Meet widowed Oroyemi Olanike, who is taking care of 102 children in an Osun village

In Moro, a village located in Ife North, Osun state, there is an orphanage home which houses over 102 children. The 12-room structure is run by Oroyemi Elizabeth Olanike, a retired headmistress whose late husband was also an educationist.

Despite a tight purse and shrinking space, Olanike continues to accept orphans, physically-challenged children and strays who have nowhere else to go and no one to turn to. Since retiring as headmistress of St Judes Primary School, Moro, in December 2012, she has done nothing more than taking care of children who can’t help themselves.

As we conversed, an infant tugged at the hem of her skirt while she perched on a wooden chair in her birth daughter’s tailoring shop, which also doubles as the cloth-making centre for Covenant Orphanage Home.

She occasionally patted the back of the infant as if to tell him to exercise patience till her hosts take their leave. All the children call her ‘mummy’. She is whatever they need her to be; mother one moment and teacher when necessary.

The Cable, Monday, April 1

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