The Dream Death Could Not Kill: Remembering Dr. Olukemi Adamolekun at 80- by Itunu Ajayi
Twenty-four years after Dr. Olukemi Adamolekun was brutally killed, the imaginative and prescient she conceived for the care of aged Nigerians continues to the touch lots of of lives by means of Kaleyewa Home.
Some folks go away behind recollections; others go away behind a mission. Dr. Olukemi Adamolekun left each.
Whereas residing in america along with her husband, Ladipo Adamolekun, within the interval main as much as his retirement from the World Financial institution, Olukemi started interested by what she might do for aged folks in her hometown, Iju, Ondo State.
She had seen the group-home system in america and commenced contemplating how such a mannequin might be tailored to Nigeria. Her imaginative and prescient was to ascertain a spot the place aged folks might obtain meals, medical care and, for individuals who wanted it, lodging.
It was a easy thought, however a profound one: to create a system wherein aged folks wouldn’t be forgotten or left to fend for themselves.
The imaginative and prescient attracted the eye of the Ondo State Authorities underneath the administration of the late Governor Adebayo Adefarati. The authorities welcomed the proposal and Dr. Akerele Adu, who was then a commissioner within the administration, was directed to facilitate the allocation of land for the proposed group dwelling.
Land was subsequently allotted alongside Igbatoro Highway.
However Olukemi would by no means reside to see the dream turn into the establishment she had imagined.
She registered the initiative as a non-profit group with the Company Affairs Fee in 2001. On Might 4, 2002, barely a yr later, whereas in Nigeria pursuing the Kaleyewa challenge, she was shot at the Efunsetan Roundabout within the coronary heart of Ibadan, Oyo State.
She was approaching her 56th birthday.
The circumstances surrounding her demise stay painful for her household. She was chauffeur-driven at the time. In accordance with the account of the household, the hoodlums locked the younger driver within the trunk of the automobile and later deserted him at the Seme border. Twenty-four years later, the household says there was no arrest and no restoration of the automobile.
It was a devastating finish to the lifetime of a lady who had returned to Nigeria with the intention of bettering the lives of aged folks.
Her demise might simply have marked the tip of Kaleyewa Home.
It didn’t.
On the first anniversary of her demise in 2003, her husband, youngsters and others concerned within the challenge resolved to proceed the work she had began. A board was constituted for Kaleyewa Home, and the household has remained dedicated to the challenge ever since.
The unique imaginative and prescient, nonetheless, suffered a significant setback. The land allotted by the Adefarati administration was subsequently revoked underneath the administration of former Governor Olusegun Mimiko.
The revocation meant that the group dwelling Olukemi had envisaged couldn’t proceed as initially deliberate. In response, her youngsters determined to rebuild the home of her late mom as a future dwelling for Kaleyewa Home.
For now, Kaleyewa continues its work from a smaller base than the founder had envisioned.
However the dimension of the constructing has not diminished the dimensions of the impression.
Kaleyewa Home presently has greater than 400 aged folks underneath its care. Meals, medical exams and remedy are offered to beneficiaries on a bi-monthly foundation. Its attain extends past those that are bodily capable of attend actions organized by the group. Aged people who find themselves bedridden and unable to attend are additionally attended to.
For some beneficiaries, Kaleyewa Home additionally pays lease, offering help to folks whose circumstances make lodging a problem.
In some ways, Kaleyewa has turn into a lifeline to aged folks in Iju and it’s quick neighboring group Itaogbolu.
On the current celebration of what would have been Dr. Adamolekun’s eightieth birthday, the impression of her imaginative and prescient was seen.
In Iju, aged beneficiaries gathered of their Aso-Ebi to rejoice the girl whose dream had introduced them collectively. They have been handled to meals, leisure and presents to take dwelling. Past the fabric advantages, nonetheless, there was one thing else on show: companionship.
For lots of the aged folks current, being surrounded by folks of their very own technology appeared to deliver real pleasure. The event provided them a chance to eat collectively, giggle collectively and easily get pleasure from each other’s firm.
It was, in its personal means, a celebration of a life that had been minimize brief however a imaginative and prescient that had survived a childhood pal of Olukemi who referred to her as a ‘Rose behind the partitions’ at her demise, Mrs. Omotewa Aderibigbe stated her pal tried in useless to make her fall in love with Arithmetic, a topic she by no means understood how anybody might be snug with.
Her phrases” Kemi was my childhood pal. We attended the identical Pry Faculty, and the identical Secondary Faculty (Fiwasaye Ladies’ Grammar Faculty, Akure). Rising up collectively within the village, was enjoyable, however underneath very strict self-discipline. Being collectively was our cherished bond. We used to go to the stream within the bush to scrub our garments in preparation for varsity resumption. We might then enter the stream, and bathed with our attire on. It was all giggles. I used to pity her when she was despatched dwelling for varsity charges together with a few of us, as a result of, I noticed her traumatized within the midst of affluence”.
Aderibigbe who retired as a Deputy Director from the Ministry of Exterior Affairs who herself turned 80 in April stated Olukemi by no means allowed any setback to dampen her resolve to excel in life.
“She was good in Arithmetic and I used to be good in English. I hated Arithmetic with a ardour. She would attempt to assist me with Arithmetic and I’d refuse. She would inform me Arithmetic was so simple as English: (the identical phrases our Faculty Principal used, to influence me to take the topic significantly.) She wished the most effective for everyone, and this was what addressed her ardour for a greater life for the Oldies, which birthed KALEYEWA. Reminiscences of Kemi are eternal. That’s the reason she lives on”.
A retired principal who is also a pioneer volunteer of the House Chief Adedipe Adegboye stated the survey of elders within the two communities have been achieved at the onset of this system, he stated other than meals gadgets, elders additionally get free distribution of garments, sneakers, baggage and torchlights. He reiterated the dedication of the group in giving well being counselling to beneficiaries every time meals distributions are achieved.
His phrases. “ The preliminary plan of the founder was to be giving cash to beneficiaries however attributable to my expertise locally on what the wants of the persons are, I suggested her to focus on meals, well being care and lodging. We distribute meals gadgets that embrace rice, beans, salt and Maggi which the elders had stated they need modified to locust beans. This distribution is completed six instances in a yr”.
Adegboye referred to as on properly spirited Nigerians to companion with the group in different to broaden its scope. The two communities have been simply pioneers the founder supposed to start out with.
In the identical vein at the occasion, Chief Bunmi Alade, FCA, a retired Everlasting Secretary in Ondo State and the Balogun Ijo of St. Matthew’s Anglican Church, Iju, stated what notably impressed him concerning the founder was the absence of political motivation behind her mission.
He described Olukemi as a lady who, regardless of being comparatively younger and never having to be a billionaire, had already developed the need to present again to her group.
“I recognize the founder for her imaginative and prescient and needs to place smiles into the faces of the much less privileged, most particularly the aged,” he stated.
He famous that Olukemi’s resolution to dedicate herself to bettering the lives of individuals round her demonstrated a coronary heart of compassion and selflessness.
Alade additionally counseled Olukemi’s husband and kids for sustaining the challenge after her demise, saying their dedication demonstrated that she had efficiently created inside her household a ardour for giving again to humanity.
Alade’s statement touches on maybe essentially the most exceptional a part of the Kaleyewa story.
American actor and filmmaker Tyler Perry as soon as captured the essence of such service in a easy assertion: “It’s all about making an attempt to assist someone cross.”
That philosophy resonates with the work Dr. Adamolekun started. She was making an attempt to assist aged folks cross the tough terrain of starvation, loneliness, insufficient medical care and neglect. She didn’t wait till she had limitless sources earlier than performing. She noticed a necessity and determined to do one thing about it.
Olukemi didn’t reside lengthy sufficient to construct the establishment she imagined, however she had planted the thought deeply sufficient for these she left behind to hold it ahead.
Her husband, youngsters, mates and supporters grew to become custodians of a dream that belonged initially to at least one lady.
Twenty-four years after her demise, her household continues to do precisely that.
The proposed everlasting group dwelling stays an unfinished a part of her unique dream, however Kaleyewa Home has already demonstrated what can occur when compassion is transformed into motion.
Kaleyewa’s work additionally raises a bigger query concerning the place of aged folks in Nigerian society. As households turn into more and more stretched by financial and social pressures, who will care for individuals who are previous, weak and unable to take care of themselves?
For the beneficiaries of Kaleyewa Home, that query has, at least for now, a solution.
There is a company that remembers them.
There are individuals who deliver them meals.
There are individuals who prepare medical care.
There are individuals who pay lease after they can’t afford it.
And there are individuals who have refused to permit the dream of a lady who died greater than 20 years in the past to vanish along with her.
A scholarship program to deepen the dimension of her legacy was additionally introduced by the household. This takes impact this September for college students who want to pursue any of the 5 disciplines wherein she obtained college levels, at any public first-generation college in Nigeria.
Dr. Olukemi Adamolekun didn’t reside to rejoice her eightieth birthday.
However her eightieth birthday was celebrated.
And maybe the best tribute to her is just not that her household remembered the date of her delivery, however that on the event of that milestone, lots of of aged folks gathered in her hometown Iju due to one thing she began.
Her life resulted in 2002.
Her dream didn’t.
The lady died.
The mission didn’t.
Itunu Ajayi is the junior sister of Olukemi.
She writes from the US.
