Elele’s Easter of charity and succour

As Mother Theresa’s camp provided both material and spiritual relief for the needy, especially those who appear to have been grossly neglected by the Indian government, does the centre at Elele fend for those who have been forgotten by the government of the day and the wealthy who, morally speaking, ought to take care of […]

As Mother Theresa’s camp provided both material and spiritual relief for the needy, especially those who appear to have been grossly neglected by the Indian government, does the centre at Elele fend for those who have been forgotten by the government of the day and the wealthy who, morally speaking, ought to take care of the “abjectly poor in the society.”

Besides, the centre at Elele was set up to give hope to those needy who in addition to their precarious conditions, were also denied the chances of having a just/fair treatment in their various areas of abode and/or of work within the Nigerian setting.

The journey of three days commencing from Thursday, Friday and Saturday, climaxed in the celebration of the Lord Jesus Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday. Aside the thousands of members of the Pilgrimage Centre Charity Family who had earlier united at Elele, since Thursday, people from all walks of life, within and outside of Nigeria, gathered at the Pilgrimage Centre for a kind of spiritual rebirth.

Those in the above class, owing to hardship, were unable to fighting for their basic fundamental human rights since they could neither afford litigation nor negotiation nor arbitration, which were never given like free launch.

The Centre, therefore, began as a place where Justice and Reconciliation were administered free of charge to people of all categories, creed, ethnicity, and nationality. Peace was of the most immediate concern of the type of conflict resolution attained in the Centre. That was why, from day one, it was named “Centre for Peace, Justice and Reconciliation.”

As many people’s conflicts were resolved and their acrimonies permanently dissolved in this Centre, peace flowed. To ensure that peace continues to flow, people started clamouring also for their spiritual welfare. Therefore, the provision for spiritual upkeep brought about the “Pilgrimage Centre for Eucharistic Adoration and Special Marian Devotion.” And literally, it was like using one stone to kill more than two birds,” SUNDAY TRUST was informed.

Setting up of the Pilgrimage Centre provided for another occasion to attend to allied problems of the members such as providing food and shelter for those whose conflicts have rendered not only homeless but destitute considering the crying need for food, medicare, among others.

However, the establishment by Founder of the Centre of Umuogbenye [Centre for the abjectly poor] was the first response from Fr. Edeh. The Centre of Umuogbenye became, in no distant time, a rendezvous for the poor, hungry, sick, rejected and dejected people of God. Food, clothes, primary Medicare, and other manner of relief were generously and freely distributed, and most often, by Edeh, himself. The foundation of Congregation of Sisters of the Jesus the Saviour and, subsequently, of other Saviourite Congregations was a response by Edeh to assure the continuity of the Centers and their programmes.

Expectedly, the huge population of the needy created the urgent need for some people to assist in the distribution of things, while the increment recorded in the number of people that needed more proper medical attention led to the setting up of Our Saviour Hospital and Maternity, Elele, in 1985.

Sunday Trust was told that the daily need of the beneficiaries and the periodic testimonies from them regarding the successes of the charity gestures in the Centre paved a way for the Fr. Edeh to institutionalize them (those .gestures) by organizing annual Homecoming events. During those events, a lot of activities, like giving of charity food and charity money do take place. Testimonies from many people of various walks of life, from different places and of various confessions, on the successes recorded by the beneficiaries from these events, made the news spread far and wide.

Our reporter learnt that each year – Easter Sunday and Easter Monday – people from different places, diverse confessions, and so forth, converge in the Centre to participate in the charitable gestures. Many indigent persons receive and eat of the charity food, of which, many partakers testified, have granted them different forms of favour, like healing their sicknesses, making some barren women conceive and be delivered of babies, and so forth. The charity money, distributed to all the participants in the annual Home-coming events, has led to testimonies from many people whose stagnant, or collapsed businesses were miraculously revived by investing the charity money (token) in those businesses.

The climax of the Elele Pilgrimage Centre’s annual Home-coming/Charity events is that it has not only empowered people but has become a source of inspiration to the majority of the beneficiaries who already have started to empower others during the home-coming events by engaging in their own acts of charity to those that are still in need. It is therefore, no more only those charity events founded and sponsored by the Fr. Edeh but also the doing of charity by the beneficiaries of the latter’s charity in keeping with his spirit of practical and effective charity.