……set to empower 50 with starter parks
Omamuzo Efidhere
In a bid to expand opportunities for women’s entrepreneurship, education, and employment, Dr. Rhoda Makinde Initiative, DROMI, a Non-Governmental Organization is training over two hundred indigent delta women in skills acquisition.
Fielding questions from journalist at the ongoing free one week skill acquisition training holding at the hall of Anointing Intl. Group of Schools, Ughelli, Prince Happy Igho Umukoro, stated that the objective of the Delta edition was to empower women to be self-reliant, sufficient and empowered so that they can take care of their family without any difficulty.
“Dr. Rhoda Makinde Initiative, DROMI, is an empowerment Scheme that seeks to assist women, regardless of party affiliation, ethnic group and religious background. The categories of these women consist of the aged, widows and single, women with low or no income, pregnant women and those that have fertility problem. Women living with disabilities-blind, deaf or hard of hearing, physical challenged or crippled. These women are drawn from rural and urban areas.
“With a vision statement, that seeks to build a viable community engineered and driven by politically conscious and economically emancipated women, DROMI will want to transform thousands of lives through evidence-based programs that focus on expanding women’s economic opportunities, increasing women’s rights and security, and advancing women’s political participation. The unique scheme will also want to practice an integrated approach that promotes gender equality across the society.
“I dare say that what a man can do, a woman can do same in her special, unique way with diligence and carefulness. Women are people with great talents but ignored and underrated in the society. Give a woman the right and leveled playground, equip and empower her, give her the working tools and watch her perform wonders. This is what DROMI is set out to do holistically in the lives of the women of Delta.”
Continuing he said “Women empowerment is, therefore, the act of giving more power usually economic to women so that they could have more control over their own life. Experts agree that women empowerment helps to close the gender gap in employment and opportunities across the globe, sometimes in surprising ways.
“The Dr. Rhoda Makinde Initiative is a panacea to the disadvantaged position in which women have found themselves over time in our society because of weak leadership structure and gender marginalization sustained by this arrangement. This has undermined a lot of women from maximizing their potentials. DROMI is in the business of ensuring that women discover themselves, regain their sense of pride, become relevant and contribute their quota to the general development of their constituency. The platform is for women to showcase themselves to the society.”
Boye Bekederemo one of the participant from Burutu Local Government Area commended the organizer of the programme. According to her “Dr. Rhoda Makinde has done so well for bringing this empowerment scheme to Delta State I am into make-up but tying of Gele has been an area of challenge but since i started class on Monday, I am improving by the day. My plea is that she should try to empower all the participants with starter packs. I know that it is not easy but they should be able to touch everyone in a little way, put smiles on the faces of the beginners who are really consistent.
“Also for the next edition DROMI should please provide basic make up kit for participants to be returned at the end of the training because most people cannot afford to buy the basic make up kit and if they do not practice after each class and just come to observe, that is wrong because faith without works is dead. I heard there is going to be raffle draw on the last day and the lucky numbers are going to go home with starter packs. I think it is not a fair game. What if I am not lucky to win whereas some who comes in on the third day just get lucky and I have been consistent.” She said
On her part, Mrs. America Ufuoma a printer in make-up and Gele class stated that it has been a burning desire of her heart to learn how to tie gele. “I am very happy about the programme and God will bless Dr. Rhoda Makinde abundantly for making me to achieve what I have been yearning for free of charge. I could not afford to pay the money I was charged to learn how to tie gele in the salon close to my house. The teachers are wonderful; they have been doing their jobs perfectly, I have learnt different styles of tying gele and the style I practiced on a participant head today was scored well.
Mrs. Elizabeth Unuafe, a hair stylist from Ufuoma town, stated that what Dr. Rhoda Makinde has done was unprecedented. “I am a hair stylist but business has been very slow so I work at building sites to raise money to pay my bills. I was going to collect money from my thrift in two weeks’ time to sign up for decoration, makeup and gele tying when a friend told me about this programme.
“I spend five hundred naira daily for transportation to come to class but I am happy because I have learnt a lot. God will sustain and empower Dr. Rhoda Makinde more because what she has done is unprecedented and if she has any political ambition we will support her because she is good and God’s gift to mankind.”
The week long programme closes on Saturday with an exhibition show, award of certificate to all participants, and presentation of starter packs to fifty lucky participants who are going to emerge from raffle draw. This is because DROMI is against trying to play politics with whatever they are empowering people with.
