BELMON SHOW

NTA HOST BELMON AT WATER PARKS TO CELEBRATE CHILDREN ON VALENTINE'S DAY

2010-03-19T19:05:00.000-07:00

Children are the reasons behind our every day happiness or sadness. Every activity we carry out, affect a nearer child. BELMON did not fail her show for the children on Valentine’s day at the Water parks, hosted by Nigerian Television Authority(NTA) to make the kids happy with exciting performances. Other artists present are: X-Project, Davina, Azizat and other top Nigerian music stars who care so much for children.

THE TALK

2010-02-25T02:59:00.000-08:00

Watch out for
the TALK

BELMON (DIRECTOR-SYMPATHY WORLD WIDE FOUNDATION)
AND
CHAZ B (PRESENTER-INSPIRATION FM)

AN ENCOUNTER: THE WAR AGAINST PROSTITUTION

2010-02-25T02:42:00.001-08:00

A renowned spiritual teacher Sri Chinmoy once said,
“Sympathy does not think, it acts, it acts to remove the ceaseless suffering of the world”,

Sympathy World Wide Foundation in harmony with this, says that “Sympathy” is within, it burns and it results are our natural love and care to save the world.

The foundation has survived for seven years since 2003 without support from any organization or person. It has since been functioning, carrying out it campaigns against prostitution on charity basis.

In an interview with the founder, Belmon, by FLAMESTHOUGHTS on how she survives without income, she said “it is by divine providence and grace”

Well, that is the summary of the whole sum of money she has been expending-putting into the foundation, for the sake of saving lives and the future women from the maladies of prostitution.

Students in Festac girls in the Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area, would not forget the memory of the “The War Against Prostitution”, during the visit of Sympathy World Wide Foundation to their school. It was a noon of nourishment, a moment of movement. This time around, the show was well kitted with branded t-shirts, banners, and media equipment.

With the opening uproar, like a Roman arena would commence, it eventually calmed as the first speaker came on stage. His name,Uche Uwadinachi, a performance poet, an author and project manager for the Foundation.

He was the MC and poet of the day. Following his introductory spoken word launch. He ushered in the first music performance by Belmon. She was looking stunning and ready to fly. The speakers were faithful from behind in clear sound blast of “Emi oh” from her album. The students danced with jubilation.

The next speaker that came on, was the serenity of the moment. The full hall was as quiet as an exam auditorium, when Ayomiku Ofesua looked through their eyes and told them her life.
Her sad love song, of how she was deflowered and impregnated at the age of sixteen, under the pressures of persuasion and ignorance, fumed the atmosphere.

It was this predicament she encountered that shattered her early life but she took up courage and started again.The teenagers were absolved in sympathy and empathy for her and themselves.

The most interesting and incredible part of her story and her courage, was that she eventually ended up, a graduate of Mass Communication with a first class honour.

Ruth Orieke, a graduate of psychology from Covenant University had her own life testimony to share with the students. She pointed that immodesty is not a value of being educated or matured. She told them that she is thirty years old and a graduate, yet she is still a virgin, simply because she wants to give that pride of virginity to her rightful husband.

It was thus a matter of decision and not of an irresistible trend.

It was now time for Belmon to give the war talk. She braced up her breath and delivered what the children adopted as a battle chant against prostitution. Her facts ran first through the truths that the body is the pride of womanhood and if it messed up, nothing stands up for you. It is like disrobing a king/queen.

She highlighted the fact that the body of the woman is the last thing she should trade with to survive, because it is worth more than a survival, it is life itself.

The war to her, was cause to be conscious, prepared to recognize and face the worst pressures from peers, family, society and even the country. The best way of defense is attack, thus preparedness and discipline are the sword and armour. This was the BELMON CREED.

The talk show and campaign finally came to an end as the children registered their will and faith to fight the war against prostitution in their lives by listing their names and joining the “emi oh” dance again.

It was a memorable day of bliss in the history of teenage-women empowerment to Sympathy World Wide Foundation.

SYMPATHY WORLD WIDE FOUNDATION STORMS ST JUDE COLLEGE FESTAC

2010-02-25T02:35:00.000-08:00

Mother Theresa had noted,
“being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat”.

Beyond the physical torture of hunger, is the groan to survive through the nearest and available means without reference to the obvious possible dangers.

Sympathy World Wide Foundation, provides that love, care and awareness to growing adolescent girls in secondary schools: to teach and prepare her mind on how to face the seemly inevitable option of surviving on prostitution in the present tough and poor economy situation.

St Jude College Festac Town, a private Secondary School took the ground for a great show in the campaign against prostitution. In its usual storm, Belmon, the energetic and motivational singer, entertained and inspired the students with her hit ”Emi oh”, a song that calls for an bold dance.

Ayomiku Ofesua, as usual received so much attention during her talk, following the narration of her deep emotional encounter in teen hood.

Belmon concluded the show by giving to the young students, key notes on the pride of virginity, she says virginity is not a lack of opportunity as popularized by some selfish fanatics. It is a choice of dignity and discipline – to the growing adolescent in her wildest chance of pleasurable expeditions and satisfaction.

According to Belmon, you are better off a bricklayer, as a woman than a prostitute. The adverse effect to her lines through the biological, psychological and sociological damages encountered by the victim.

The show ended with a senior perfect pouring out her profound gratitude to the organization on behalf of the school and entire students.

SYMPATHY WORLDWIDE FOUNDATION VISIT AMUWO ODOFIN GRAMMAR SCHOOL

2010-02-04T04:35:00.000-08:00

Teen/teenage-hood is the cradle of every formative idea and lifestyle. Sympathy world wide foundation as part of her pet project, visited Amuwo Odofin Grammar School. The mission is aimed at stopping the secondary school children from considering prostitution as an option in life-irrespective of any pressuring situation. The officials of this project is an 8-Man-crew. The leader is Belmon, who doubles as a musician, she is the founder and president of organisation. Belmon after performing one of her hit track ‘Emi o ’( from her album), began a pep-talk to the children, bringing close to their minds, the ills and traumas of prostitution.

Also a psychologist,Ruth Onuiri highlighted the psychological adverse effect of prostitution and recommended, obtainable advice and remedies to the pupils/students. A female journalist,Ayomikun who almost got ruined due to early or rather premature encounter in sex, gives her testimony and lessons.

Other members of the crew who also participated strongly were in the technical,they are the DJ, video man, photographer, stage manager and the project coordinator. The teenagers were motivated as they poured out their emotional plight, sexual challenges and repentance to Belmon, the journalist and the psychologist. These positive reactions also cheerfully affected their respond to Belmon when she played again.
This event among others was remarkable for the strong cooperation of the teacher, students and parents who attended, however this is one of the innovation that Sympathy World Wide Foundation has obliged itself to implement.

SYMPATHY WORLDWIDE FOUNDATION

2010-01-29T07:48:00.000-08:00

Sympathy Worldwide Foundation is a non-governmental organization, established in 2003 to tackle the needs of some group of people such as commercial sex-workers, orphans and widows, etc. it is registered with the cooperate affairs commission and functions in three dimension: rehabilitation, entrepreneurship and child care.

The foundation is made up of four core departments: programs, administrations, accounts, monitoring/evaluations, under the leadership of a project director(Belmon), and the supervision of a four-member board of trustees.

OUR VISION:

A bridge-builder targeted at unleashing the potentials of people for positive development of mankind.

OUR MISSION:

Creating careful opportunities to develop the talents and skill of people in different quarters, and to support balanced development.

OBJECTIVES:

1* To provide communities with information and counseling on the areas of moral and sex-education through the promotion of non-indulgence in commercial sex work to women and youths

2* To expose life skills as well as develop individual and collective sense of responsibility, self-confidence, autonomy, usefulness, cooperation, decision making and initiative, basically among women and youths

3* To advocate for policies to ameliorate the socio-economic challenges of grassroots communities

4* To provide adequate child-care-support to the appropriate quarters and stand up against child abuse and human trafficking

5* To empower widows with entrepreneurial skills to increase their opportunities for self reliance.

AMUWO ODOFIN LOCAL GOVERNMENT BIDS COURAGE TO BELMON ( SYMPATHY WORLD WIDE FOUNDATION)

2010-01-25T03:34:00.000-08:00

A SPEECH DELIVERED BY THE LORD MAYOR, AMUWO ODOFIN LOCAL GOVERNMENT, COMRADE AYODELE ADEWALE ON THE OCCASION OF “WAR AGAINST PROSTITUTION” ORGANISED BY, SYMPATHY WORLDWIDE FOUNDATION [SWWF] TODAY, 11TH DECEMBER, 2009.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen!

Protocols Observed!!

First and foremost, I must commend the efforts of Sympathy Worldwide Foundation [SWWF] in joining the government in solving one of society’s problems.

Our administration believes in Corporate Social Responsibility [CSR] in making our people and environment better than how we met them.
Before I go to the topic before me today, it is imperative to address the theme for this year’s campaign which is “War against Prostitution” and equally identify the causative factors of this social menace which will help this organization to achieve its target goals.

I will like to inform this gathering that, acts of prostitution is a spiritual matter that needs spiritual weapon to wage war against it. I must confess that war against prostitution is a winnable war if the right weapons are used and right steps taken.

In medical discipline, no disease can be cured until the ailment is diagnosed. What are the factors that breed prostitution in our society? Why are young ladies with promising future suddenly turning to commercial sex – workers? Perhaps we would find answers to the aforementioned questions in the underlined factors.
Without a doubt, poor children upbringing inculcates in children different social vices. All acts of learning starts from the home that explains, the reason why parents and guardians should rise up to their duties. The bible says, “train up a child the way he should go, when he grows up he would not depart from it.” Home sets foundation for children’s character formation and patterns of life therefore, if the foundation is destroyed, what will the righteous do?

Social interaction is another factor that predisposes young ladies to prostitution. The peer group influence cannot be over-emphasized in this regard as the saying goes, “show me your friends and I will tell you who you are.”The friends we keep play vital roles in attitude formation, therefore, I implore our children here present to say no when a friend entices you to do evil and immoral practices.
As a matter of fact, we cannot rule out the effect of economic decadence on the people. Research shows that a lot of secondary school leavers and unemployed young graduates indulge in prostitution as a means of survival, forgetting the adverse effect of their action. Prostitution will only give temporary solution to immediate problems leaving one in life time of regret and psychological trauma.

Ladies and gentlemen, the psychological damage on the prostituted people and the society at large anchors on the following factors:
*Prostitution leads to inferiority complex and low self esteem.
*It leads to loss of integrity and individual virtues.
*Prostitution brings about social-maladjusted youths in the society.
*Acts of prostitution is cancerous to human vision, dreams and goals.
*Prostitution develops psychological imbalance in the prostitutes. Hence they find it difficult to settle down in marriage.

*Prostitutes see themselves as misfits to the society and as well feel rejected.
However, aside from the psychological damage of prostitution to the people, it could lead to infection with sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as: Syphilis, Staphylococcus, Gonorrhea and HIV/AIDS, which shortens life span.
Distinguished guests, permit me to inform this gathering that, His Excellency, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, (SAN) the Executive Governor of Lagos State has joined you in this crusade. Recently, the Lagos State Government declared war against nude clubs and brothels in order to bring prostitution to barest minimum while human empowerment programmes are being initiated to help both the haves and have not.

In addition, our administration in Amuwo Odofin Local Government has not relented in this regard. We empower our people educationally and support them socially to fulfill their God given talents, and aspirations. Free 500 JAMB forms and 600 GCE forms were given to the indigent students within Amuwo Odofin environs.

Also, four hundred and thirty (430) jobs of which both the learned and unlearned were the beneficiaries with minimum stipends of N10,000 paid to each of them monthly, we have collaborated with various organizations such as NANTAP and Be Kool Afrique in marking their anniversary and exhibition programme.

I make bold to inform you that we run responsive government to believe in good governance, listen to the plight of our people and implement people oriented programmes, it is only left to our youths to channel their energy towards productive and constructive activities that would help them in fulfilling their goals as well contribute to the development of our society. Thanks and God bless you all.

Long live Sympathy Worldwide Foundation.

Amuwo Odofin and Eko O ni baje O!

Comrade Ayodele Adewale.
THE LORD MAYOR,

For more info on this,click AMUWO ODOFIN WEBSITE

BELMON’S BIOGRAPHY

2009-12-29T06:09:00.000-08:00

She has been described by the Guardian Newspaper as ‘a gift to the street girls’ and by Flamesthoughts as the ‘Ebony Goddess ‘– an Africa remedy to the pride of woman.

Her actual name is Ebelechukwu Liss Nwuzor, hailed from Anambra state in Njekoka L.G.A. A graduate of History and Archeology in the University of Calabar - Cross river state. Her earlier school-educations were at girls’ secondary school Umunachi, Anambra state and Ezechima primary school, Inland town Onitsha.

She had her NYSC in Lagos at Chairman Services Limited Festac town Lagos. Her foremost working experience(s) after service was with Royal Ventures LTD, and Rose of Sharon Ltd in Surulere Lagos as a prolific Marketing Manager.

Presently she is the president and founder of Sympathy World Wide Foundation- a voluntary organization geared towards reducing prostitution at all cost and to also encourage entrepreneurship among the poor and economically challenged women, in our society.
The foundation was registered in 2003 with the CAC and has been functional since its inception.. Her genre of music balances between Afro beat, Makosa, R&B, Dancehall and Hip pop beat, etc and this is evident in her 10 tracker album released on June 2008. She has performed live on several occasions including churches, television shows, community funerals and wedding ceremonies. All these have helped maintain wave on air-play in Nigeria and also on OHTV in London.

This pretty brunette-skin lady presently is working with some local government chairmen in ensuring that the project runs in their communities as Workshops and Seminars. Also she energetically and creatively prepares a baby project titled BELMON SHOW, a television series soon to storm our local television/cable stations .This particular project is to activate an open forum which will involve everyone in solving the problem of prostitution in the country.

Source:click here

Mission to save street girls

2009-12-18T10:39:00.001-08:00

BY CHUKS NWANNE( Guardian Life Magazine )

Initially, she was introduced to me as a gospel artiste, but from our discussion, there’s more to Ebele Nwuzor than just singing on stage.
“Music is a cut away from what I do,” she says smiling. “I run a Foundation that discourages prostitution. We also have some other sections of the Foundation that is into childcare…basically for the less privileged. But the one closer to my heart, is the prostitution thing.”
For Ebele, the mission is to take prostitutes off the streets and make them useful to themselves and the country in general, through her Sympathy Worldwide Foundation.
“We have a lot of beautiful girls on the street, and we are depending on God to help us pull them out of the street, rehabilitate them and probably give them back to the society; I believe they have a lot to offer,” she says.
But why is the Anambra State native so much interested in sex hawkers, who seem to be having the fun of their lives?
“It was God’s inspiration coupled with my passion to save the girls because I grew up in a home that almost exposed me to prostitution,” she quips.

BELMON, as she’s popularly known, lost her father at the age of two, and the burden of training the six children of the family fell on the mother. “He left a young lady of about 23 to cater for six children; I’m the fifth and the last girl. As a young girl growing up, a lot of people will tell you, ‘oh, you are a fine girl.’ And if you have limited resources to bring out what you believe is inside of you, you will be wooed by men into prostitution.”
Are you saying you’ve been in such situation before?
“Of course I have,” she says. “I’ve been in the middle many times and it was like, ‘where do I go from here?’ And the only option was prostitution. But if you are somebody that places value… if you have value for yourself, that’s the first thing that will discourage you from prostitution.”
According to the History and Humanities graduate from the University of Calabar, a good number of the girls go into prostitution as a result of poor value system.
“Of course they don’t have value for themselves,” she says. “You first of all need to understand that you are a woman. From that point, you ask yourself, ‘whom do I give my body to?’ I’m not saying don’t have a boyfriend — it’s a different thing. But your body should go to somebody you adore, and somebody that adores you in return. From there, anything can spark up,” she notes. “But to stand on the street and say, ‘I’m ready for Charlie; I’m ready for Peter; I’m ready for Paul, I’m ready for James… that’s not placing value on you.”

DESPITE all the challenges, Ebele was able to hold herself throughout the university, to the extent of having a foundation for other ladies, who unfortunately fell out of the way due to hardship.
“One of the hardest foundations to run is the one that deals with commercial sex hawkers because they are addicted to what they do,” she says ruefully. “Pulling someone out of the addiction takes a whole lot of resources; they don’t even believe they could come out of it; even when they do, the other side of life seems to be very boring to them. As I said earlier, with passion and perseverance, we will restore them.”
She continues: “I believe in what I’m doing, and I’m focused. It’s very discouraging especially in a situation where you don’t have people encouraging you. Everywhere we turn to they tell you, ‘oh no, anything from Nigeria, we don’t want to be involved.’ So, you don’t seem to have sponsors; even when you tell people what you do, they will be like, ‘ah, I’m scared, I can’t go into that.’ You need to have a large heart to do this. You must understand in life that everything you do is one step at a time; you can’t change the whole world at the same time, but you can change one person that can change others.”

REGISTERED with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in 2003, the Foundation, which has an office in Lagos, is struggling to provide the girls with a home.
“Most times, because we don’t have shelter to house some of the girls we’ve been able to pull out, they tend to go back. Sometimes when they go back, they don’t go to their former state, they change location and it becomes more challenging. But then, we keep doing it with the hope that one-day, we will have a hostel for them.”
On the Foundations mode of operation, Ebele informs, “We talk to them and try to bring them out.”
Do you go to them?
“Yes, I go to their brothel myself; I do; I try to be their friend.”
How was the experience?
“It’s not fun at all because you come to talk to someone, who has been smoking marijuana (Igbo) or alcohol; and you are going to disturb their peace, ‘who are you?’ If you are not careful, they will break your head,” she says. “But most times, you go as their friend; you don’t even need to tell them anything. Just keep visiting and after sometime, they will be interested in you.”
Sometimes, she’s attacked.
“I’ve been attacked, but it was not too aggressive; at least someone has once told me ‘stop disturbing my peace.’ But I take it to be one of those challenges.
“For instance, I was in Hearts Exclusive Club, FESTAC, Lagos, three weeks ago, and I was able to get two girls; they gave me their names, but you know they always change names,” she discloses. “Through one of them, I was able to get to their brothel, where I discovered a lot of them. So, right now, I’m working on four of them.”
From her personal savings, Ebele intends to put a roof over the four girls.
“I intend to move them gradually without letting each know that the other is moving. There’s a particular one that is more homely; I intend to move her to my house. I’m planning to get an apartment for the rest, but you still need somebody to stay there and oversee them. So, everything goes down to getting a hostel for them.”
Aside getting the girls our of the brothels, the Foundation is also trying to provide something through which they can earn a living and stay away from prostitution.
“I am trying to get a job for one of them. One of them has indicated interest in singing and since I sing, I intend to take her along while another has shown interest in sewing; I’ll send her to a friend, who has a fashion house,” she pledged. “So, it’s when you get closer to them that you discover their talent. We help them to push on without letting people know what they were –– if they dress well, you will never find out what they were.”
Where does the money come from?
“I deny myself dresses and comfort to keep the girls.”
So, you deny yourself sometimes?
“Of course I do,” she says. “For the past few days, I did… there are things you do and after you ask yourself, ‘did I really do this?’ The money I spent in the past two days, if anyone had told me I was going to spend it, I would not have believed it. But I did it because, someday, it’s going to pay off. Pay off in the sense that you will see the tears of fulfillment coming down your cheeks, then you look and say, ‘oh, I’ve finished this work.”
According to the initiator, her decision to set up the foundation has nothing to do with amassing wealth.
“I’m putting my money; it’s all about my money, there’s no other sponsor. As I’m talking to you now, I’ve not received a Kobo from anyone in form of sponsorship,” she said. “It’s not because people are going to appreciate you; well if you are going to have all that, glory be to God. But because you look at some job that is finished; a life that is headed towards destruction and you took part in bringing them back, there’s nothing as rewarding as that.”
Though music was the last thing on Ebele’s mind, today, it has become one of her major tools in the foundation.
“Sometimes, I play free for students, after which I mentor them on how to avoid social vices. I’ve always wondered how people write songs; it’s like a mystery to me,” she muses. “But how I wrote up to eight tracks for my album, Emio, I can’t explain. In fact, I never wanted to associate myself with anything music. Those days, in the university, I used to see people wake up and go to theatre to dance; and I will be wondering why. But later on, I began to write, and I’ve started jumping on the stage too. But it’s all about the passion I have for the foundation.”

To view this article on Belmon on the Guardian Blog CLICK HERE

Mission to save street girls

2009-12-18T10:39:00.000-08:00

BY CHUKS NWANNE( Guardian Life Magazine )

Initially, she was introduced to me as a gospel artiste, but from our discussion, there’s more to Ebele Nwuzor than just singing on stage.
“Music is a cut away from what I do,” she says smiling. “I run a Foundation that discourages prostitution. We also have some other sections of the Foundation that is into childcare…basically for the less privileged. But the one closer to my heart, is the prostitution thing.”
For Ebele, the mission is to take prostitutes off the streets and make them useful to themselves and the country in general, through her Sympathy Worldwide Foundation.
“We have a lot of beautiful girls on the street, and we are depending on God to help us pull them out of the street, rehabilitate them and probably give them back to the society; I believe they have a lot to offer,” she says.
But why is the Anambra State native so much interested in sex hawkers, who seem to be having the fun of their lives?
“It was God’s inspiration coupled with my passion to save the girls because I grew up in a home that almost exposed me to prostitution,” she quips.

BELMON, as she’s popularly known, lost her father at the age of two, and the burden of training the six children of the family fell on the mother. “He left a young lady of about 23 to cater for six children; I’m the fifth and the last girl. As a young girl growing up, a lot of people will tell you, ‘oh, you are a fine girl.’ And if you have limited resources to bring out what you believe is inside of you, you will be wooed by men into prostitution.”
Are you saying you’ve been in such situation before?
“Of course I have,” she says. “I’ve been in the middle many times and it was like, ‘where do I go from here?’ And the only option was prostitution. But if you are somebody that places value… if you have value for yourself, that’s the first thing that will discourage you from prostitution.”
According to the History and Humanities graduate from the University of Calabar, a good number of the girls go into prostitution as a result of poor value system.
“Of course they don’t have value for themselves,” she says. “You first of all need to understand that you are a woman. From that point, you ask yourself, ‘whom do I give my body to?’ I’m not saying don’t have a boyfriend — it’s a different thing. But your body should go to somebody you adore, and somebody that adores you in return. From there, anything can spark up,” she notes. “But to stand on the street and say, ‘I’m ready for Charlie; I’m ready for Peter; I’m ready for Paul, I’m ready for James… that’s not placing value on you.”

DESPITE all the challenges, Ebele was able to hold herself throughout the university, to the extent of having a foundation for other ladies, who unfortunately fell out of the way due to hardship.
“One of the hardest foundations to run is the one that deals with commercial sex hawkers because they are addicted to what they do,” she says ruefully. “Pulling someone out of the addiction takes a whole lot of resources; they don’t even believe they could come out of it; even when they do, the other side of life seems to be very boring to them. As I said earlier, with passion and perseverance, we will restore them.”
She continues: “I believe in what I’m doing, and I’m focused. It’s very discouraging especially in a situation where you don’t have people encouraging you. Everywhere we turn to they tell you, ‘oh no, anything from Nigeria, we don’t want to be involved.’ So, you don’t seem to have sponsors; even when you tell people what you do, they will be like, ‘ah, I’m scared, I can’t go into that.’ You need to have a large heart to do this. You must understand in life that everything you do is one step at a time; you can’t change the whole world at the same time, but you can change one person that can change others.”

REGISTERED with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in 2003, the Foundation, which has an office in Lagos, is struggling to provide the girls with a home.
“Most times, because we don’t have shelter to house some of the girls we’ve been able to pull out, they tend to go back. Sometimes when they go back, they don’t go to their former state, they change location and it becomes more challenging. But then, we keep doing it with the hope that one-day, we will have a hostel for them.”
On the Foundations mode of operation, Ebele informs, “We talk to them and try to bring them out.”
Do you go to them?
“Yes, I go to their brothel myself; I do; I try to be their friend.”
How was the experience?
“It’s not fun at all because you come to talk to someone, who has been smoking marijuana (Igbo) or alcohol; and you are going to disturb their peace, ‘who are you?’ If you are not careful, they will break your head,” she says. “But most times, you go as their friend; you don’t even need to tell them anything. Just keep visiting and after sometime, they will be interested in you.”
Sometimes, she’s attacked.
“I’ve been attacked, but it was not too aggressive; at least someone has once told me ‘stop disturbing my peace.’ But I take it to be one of those challenges.
“For instance, I was in Hearts Exclusive Club, FESTAC, Lagos, three weeks ago, and I was able to get two girls; they gave me their names, but you know they always change names,” she discloses. “Through one of them, I was able to get to their brothel, where I discovered a lot of them. So, right now, I’m working on four of them.”
From her personal savings, Ebele intends to put a roof over the four girls.
“I intend to move them gradually without letting each know that the other is moving. There’s a particular one that is more homely; I intend to move her to my house. I’m planning to get an apartment for the rest, but you still need somebody to stay there and oversee them. So, everything goes down to getting a hostel for them.”
Aside getting the girls our of the brothels, the Foundation is also trying to provide something through which they can earn a living and stay away from prostitution.
“I am trying to get a job for one of them. One of them has indicated interest in singing and since I sing, I intend to take her along while another has shown interest in sewing; I’ll send her to a friend, who has a fashion house,” she pledged. “So, it’s when you get closer to them that you discover their talent. We help them to push on without letting people know what they were –– if they dress well, you will never find out what they were.”
Where does the money come from?
“I deny myself dresses and comfort to keep the girls.”
So, you deny yourself sometimes?
“Of course I do,” she says. “For the past few days, I did… there are things you do and after you ask yourself, ‘did I really do this?’ The money I spent in the past two days, if anyone had told me I was going to spend it, I would not have believed it. But I did it because, someday, it’s going to pay off. Pay off in the sense that you will see the tears of fulfillment coming down your cheeks, then you look and say, ‘oh, I’ve finished this work.”
According to the initiator, her decision to set up the foundation has nothing to do with amassing wealth.
“I’m putting my money; it’s all about my money, there’s no other sponsor. As I’m talking to you now, I’ve not received a Kobo from anyone in form of sponsorship,” she said. “It’s not because people are going to appreciate you; well if you are going to have all that, glory be to God. But because you look at some job that is finished; a life that is headed towards destruction and you took part in bringing them back, there’s nothing as rewarding as that.”
Though music was the last thing on Ebele’s mind, today, it has become one of her major tools in the foundation.
“Sometimes, I play free for students, after which I mentor them on how to avoid social vices. I’ve always wondered how people write songs; it’s like a mystery to me,” she muses. “But how I wrote up to eight tracks for my album, Emio, I can’t explain. In fact, I never wanted to associate myself with anything music. Those days, in the university, I used to see people wake up and go to theatre to dance; and I will be wondering why. But later on, I began to write, and I’ve started jumping on the stage too. But it’s all about the passion I have for the foundation.”

source:
http://theguardianlifemagazine.blogspot.com/2009/03/mission-to-save-street-girls.html