As part of its contribution towards building a generation of well rounded 21st century women, Meadow Hall Foundation has conceptualised an initiative tagged ‘A Beautiful Life’. Raheem Akingbolu reports
Beyond going to school and acquiring certificates, there are more values expected from graduates to make them have a positive impact on their family and the society.
This was demonstrated recently at the maiden edition of the ‘A Beautiful Life’ mentorship initiative organised by Meadow Hall Foundation, MHF, to bring the best out of Nigerian women. Few months ago, the organisers had placed an advertorial in some selected newspapers to invite participants. Asides, many participants who spoke to THISDAY confessed that the outcome of the previous conference encouraged them to buy into the initiative. This was as a result of the impactful and inspiring sessions delivered by notable speakers of the preceding conference and strong word of mouth.
In all, almost 30 young women, mostly graduates from various schools, had the opportunity of listening and interacting with three prominent women, who have excelled in different disciplines. The mentors included the Chief Executive Officer of Meadow Hall Group, Mrs. Kehinde Nwani. Few things were common to the mentors: they are achievers, they are spiritual, they are mothers and they are nation builders. While the programme lasted, they didn’t only share their experiences with the participants; they also showed the role of God in human success, hence the need for the participants to be spiritually endowed. In fact the session centered around ‘being a child of God’.
According to the head of Meadow Hall Foundation, Mrs. Oluwakemi Adewoye, ‘A Beautiful Life is the segment of MHF’s Mentoring Programme dedicated to women. She pointed out that the mentor -mentee session was a follow up to previous conferences held recently. The sessions are meant to provide an opportunity for mentors to facilitate within small groups and have one-on-one discussions geared towards developing their mentees towards the attainment of excellence in all areas of their lives. She added that the focus areas were spirit, mind and body with the sole objective of making the mentees understand the importance of connecting with the Holy Spirit and being led by Him in all they did.
“To us at Meadow Hall Foundation, we believe in touching lives and making today’s youths the best leaders in future, both at home and in the society. With ‘A Beautiful Life’s’ mentor-mentee sessions, we want women to grow and understand the importance of their role in the society and become total women that can positively impact their children and anybody they come across. That is why ‘A Beautiful Life mentor–mentee sessions’ majorly targets women from diverse backgrounds,” Adewoye said.
He added that the Foundation believes there are individuals in the society whose achievements in life could impact the lives of women and inspire them to be change agents in their various spheres of influence.
“To this end, Meadow Hall Foundation conceived the initiative through which successful women from different sectors could share their experiences and guide other women in attaining the ideal of a beautiful life,” the woman explained.
One of the participants, Waire, said she decided to attend the programme to tap from the experiences of the mentors and to hone her own leadership skills.
She described it as an awesome programme, where she met women that had everything, especially God, and had equally succeeded in their careers with good families and wonderful children as testimonies.
“I felt I had to get close to one of them to learn from her experience: what she had done, what she is currently doing that had made her succeed.”
Speaking on her key take-away from the session and what she thought she would do differently going forward, she had this to say:
“We talked about the Holy Spirit during this session and realised I have not been seeking the Holy Spirit. I always felt I have the brains and can figure out everything on my own. One thing I will take home with me is the fact that I have to depend on God more and ask the Holy Spirit for even the simplest things, as simple as what to wear and what to eat. It is important to trust God more and learn more from Him.”
Corroborating this position, another mentee, Tola, said she signed up as a mentee because she knew about two of the mentors and saw them as role models: successful women in business and children of God. According to her, she wanted to follow their paths and live a beautiful life that would be based on applying godly principles in her life and business.
“I took away two major things from this session: the first was spiritu ality. God gives the power to make wealth, helps and directs you with the spiritual part of everything. You have to give all your worries to God, be anxious for nothing, leave God to do His job and He will sort out the problems. The second aspect was health, it is important to go for regular checkups; it’s not just about praying and being a good wife. From now on my anxiety would reduce once I pray and leave everything to God and the second part which is regular checkups would be improved for my family & I. I would ensure everyone is up to date with the doctor. It is important to make sure your health is balanced as your soul is nourished,”
Meadow Hall Foundation, a subsidiary of Meadow Hall Group, has contributed in no small measure to the society. Recently, MHF embarked on a N1.8 million project to build a modern library for her adopted public school, Ilasan Primary School, Jakande.
Again, in an effort geared at supporting the government’s determination towards quality teaching and development of the Nigerian child, MHF, also, recently trained its fourth set of trainees from her Graduate Teacher Trainee Programme (GTTP) which was project-managed by Meadow Hall Consult, one of Meadow Hall Group’s five subsidiaries.
Meadow Hall Foundation was founded in May 2009 to give hope for a better future, to provide quality education to the less privileged, to sensitise privileged children to give back to the society by helping the less privileged to raise a generation of children with the desire to impact their generation positively and to mentor the less privileged children thereby creating opportunities to be able to compete favourably with their peers.
