Project Hope graduates, empowers 69 youths ~ Truth Reporters

 

…as Obi Chukwuka 1, Bishops Gbakara, Ogwezi, others, drum support for Ukwute’s vision

By Foster Akpore

The Oasis of Hope Initiative Skill Acquisition Centre, otherwise called Project Hope has on Saturday 13th March graduated and empowered another set of sixty nine youths with sewing machines at the combined 14th and 15th graduation ceremony held at its training complex located along Umunede/Umutu Road, Ute-Okpu, Ika North-East Local Government Area of Delta State.

The Centre which commenced in 2005 was instituted to “build broken lives with God’s love” under three thematic focus: Human Capital Development, Community Development Outreach and Talent/Potential Discovery, Development and Deployment Initiative, has so far graduated and empowered over six hundred youths, drawn from across the Niger-Delta with starter packs having been trained tuition-free including free feeding and accommodation for two years. 

In his welcome address, Rev Thomas Ukwute, Chairman of the Oasis of Hope Initiative, who anchored his speech on Deuteronomy 8:2a stated that “this scripture deals with the reality of life, the importance of remembering the challenges of our life journeys, the opportunities it offers us to truly appreciate what God has done for us and the need to use those opportunities to positively impact our world, especially those around us or within our sphere of influence”.

Reverend Ukwute, who is the General Overseer of Anchor of Hope Ministries, further stated that “the Centre currently offers training in Fashion and Design, Shoe and Bag Making, Catering, Baking and Confectioneries and Decoration ably manned by experienced and dedicated teachers, staff and volunteers”. He further explained that beyond training and empowering the youths, the Centre also carries out constant monitoring and evaluation on the students to ascertain their level of growth and progress through unannounced visits. In his words, “so far, the visits have brought great joy and excitement to me as I see the level of their development and growth from the tiny seed we sowed in them. Interestingly, majority of them have started their own workshops and are now training others who were like them before; some have secured employment in garment making factories, while a few have returned to school using the proceeds from what we taught them to sponsor themselves ”. 

Reverend Ukwute, who said his riches is not in his bank account but in the lives of people he has impacted, thanked partners like The Anchor of Hope Ministries, Grace International Fellowship of Churches, Celebration Christian Centre, Livermore, California, USA, His Excellency, the Governor of Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, and others who have been supporting the Centre, while equally drawing the attention of all to the needs of the Centre which include: fifty industrial sewing machines to transit from the manual ones, two self-powered welding machines to kick start the welding and fabrication unit, full catering equipment, tools for leather works and leather sewing machines to enhance the shoe and bag making workshop, one hundred and fifty million naira to continue the building, especially the completion of  the guest house for visiting teachers and the building of the ICT centre, as he revealed that he is looking forward to a time when he would have four hundred students on campus with the Centre’s nineteen different departments fully subscribed.

In his remark, His Royal Majesty, Obi Chukwuka 1, the Obi of Ute-Okpu Kingdom, who embraced Reverend Ukwute’s vision and supported him   to acquire the sprawling fourteen and half acre land accommodating the complex, thanked Ukwute for the initiative and enjoined well-meaning citizens and organizations to align themselves with him by supporting financially to actualize the Centre’s vision. 

In his short exhortation, Bishop Ogwezi of the Pentecostal Revival Assembly, charged the grandaunts to “go and bear much fruits”, adding that “it is the purpose of God that we bear fruit because there is the seed of greatness deposited by God in man and it is expected that you replicate what you have learnt from Project Hope in others”. 

Meanwhile, the founder of God’s Will Ministry, Arch Bishop Solomon Gbakara, in his message, thanked Reverend Ukwute for being used of God to eradicate poverty from the land. He also tasked the grandaunts to be faithful, creative, hardworking and focused on their chosen career of fashion design despite initial tiredness, fatigue and loss of interest that may set in, while underscoring the nexus between job creation and wealth, he stated that “those who create jobs are richer than civil servants who depend on monthly salary, but you should not neglect the potentials  of starting small because those at the international fashion show also started small, but by dint of hard work rose to the top”. 

Speaking on behalf of the graduating students, Maduago Rejoice Pamela expressed gratitude to Reverend Ukwute for giving them a meaningful, better life of entrepreneurship while urging the youths out there to avoid criminality and utilize the opportunity that Project Hope has to offer, just as she called on people of goodwill to support the school. 

High point of the graduation ceremony was a walk-through of dignitaries which included His Royal Majesty Obi Chukwuka 1, the Obi of Ute-Okpu Kingdom with his Council of Chiefs, Arch Bishop Solomon Gbakara, Bishop Festus Udume, Bishop Ogwezi, Bishop Iwerebor, Bishop Dickson Ozah, Rev. Blaize Adedeji, Rev. Obi, Rev Samuel Okoh and a host of other clerics from the Anchor of Hope Ministries, ex-students, friends and family members of graduating students, members of the press and other well-wishers by Reverend Ukwute in company of his amiable and supportive wife, Pastor Gladys through the exhibition stand displaying the projects of the students which included dresses of different kinds, shoes, sandals, bags, and insecticides, which were acknowledged by all to be of high standard, to the awe and admiration of all.

In his closing remark, while presenting the sewing machines to the graduating students, Reverend Ukwute sounded philosophical in his charge to the students, “the yam, knife and field is in your hands; what you do with it would determine the outcome of your life”, just as he tasked well-meaning individuals, corporations and government officials to assist in meeting the enormous needs of the Centre.