It was a total jubilation at St. Andrew’s Catholic church, Umuokanne, last weekend, as the Bishop of Owerri Catholic Province, Archbishop Lucious Ugorji, represented by the Auxiliary Bishop, Most Rev. Dr.Moses Chikwe, unveiled a wonderfully designed Grotto housing our Lord Jesus Christ which was built by a non- parishioner, mrs. Adeobi Megan Clement.
Bishop Chikwe who arrived at the premises of St. Andrew’s Catholic Church at about 10.15am was joyfully welcomed by some Reverend fathers, members of Catholic Men Organisation (CMO), Catholic Women Organisation (CWO) and the Catholic Youth Organisation of the church who were decently clad in their different attires.
Bishop Chikwe prayed for the church and the philanthropic gesture of the Grotto builder, mrs. Adaobi Megan Clement, before religiously cutting the ribbon as a symbol of the unveiling.
The Bishop equally commended mrs. Adaobi Megan for accepting to serve as an instrument of God for the actualization of the project.
In her interaction with the media at the church premises, mrs. Adaobi Megan Clement thanked God for aiding her to achieve such a project, irrespective of the fact that she was not a strong believer in church activities before now.
She posited that she derived the desire to embark on the execution of the said special project(Grotto), in addition to the construction of Garden of Prayers for St. Andrew’s church, Umuokanne, owing to an encounter she had four years ago at Fatima in Portugal, where she had gone to pray.
She recounted that on that special day of her prayer at Fatima, she incurred persisted pains in her body which resulted from her prolonged movement with her kneels that covered almost one mile.
Mrs. Clement added that though her generated pains around her kneels were very unbearable, which ordinarily should have forced her to end the prayer, but such did not happen because she saw a particular woman of about 60-70yrars of age who was clad in a Rev. Sister’s attire and she conclusively presumed her to be one, maintaining that same person was seen instructing and strengthening her to continue with her praying activity.
Continuing with her narration, mrs. Clement said that when she suddenly looked round to thank the said woman over her words of encouragement, she could not see her again, stressing that such an experience has motivated her to be more stronger in prayers with a regular visit to Fatima.
The Awo Idemili(Orsu LGA) indigen stated that not every other person could understand the encounter better than herself, adding that she has continued to visit Fatima 3-5 times annually, including her birthday and new year celebrations.
The soft-spoken woman added that since she had that experience at Fatima praying ground, her life has tremendously changed for better, noting that it has also become less difficult.
Megan said: ‘ I will continue to attribute such an impact to “our Lady’. If I want Jesus to do anything for me, I know that His mother is my surest avenue to getting that. That is the reason I have continuously being faithful to her”.
Megan equally opined that she decided to replicate Fatima Garden of Prayer at St. Andrew’s Catholic Church, Umuokanne, for people who cannot afford to go to Fatima in Portugal to pray, adding that people’s prayer would be heard by God with regards to their intensions at any point in time.
Mrs. Clement used the same channel to express delight in using her NGO, Nchekwa Oha Advocacy Foundation, to partner with other relevant agencies in supporting and promoting education in Umuokanne, with a view to tackling its (education) associated challenges in order to alleviate societal poverty.
She frowned at the poor state of education in Nigeria, and Imo state in particular, calling on both the government and wealthy individuals to help improve the educational training facilities and requirements of students in Nigeria, including Imo state.
She stated that her vision remains to improve the educational stranded of students in Imo state to enable them compete favourably with their counterparts in other countries, thereby reducing their intended future crime commission. The Right advocate advised the rich in Nigeria to minimize their extravagant spedings and channel same to educational enhancement and transformation.
She promised to equip each class of St. Andrew’s Primary School with about 15 computers to encourage the acquisition of basic computer knowledge by the students in order to confront the associated educational challenges.
In furtherance, Adaobi Clement unfolded that she was able to procure books for a total of ten subjects for the students of same St. Andrew’s Primary School, Umuokanne, at the simple cost of #297,000, which is far below what some rich people would be frivolously expending on regular basis.
It could be recalled that the parish priest of St. Andrew’s Catholic Church, Umuokanne, Rev. Fr. Uchechi B.Okea and Parish Council Chairman, Basil Onwunezi, played a vital role in the success of the unveiling programme.
