Their names sound important. Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Turai Yar’Adua, Barrack Obama, Michelle Obama, Goodluck Jonathan, Nelson Mandela among others. The list is endless. But the circumstances of their birth and condition they find themselves contrast with those they named them after.

They are orphans born into the world but abandoned by their parents. The conditions some of them were found when abandoned tell of the callous nature of their mothers. The children who were picked from the unreasonable places they were dumped by their mothers are all inmates of the Mother Theresa Orphanage in Gwarimpa Housing Estate, Abuja. A visit to that home is an emotion draining affair. There have been stories of weeping of barren women who visit the home. There was the particular story of a woman who broke down in tears after the children sang for her.

However, for Yeye Bolanle Dare, Proprietress of the orphanage, there is hope for the 37 children whose future in life was initially endangered by those who are supposed to nurse them to adulthood. Believing in the epic philosophy that there is power in a name, Mrs. Dare, a former journalist with the Vanguard Newspapers, born 42 years ago to the family of Dare Ifewara in Osun State is re-branding the children with the names of very important personalities (VIPs).

Mrs. Dare, fondly called Bola by her admirers had a robust career as a reporter with some of the nation’s leading dailies and magazines. Initially, it seemed she would remain glued to her cherished profession in her lifetime. But that was not to be. Destiny, however, changed all that as she found herself in a new world, where absorbing the burden and pains of orphans became her pre-occupation. With each passing day, the Mother Theresa Children Home, which she founded less than two years ago, is increasingly bubbling with fascinating activities. Welcome to the world of Mrs. Bolanle Dare, a mother of four with 37 children in her orphanage home. But Bolanle, 42, nurses a tall and unenviable ambition of bearing the cross for over 250 orphans in the near future.

Background
Born into the Ifewara family, a polygamous home in Osun state, her father was a cop and her mum, an optician. She grew up in the coal city of Enugu in the Eastern part of Nigeria where she had her secondary and tertiary education. After her education, she went into media practices, Where she worked with the Vanguard newspaper and Hint magazine in 1987 among others. Asked why she left journalism, she explained that she was taught to love, care and be helpful to people. Perhaps, that’s why I am in this business today; I opened the orphanage on my 40th birthday, precisely on the 6th of December 2007 with three children.

But by the special grace of God, today, we have about 31 babies. After my working experience in the media industry, I decided to be a philanthropist, therefore helping people around me. This is because I have the calling and I have the passion to take up the responsibility. I am grateful to God today, that at my age I have been able to impact on the lives of abandon babies.  It’s a job that I have committed myself to doing for the rest of my life. If I’m given the opportunity, I want to have a village where I can take care of 250 orphans and even more”.

Inspiration
The philanthropic impulse is as old as recorded history. Certainly all the great religions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism, recognize and encourage a duty to aid the less fortunate. For Mrs. Dare, being a Christian is not only a source of inspiration for her to engage in this noble responsibility, she believes it’s the passion. ‘‘The first thing is that you must have the passion to do it, the calling to do it and the grace of God. What I am doing today is already in my destiny; God has put in place everything so as not to inconvenience me. I am also inspired as a mother,” she says.

Getting orphans and the adoption process
The rate of abandon babies in our society is growing at an alarming rate. Many teenage mothers consider their little bundle of joy to be mountain of problem, thereby having no other option than dumping their babies at unreasonable places. Mrs. Dare explained how the Mother Theresa Children home get information about abandoned babies and how they are later adopted by people who would take good care of them. “We are in partnership with the social welfare department of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). When babies are abandoned, the attention of the police is called and the police make a report and send to the social welfare department, who would now give out these babies to orphanages. Why I opt for only newly born babies to be sent to my orphanage is because of my calling.

The Mother Theresa Children Home is equipped with the basic essentials that a baby need. The environment is tidy and we take good care of the babies. Each baby has his or her documents; from the time the police found them till when they are brought to the orphanage; they all have documented police report. Talking about the adoption process, she said “we don’t handle adoption procedure in the orphanage. That’s the duty of the social welfare. Interested people who want to adopt a baby should go the office of the social welfare department Abuja. From there, they would be given a form to fill and the person would go through the procedure and given necessary information they need to know. And if the social welfare is satisfied with the candidate, we are then contacted and a baby is then adopted. This is very simple. These are government babies. We take good care of them and then the government gives the babies to whoever they think is capable to adopt them.”

Naming babies after great personalities
Going through the skillfully decorated rooms of the babies at the Mother Theresa Children Home, you would notice that the youngest babies are between two to three months old while the oldest child is about a year old. Another salient thing is that these babies bear real names of great people who are doing great things in the world today. For Mrs. Dare the reasons is simple ‘‘I named the babies after outstanding people because it is spiritual, I believe the name you call a child is the name the child would grow up to answer and this has a positive effect on a child. I believe in giving a child a good name. I have a baby after my name, Bolanle. I want the baby to be greater than Yeye Bola Dare in future. I also have babies named after President Musa Yar’dua and the first lady Haija Turai Yar’Adua. We have baby Barrack Obama. We named the baby after the president of the United State because the baby was found during the inauguration ceremony of President Barrack Obama and we also have a Michelle Obama. We have baby Goodluck Jonathan after the vice President of this great country. There is also baby Nelson Mandela who was also found on the day the great former South African president marked his 90th birthday. I really want these children to be great. I also named these babies after some of my friends and people I know are great with a good heart. I want the babies to grow up like these great people they are named after.’’

Financial responsibility
Its a known fact that the price of baby food, clothing and accessories in the market is skyrocketing on a daily basic.
How does she cope with the financial workload of keeping the orphanage running? Mrs. Dare explains “We encounter a lot of financial obligations. These babies are taken care of with the best of baby products available in the country. The babies in my orphanage look healthy, strong and beautiful. You don’t expect the skin of a baby that is using the best of Johnson products not to glow. Each day we use at least a carton of baby food and other baby supplements. Health care is another prominent thing that we do not joke with in the orphanage. Our doctors come in every week to give the babies health attention and care.

We buy drugs worth a lot of money. The major challenge is finance. We have forty staff; thirty nannies that run shifts and others that keep the place clean. To keep the place in constant electricity, we buy diesel for generators, food and clothing’s for the babies. Sometimes, we have been able to get significant assistance from good Nigerians who have helped us.? We hope more Nigerians would come to our support because it is not a one man’s job. It’s a job for everybody. The babies are God’s children and its everybody’s responsibility to take care of them so that we would give them the best.

We also take care of the babies clothing’s and accessories like toys, shoes for boys and girls in different colours and designs. So you would agree with me that these financial obligations are not easy. But I believe in giving the babies the best, I don’t believe I have to look good out there but when people come to my  orphanage they wouldn’t see my babies looking good as I do. If not for the passion, we know it’s not an easy job. But the Lord is our strength.

Advice
Children are regarded as treasure to many families; one that brings laughter and joy to mothers all over the world. While some are loved and cherished, many are abandoned, wrapped inside cartons and left beside huge refuse dumps to die or face the harsh weather condition. For those who abandoned thier babies, Mrs. Dare has this to say  “Let me use this medium to address girls that abandon their babies in refuse dumps and other dangerous places where the baby is exposed to harsh weather and all that. We want to say they should stop it, it’s not good to abandon newly born babies like that. Instead, you can go to any orphanage and we will help you take care of your baby. You don’t have to leave the baby to die somewhere. They are precious gifts from God and should be well taken care of. Also Nigerians should develop the adopting spirit. You can adopt a baby to train or educate, irrespective of whether you  have children or not. Make it a responsibility to help one or two babies. This will in turn help the orphanage and the government.