A humanitarian organization, determined to change the narrative in all sphere of human living, has again taken the lead in bringing succor and hope especially for those at the lower strata, as it organizes her first ever “Children Fun Paradise”.
The two days Children Fun Paradise which marks the beginning of activities for the 2023 Connak Founder’s Day celebration,had Abia children coming together, basically for the first time in the history of entertainment in the state,breaking barriers,discrimination and segregation to have fun together.
It was indeed an exciting moment, watching children from different family strata, mingling and sharing beautiful moments.
Connak as part of her 11th year anniversary, thought out of the box to implement an event that will avail children the opportunity to interact, have fun and experience social inclusion.
In an interview session at the Umuahia Township Stadium, the foundation’s General Manager, Rosemary Etsiame, said though the foundation over the years, had implemented initiatives targeted towards children development, but none of its activities had actually given the avenue for children social inclusion.
Etsiame disclosed that the foundation had implemented events like the ‘Connak Youth Arise, ‘Connak Founder’s Day’, where beneficiaries of their digital skill program are graduated during the yuletide, but the foundation in the bid to do things differently and as well, set the pace,decided to organize the first ever Children Fun Paradise.
She said the idea behind the fun fair was to create an opportunity where children from different walks of life could come together to have fun, bridging the gap of discrimination and segregation,adding that it was also a way of informing the state government that things of these nature could be achieved.
In her words,” This is the first time Abia children will come together to have fun free of charge. We are thoughtful about the programs we implement as a foundation,it must be centered around humanitarian works.
“We have set the pace like we always do, this initiative has come to stay because already we have seen it’s effects on the children. It is going to be an annual event, possibly twice a year depending on the funds available. We want a situation whereby children from every aspect of life can have fun together, creating memorable and joyful moments “.
The Foundation’s General Manager, Rosemary Etsiame, further highlighted the reason behind the shift in their usual December 25th Founder’s Day’celebration to the 1st of January.
According to her, the foundation decided to hold the 2023 Founder’s Day celebration the same day with the birthday of the founder, Hon Kenneth Okeagu, that comes up on the 1st of January 2024.
General Manager Connak foundation Rosemary Etsiame
Meanwhile, she hinted that the founder’s day celebration is a day set aside to commemorate the vision that birthed the foundation, with the goal of building the capacities of youths and women.
During this event, she disclosed that the foundation graduates beneficiaries of their digital skills program,presents grant awards to beneficiaries of their entrepreneurship development and as well, celebrates their scholarship students.
“For this year’s founder’s day, about 400 beneficiaries of the digital skills would be graduated, while a total of 372 students nation wide,would be granted scholarship with Abia taking about 172.
“This year which doubles as our 11th year as a foundation would be to celebrate the milestone achievements of the foundation”,she said.
Etsiame added that for the past eleven years they have been able to build capacities, touch lives with their mantra, “Creating opportunities, Changing Lives” and glading announced that the foundation has been meeting it’s dream.
She equally pointed that the foundation tries as much as possible to expand it’s frontiers to other city centres,stating that definitely the Children Fun Paradise would extend to other cities like Aba, having seen the impacts of the first edition.
The General Manager, however, noted that the two days fun paradise was targeted at reaching out to over 2000 Abia children, with the essence of creating an opportunity for the children to change their mindset and understand they can achieve their dream only if they work hard, stressing that the foundation do not want the Abia children to be limited in their development process.
Furthermore, Etsiame, stated that the foundation is open to support initiatives of this kind, urging state government and individuals to key into it, as Connak foundation has already changed the narrative of making an amusement park happen in Umuahia.
It was observed that the children had so much fun, engaging in dance competitions,games, experiencing several bouncing castles, swimming pools, receiving gift items from Santa and lot more
