In Ajegunle, area boys shun hemp smoking

By COSMAS OMEGOH

Many in Ajegunle, a sprawling Lagos slum, recently found a new life, among them some hemp-smoking ‘area boys’ who had held the area by the jugular. The were led to embrace a changed life when a Non-Governmental-Organisation (NGO), Paincare Outreach, visited the area, bringing food and healthcare to many of the residents.

And while the visit lasted, some of the attendees have been dying silently owing to the local concoctions they have been taking all the while. “Coming to Ajegunle is like going to the days of Sodom and Gomorrah,” spiritual leader of the Paincare Outreach team, Steve Akindasa, said. However, Ajegunle turned out to be one of the most interesting outings for the team. “The crowd is great. We have seen people who really need Christ here.

We just gathered 10 young men now smoking Indian hemp right behind there and they are being led to Christ,” he disclosed. The team was visiting Ajegunle again to give medical and spiritual succour to the people just as it had done with other communities in Lagos and other states. “We are here in Ajengule to share and show love to many who really need to be cared for,” Pastor Charles Dawodu of the Trinity House International said.

“We ministered to them because the spiritual controls the physical. If their spiritual life is taken care of, then their physical life has been touched,” Dawodu said. “We have ministered to them with words but the medical team is ready to give them the required care. We have enough food and drugs to be distributed all in the spirit of the Easter celebration,” he further disclosed. The Founder of Paincare, Mr. Peter Ebere Nwosu said the Ajegunle trip was another huge fulfilment.

“For us, every outing is special and comes with great fulfilment. Seeing this crowd gives me a sense that God is using us to truly touch lives by giving medical care to those who do not have money to go for check-ups and buy drugs and also lead them to God so that they can lead better lives.” He added that Paincare Outreach was planning to take its outreach beyond the current level.

“We are planning to build a hospital that will be truly for the poor, and at least three church parishes under the guidance of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) to help people more,” the founder disclosed. For Pastor Ayodele Temitope, the host and pastor-in-charge, RCCG, Zone 10, Lagos Province X1, the programme was one of the many reasons to be thankful to God. “We have been trying to get the people around to at least come to church without luck. But today, hundreds have come and have even given us their details to follow up after answering the altar call. I must say that the programme so far has met our expectation.

The turnout is impressive, and the medical team is also capable.” The team was working around giving healthcare, foods, drugs and other items to at least 3,000 people. But just an hour after the commencement of the programme, that number was exceeded. “We have touched thousands of lives. As at last month we have counted no fewer than 20,000 people who have been directly touched,” Akindasa disclosed. “Already, we have had over three outreaches this month. Our joy is that, upon returning to many of the places we once visited, we find that the churches there have actually grown,” he said. For the medical team, each outing provides another opportunity for career and personal actualisation.

Head of the medical team, Dr. Femi Ajagun, said: “As usual, the outreach has been fantastic. The crowd has been overwhelming; God has been faithful.” According to Ajagun, the outreach has brought out many of the silent health issues being faced by Nigerians. “The issues we pick very frequently are stress related problems, such as waste pain and back pain, among others,” he said. “Some come complaining of inability to sleep properly. At the baseline, you will find that this is someone that has underlined silent disease that the people do not know about and not paying attention to.” According to him, it was an opportunity to save many of the people from conditions that could lead to their death.

“I have seen about five patients today with undetected high blood pressure, three of which even though they knew before, did not use their drugs. They probably used drugs at some point as they confessed and they stopped again. These drugs are supposed to be used from time to time, to maintain the blood pressure at normalcy level,” he said. “We have also noticed why majority of the people have recurrent malaria and fever because of improper treatment.” “Many Nigerians are killing themselves with intake of local concoctions.

Most times when we refer them, they will not heed. Many people have damaged their kidneys today in the name of treating malaria with herbal concoctions (agbo). In most outreaches we have discovered many of them and we refer them to the appropriate hospitals,” Ajagun disclosed. A beneficiary, Mrs Grace Oluwawunmi, admitted that, “I was given medications, food items and mosquito net free of charge.

I appreciate the programme more because, for the first time, I have given my life to Christ.” Another beneficiary, Mrs Ngozi Okere, said: “I came with my children and the doctors conducted medical examination on all of us. We were given rice, drugs and other items. I am so happy because they have provided for us.”