Patience Leonard, PBA Journalism MenteeJustice Development and Peace Caritas Commission (JDPC) of the Catholic Diocese of Nsukka has in its quest to alleviate the sufferings of people, conducted an empowerment programme for 16 indigent out-of-school youths in the form of vocational skills acquisition.
During the programme on Friday in Nsukka area of Enugu State, the JDPC director in the diocese, Rev. Fr. Matthew Ezea revealed that the Commission has in the past two years, helped 183 destitute families out of poverty.
He disclosed that the commission has a data of many destitute persons within the diocese but is unable to reach all of them due to limited financial resources.
“JDPC Nsukka has the data of the most vulnerable individuals/groups in Nsukka Diocese but has been limited by its resources to touch all these lives positively.
“ In the past two years we have pulled 183 destitute families out of poverty through our various support programs, our hope is that good spirited individuals and organisations will join us and uplift this poor families in the diocese,” he said.
During the empowerment program of the new 16 beneficiaries, the Commission handed them starter packs which Fr. Ezea said is to enable them to be self reliant and become useful to their families and society.
“Today, we are happy that 16 indigent out-of-school adolescents selected from different areas under the diocese have successfully completed their various skills acquisition trainings, and will be going home with starter-packs free of charge for their new ventures so that they will be self-reliant, useful for themselves and their family as well as the society.
“They are now professionals in their respective fields and should imbibe the knowledge learnt from the training by being worthy ambassadors of JDPC,” he said.
The Director said that JDPC Nsukka is a faith-based and non-governmental organisation, with vision of having a world where Justice, peace, dignity of human person are respected and held in high esteem.
He emphasised that their activities are centered more on the poor and vulnerable groups, under the Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC) programme, supported by the Catholic Caritas Foundation of Nigeria.
“As a church institution we have a special preference for the poor, vulnerable groups and marginalised individuals by a well-designed human development programme geared towards empowerment and sustainable skills that help pull vulnerable individual out of poverty.
According to Fr. Ezea, “JDPC is a commission created by the Pope to further the mission of the church to all affected by all categories of poverty. JDPC Nsukka as a faith-based, non-government organisation has a clear vision of having a world where Justice and Peace reign and the dignity of human person respected and held in higher esteem everywhere.
“We strive to achieve this noble goal by applying the value of the gospel to the problems of the society through active investments in human development, empowerment of the poor and marginalized individuals/groups, and protection of human rights to realize social justice, human development and sustainable peace in Nsukka diocese.”
Mr Chinedu Ugwuta, the programme manager, JDPC Nsukka Catholic Diocese, also stated that the beneficiaries were carefully selected based on their backgrounds, stating that some of them are orphans with no one catering for them.
“JDPC Nsukka through our networks went into the rural areas under the diocese and randomly selected these graduands, some of them are orphans; we picked those that cannot go to school because of their background and economic reasons.
Explaining the process the beneficiaries went through for their trainings, he said, “The 16 beneficiaries were taken through rigorous skills acquisition trainings of their choice at different training centers close to them, our programme is for the poor, the oppressed, vulnerable, unemployed, people living with disabilities, etc., and that was why we went for the indigent ones.
“Some of these graduands spent two years during the course of their trainings, we negotiated and paid the training charges of all of them and we are glad that they have all completed their training successfully and are ready to fend for themselves,” he said.
Odoh Chiamaka, one of the beneficiaries Responding on behalf of other others, thanked JDPC and their partners for the opportunity given to them, promising that they would utilize it for the good of themselves, their families and society in general.
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