Love cures people--both the ones who give it and
the ones who receive it. Dr. Karl
Menninger
Love works in miracles every day: such as weakening
the strong, and stretching the weak; making fools of the wise, and wise men of
fools; favoring the passions, destroying reason, and in a word, turning
everything topsy-turvy. Marguerite De Valois
It’s another season of love.
A time when the sound of love becomes the music everyone wants to listen to.
The kind of music that you reserve for him or her—that special person! Is love
meant to be expressed to just one person alone? To love another person is to
see the face of God. Imagine if God loves only one person, can he contain such
love? Love is too great to be lavished on a single soul, too mighty to be
seasonal.
Valentine’s Day has been
viewed by many as the only time to share and show love. A lot of people
misconstrue the ideal meaning of the season to be for lovers only. How did you spend your
valentine’s day?
The student of mass communication, University of
Nigeria, Nsukka, deemed it fit in a bid to extend their love in this year’s
celebration of love to visit an orphanage home in a local government, Nsukka, Enugu
state, Nigeria. Speaking with “My Words and the Society”, the president of Mass
Communication Students Association (MACSA), Mr. Henry Ihuoma, spoke on their
visit and how Valentine’s Day should be celebrated generally. Excerpts:
How did you
feel visiting the motherless babies’ home?
“I feel great. I feel that we owe the society a lot.
So, one of the ways to give back to the society is through charity. There are
so many people in the society who are not privileged like us such as these kids
we visited. Most of them do not have parents and they need the care and love
they can get. It is necessary to make out time once in a while to visit them,
make them feel loved and make them see reasons to be alive in the pursuit of
their dreams. I feel great visiting them today, especially on Valentine’s Day,
which is today.”
macsa students
with their president in the middle.
What really
prompted the decision to visit the less privileged?
“Two factors did. Mr. and Ms. Mass communication came
up with the idea. I also had it in mind to visit the motherless babies’ home
one of these days. The day of love came, which is Val’s Day. So the idea came
from Mr. and Ms. Mass Communication and my executives. We saw it as a nice idea
and we decided to go there.”
It has been
reported that during Valentine’s Day, cases of teenage pregnancy is always on
the rise. What advice will you give to teenagers and especially University
students?
“People should know that expressing love is not an
event of one day. February 14th is not the only day to show love—it
should be expressed every day. But unfortunately, some people see Valentine’s
Day as a negative celebration of love. Love can come with its own negativity.
St. Valentine was a man who showed love to the less privileged in the society.
He was charitable. People started negating the true meaning of Valentine. That
is why we have many cases of teenage pregnancy and abuses on this day. My
advice to people is that, they should know that the celebration of love is not
for a moment; they should do the right at the right time.”
Looking at the
orphanage home, do you think the government of this state or the local
government recognizes an orphanage home like this one you visited?
“Yes. I think that this orphanage home is owned by the
government. You know, here, the government will establish something and before
you realize, inadequate funding will become an issue. If you look at the place
(the orphanage home), you’ll discover that, if it is a place that the
government is really interested in, they should have a better environment. The
government only established it, but majority of the funding come from
individuals, churches, and various groups of the society—just as we did. It is
only in periods like this that you find people around there. If you go there on
a normal day, you’ll barely find someone over there. Today is Valentine’s Day;
a lot of people will be there to fulfill their societal obligation by extending
love to the less privileged. I want it to be a continuous activity because
those women (the workers) there need to feed; those children deserve a better
life. There should be a school there and teachers to teach them so that they
can get the best of the knowledge they can get at their level while growing.
This is so because, if we do not give them the right attitude and development
now, when they grow up, they may become a problem to the society. Most people
you see on the streets today grew without love, care and parents. So if we
don’t give them the love and attention they need, the society will suffer the
consequences. We all have a role to play in making these children grow.”
Is there
anything you’ll like to say concerning the plight of these children?
“Yes. I’ll like to call on the members of the society,
NGOs as well as the government to visit the orphanage homes and also those at
the hospital as there are so many people who cannot afford their bills. If we
can identify such people in the society, the less privileged, those in the
prisons as well. Though some of them (prisoners) have done wrong, but there are
still some innocent ones amongst them and they all need to survive; they still
stand a chance of living or getting a better life for themselves. Therefore, I
think people should identify those important people in the society that need
our help and our love. We should extend love and charity to them.”
What were the
reactions of the workers at the orphanage home?
“The woman we met there appreciated us. She said that
they were grateful for us as students to have visited them and expressed love
to the children. She prayed that God will continue to replenish us in our endeavours and that, as students, God will give us the wisdom
and understanding to excel in our studies. She really appreciated our visit.”
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