponsored the quiz competition.

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Orgaisers say the motive behind the competition for the young girls was to raise awareness on child marriage, its causes and consequences among adolescent girls.

The Bella Foundation for Child and Maternal Care, in addition, used the quiz competition to assess the level of knowledge on the different programmes it had earlier organised on child marriage for girls in secondary schools in the state.
So, the quiz competition was to sensitise the girls was conducted across three three Local Government Councils in Lagos State. It was the first of its kind by the Bella Foundation for Child and Maternal Care.

The Foundation then selected three schools, namely Chrismercy Academy in Ojo Local Council, Araromi Senior High School in Apapa Local Council and Lagos City College in Lagos Mainland Local Council for the quiz contest.
So, that fateful day, the Lagos City College, Sabo, Yaba, played host to pupils wishing to cart home various prizes prepared for successful competitors by organisers of the event.

The quiz was moderated by Dorinda Odongharo, a volunteer for Girls Not Brides, with three teachers serving as incorruptible Panel of Judges for the competition.
As is natural to such events, the competitors were put to test in various girl-child-related topics while their peers cheered in the background.

At the end of the day, Chrismercy Academy came out tops, with Araromi Senior High School in the second position. The host school, Lagos City College came third in the keen competition.
Thereafter, Certificates of Award were presented to the winners, while the three contestants went home with varying prizes.

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Of course, some consolation prizes were given to members of the audience that were able to answer the questions that the contestants did not have answers to.
Speaking with journalists after the event, Founder of Bella Foundation for Child and Maternal Care, Amb. Bella Akhagba, expressed appreciation to the participating schools and particularly the groups that co-sponsored the event saying that, “What we are out to achieve is a beter future for our country Nigeria, starting from our young girls. We are of the conviction that ones the girls are properly catered for, the society would thrive.”

Talking about the positions of the participants, Amb. Akhagba said, “I urge the girls to forget the positions they got. What we are out to achieve really is to o assess level of knewledge; to know whether our purpose of coming to your school is wasted. Positions is mere formalities.”
On her part, Dorinda Odongharo, a volunteer for Girls Not Brides, representing a group sponsoring coalitions of CSOs for ending early child marriage in Nigeria, who jointly tested the girls, said the participants were drilled on time and charisma, among other qualities they sought out for.

Her words, “It was really a good experience for the girls. The questions were tough and that was deliberate. The quiz was exciting. It was about getting to meet the stundents and know how far they have leanrt. We actually gave them questions that will shake them off their feet.

“For you to be able to answers the questions means you are intelligent. We intended to know if our efforts in organising the school clubs were in vain or not. But they did well. Kudos to the schools that parcitipated. The questions were tricky but the stundets tried,” she said.

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