tacfBIZARRE! ABUJA COMMUNITIES WHERE TWINS, BABIES ARE KILLED
It’s unlike me to do long write-ups on social media. I know how ineffective it is however beautiful your message is. But, kindly bear with me on this occasion and be patient to read through. This is a story that will melt the stoniest of hearts.
Sometime early in the year, I was gisting with Buchi and he mentioned to me something bizarre and unbelievable. Buchi by the way is one of my sons and a youth leader, passionate about anything he does. He told me that there is a village in the city where they kill new-born twins. My ears tingled as though there was a piercing inside my eardrums. It was like a bombshell, I couldn’t believe it. This is Abuja, the FCT, seat of the government of Nigeria. “I am serious daddy”, he said, “we were there on evangelism from campus”. I lost my peace and I decided I was going to visit. Unfortunately, this couldn’t materialise as a result of Covid-19. I therefore decided to visit on my birthday, again, there were #endsars protests everywhere. Against all odds, I eventually did with some of the indefatigable members of The Adekunle Child Foundation (TACF) team.
As we drove into the interiors of Kuje, a suburb of the FCT, made famous more for the prison the community hosts, but host also to Vine Heritage Homes , I kept thinking……
Meanwhile, I had over the phone spoken to Dr. Mrs. Stevens, university don who with her husband have been doing an amazing work, unsung, in the FCT of rescuing endangered, innocent babies. The first question I asked her was, “is this true”? She confirmed it is. So I kept thinking: after almost a century and a half that a Scottish missionary had dedicated her life to eradication of the killing of twins among the Efik in the South-East of Nigeria, is this happening in today’s Nigeria, the federal capital? But yes, it is, and this is 2020, 21st Century and it’s no fairy tale. I am privileged to have visited the epitaph of the legendary Mary Slessor in Duke Town, Calabar where she was buried. This fact, in addition to the fact that I am a father of twins, stressfully explains the emotions that engulfed me.
We met the rugged Pastor Sola Stevens who is the father of the home. His story was chilling as I fought back tears. His resilience and commitment to purpose is such as I hardly ever have seen. The story started in 1996 when his fiancée then, now his wife, was posted to a rural community in the FCT as a missionary. That was when she discovered the bizarre practice of human sacrifice of babies in the community. Their Mission posted Pastor Sola, then also a bachelor, to provide support. This was how they discovered that her initial discovery was only a tip of the iceberg for more horrid, frightful discoveries that were to be made – they discovered 68 other neighbouring communities with similar practice. Since then, the couple have been stuck in the area, sold out and sacrificed to the cause they have been divinely mandated to pursue.
Vine Heritage Homes is not just an orphanage, it is much more. Whilst we thought that only twins were being rescued, it is a haven for babies whose only ‘sin’ was to have been born unique. It is a refuge for twins, triplets, albinos, babies whose upper canines grew first, babies with some form of deformity including polio, and even babies whose mothers died while breastfeeding. Such babies were either fed with poisonous herbal roots, left in the wild to starve to death or buried alive with the mother. In those days when vehicles were scarce in those rural areas, Pastor Sola would travel 35 km on foot to and fro each trip, on rescue missions, sometimes on a daily basis. The children, all of who are sons and daughters of the Stevens, number over 120 and still counting. Though through their efforts they have been able to significantly reduce these practices, the newest member of the family is just 4 months old! Now in the home, is a school.
The Stevens have become a living sacrifice. They are an epitome of humanity, beacons of hope for babies whom demonic traditions of men and satanic heathen cultures have decreed have no reason to live. They are fulfilling the mandate of the Creator over these children.
The home needs support. TACF in its own little way sowed a seed, but we feel we can do more. In the event that your heart is touched to reach out to the home and these lovely children, kindly reach me through an inbox message or through WhatsApp 08055103512. Children’s clothes, shoes etc are welcome.
‘Femi Adekunle © 2020
