While homelessness is a pressing global issue that affects millions of people, this social time bomb has been off the radar for far too long. It was in the quest to address this social malaise that informed the establishment of the Non government Organisation, Castle of Refuge Foundation to help highlight the vulnerability of homeless people and provide them Succour in this regard
The founder of this noble foundation is a young lady named Olatinuolawa Alison, who got the inspiration for the establishment of this foundation in 2008 after an encounter with God while still a student.
Castle of Refuge Foundation (CORF) is a non-profit organization established in 2016 dedicated to providing support and resources to the homeless population in the community. Its mission is to bring hope to the homeless and transit them from the streets to homes.
Since inception, CORF has implemented several intervention programs to provide relief to those experiencing homelessness including but not limited to the Belly Padding Movement Project where raw foodstuffs is donated, Fix-A-Shelter project where shelters are temporary renovated, Christmas in October where cooked food and gift bags are given to children and raw food to the adults.Through these projects, they have been able to impact over a thousand lives.
Homelessness is a grave social issue in Nigeria that has unfortunately taken its roots due to lack of access to adequate housing and/or affordability of decent housing. While the foundation is currently inhibited from providing shelter to every homeless person, it is committed to ensuring it extend some kindness to make at least, one homeless person believe that he or she matters, regardless of the absence of four walls and a ceiling.
True to its mission statement, to bring hope to the homeless, and transit them from the street to houses, the Belly Padding Movement amongst other activities of the CORF, was scheduled for the 22nd of June 2024 which was the 3rd edition of its quest to put smiles on the faces of persons experiencing homelessness in the city of Abuja by literally ‘padding a belly’ per time.
For this outreach, the foundation visited a community of people experiencing homelessness in the city of Abuja to hear their stories, extend love, and give them hope.
As Nelson Mandela put it, freedom is meaningless if people can not put food in their stomachs or have shelter to lay their heads.
Being embedded as part of this outreach programme, I observed first hand the joy and excitement on the faces of the people in the settlement that the foundation visited. After gift items of raw food stuff were shared to the people and families in the settlement visited somewhere in Abuja, it was a celebration galore with women dancing expressing joy for this show of love by the foundation. From my interactions with some people in the settlement visited, one man liken the visitation as the biblical balm of Gilead.
The founder, Olatinuolawa Alison, disclosed that the foundation is dependent on a strong volunteer force that works with the homeless and donors to provide needed services. She also stated that though she is happy with the modest achievement the foundation has made of providing temporary relief but that the foundation is still striving to reach its ultimate goal of permanently removing people off the street to their homes.
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