UNCOMMON TRANSFORMATION

(THE STORY OF ADEYANJUMIRACLE)

Introduction

Background

Adeyanju Miracle was born on December 25^th, 2003 into the family of Mr & Mrs Adeyanjufrom Ado, Ekiti State. At the age of 7 years old, he lost both parents to the cold hands of death which made him an orphan at a tender age. Adeyanju Miracle was adopted by his big sisters who tried their possible best to raise and enroll him back in school.

At age 9 years old, Miracle could not complete his elementary school and dropped out of school at primary 4 as a result of the family relative could not provide for his educational needs due to financial instability in the family.

Adeyanju Miracle like any other child out there was forced to fend for himself as he got associated with some group of wrong friends in the neighbourhood which led him far away from home to reside with them at (Atikankan) which is dominantly occupied by the Hausas and few of the Yoruba’s with different negative characters that is nothing to write home about.

Atikankan is located axis of the State capital Ado with the old fashion mostly mud buildings.  The more he stay away from home the more he lost parental care from his family relative. He venture into the street and became part of street-connected children and learn how to scavenge for scrap items such as cartons and condemn iron or aluminium in exchange for money to feed and meaning his primary needs, in course of earning a living while on the street he got employed by the Hausa Boss who paid them a little stipend for every scrap items.

Life at Atikankan Dabar began to unveil itself to the gentle Miracle gradually he became exposed to various dangerous substances; hard drugs, colds and illnesses etc as a result of improper hygiene and the thoughts of home and the thoughts of school gradually fade away from his memory lane.

After several years of living and working in the street, On the 23rd of December, 2020: Adeyanju Miraclecame in contact with GSK Initiative Staff,  GSK  Initiative Staff who reflected light at the end of the tunnel through activities. The Staff met their bosses on the field and discussed their programme with them and also gave the staff the approval to inculcate good morals and help the street children to see the positive side of life no matter their status and background.

Adeyanju Miracle was one of the street-connected children who gave the staff his audience while learning on the street programme .GSK Initiative Staff had a series of literacy classes, moral talks, interactive sessions and psychosocial activities with them.

Through the literacy class, a school without walls, subjects like Mathematics, English language and General studies were taught in the literacy class, Miracle started to develop an interest in the field activities and learn at his own pace and every single day with the street-connected children they had moral talks about their characters while the interactive session focus on their physical well being the last but not the least which capture the mind of Miracle on the field was the psychosocial games ( chess, scrabble monopoly &draft) which focus on cognitive and logic development,  with all these activities carried out on the field with them, Miracle and a few of the street-connected children had a positive change gradually as they began to shade off all those bad habits one after the other and cutting off from all form criminal activities while working and earning from the street.

While all these activities were ongoing with the street-connected children their details were taken down to monitor their progress. The staff of Global Support for Kids Initiative carried out home tracing for Adeyanju Miracle On the 16th of February 2021, to verify his information, the staff met with his two elder sisters, introduced the organization to them and also inform them about the plans the organization have for him, and they appreciated the organization.

After several moral talks and interactive sessions with Miracle, he decided to return home to live with her elder sister for a few weeks while the staff checked on him. On the 28^th of February, 2021during the interactive session with him, Miracle expresses his interest to learn vocational skills to make his life more meaning full. The staff inquired what kind of vocational skill capture his interest his response was motorbike mechanic the staff assure him of his request and also seek the consent of his family members over it and they gave their consent to the organization and also advise him to be diligent in his work so that the organization will be happy to support him to the end.  A few days after the staff scouted for a good motorbike workshop for him. On the 6^th of March, 2021, the staff, Miracle and his elder sisters visited the work shop to carry out the official signing, the form was filled and the sum of money was paid to his master(Mr Lawrence)for Miracle’s apprenticeship and including the sum of three thousand naira(₦3,000) for his apprentice uniform.

In other to make a life worth living, there are a lot of things you need to put in place. The staff of Global Support for Kids Initiative size the opportunity to furthermore carry out their objectives by making sure that he did not lack anything, On the 11^th of  March 2021, Global support for kids initiative staff took  Adeyanju Miracle for shopping to meet his welfare, he was very happy about it and he was given the privilege to select his choice of clothes and also placed on monthly stipends to enable him to buy whatever he needs.

Adeyanju Miracle’s performance at the workshop became lively and impressive as the day run by and most of his boss’s clients were amazed by his pace of learning ability, attitude to work and friendly relationship with everyone, this led the clients and people around the workshop to rain praises on the staff and the organization. The staff carried out monitoring checks on him on weekly basis to know his state of well-being at the workshop.

Adeyanju Miracle’s performance in the past few months was astonishing and overwhelming from the reports reaching the Executive Director. The Executive Director was not left out ashe commended him through a WhatsApp video call as the staff visited the workshop during one of their weekly evaluation and he was giventhe privilege to speak with the Executive Director, who pray and advise Miracle to continue to remain focus and maintain good behaviour Miracle thank and appreciated the Executive Director for everything he has done for him and promises to be the best version of himself. As a sign of his good behaviour and the reports received from people around the workshop, the Executive Director asked the staff to buy him a mobile phone for making the organization proud.

As every beautiful day passed by Adeyanju Miracle became more professional with his work which led  Mr Lawrence his boss to hand over the workshop under his care as most of their clients always prefer him to repair their motor bikes once they visit the workshop.

After spending twelve months in the workshop to fully acquire the mechanical skill and crown his wonderful effort, GSK Initiative ensured all the necessary arrangements for the graduation ceremony were set and ready, including the purchase of a tools box for him. To colour, the graduation ceremony representative from other agencies graces the occasion. The guests in attendance were a representative from CISHAN( Civil Society on HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, Ekiti Chapter), in the person of Mr Timothy Idowu, a representative from NAPTIP(National Agency For The Prohibition Of Trafficking In Persons, Ekiti Chapter)in the person of Mr Akeju Olufemi, Pastor Sunday Alabi Buyide, Mr Lawrence (Miracle’s boss) Mr Ayo Owolabi (Mr Lawrence boss), members of  Miracle families, a journalist from Ekiti State Television, a staff from Fresh FM( Radio Station), Corps members, staff of the organization and well-wishers.As the ceremony draw closer to the end Mr Lawrence and his family members prayed for himand thanked the staff and the Executive Director for everything while his tools box was presented to him.One of the family members prayed for him, it became so emotional when one of the family members Miracle’s Aunty prayed for him and started to cry while she was still praying and Miracle also joins her to cry.

The well wishers in persons of Mr Ayo Owolabi, Mr Timothy Idowu and Mr Akeju Olufemi representatives of the agencies also gave their speeches about the GSK Initiative and their excellent work and service to humanity. Adeyanju Miracle was not left outas he gave his appreciation speech and thanked all the staff and Executive Director for their love, care, patience and support towards him, transforming his dark moment into a brighter future.

#EveryChildMatter