HVCC Alumni’s Charity Brings Hope To Nigerians in Need
By Nolan Cleary, Managing Editor
It’s an organization that’s out to make a change. The RubiHealth Foundation is a non-for-profit business seeking to provide healthcare for struggling people in Nigeria.
According to their website, “The RubiHealth Foundation (TRF) is a private non-profit health NGO passionate about improving the survival rate for terminal diseases and the general well-being of Nigerians by reducing or eliminating barriers to quality healthcare services: illiteracy, finance, poor infrastructure, and shortage of specialist doctors.”
The organization was founded by HVCC graduate Ganiat Giwa. Two years ago, Giwa’s father died of cancer. Giwa said her decision to start RubiHealth stemmed from what she viewed as a failure in Nigeria’s healthcare system.
“I realized a lot of Nigerians don’t even know what cancer is. People are calling my family, telling [my father] to drink ginger, blend it into a solution, eat carrots. There’s not much information, and so the RubiHeath Foundation was born to sensitize the community. Inform them.” Giwa said.
Giwa started the organization with the hopes that she could prevent fewer people from suffering the same fate her father did.
“When I first started the RubiHealth Foundation, it was very personal to me. It was like ‘I can help my dad. I want to help everyone else’s dad so they don’t have to die like mine did’,” Giwa said.
The organization also seeks to address the issue of teen pregnancy, a major issue in Nigeria. Giwa says their organization has a new project to address the issue.
“We have a project now called the POG project, which stands for Protect Our Girls, and basically we sponsee and mentor underaged pregnant girls that have become pregnant due to rape, abuse, lack of sex education, and in these less privileged communities, you know they’re pretty much destined to not have a favorable outcome,” Giwa said.
Since starting the project, Giwa said, there are moments that have moved her. During her experience with the food drive. An elderly man was attempting to run to ensure he’d have enough food to feed himself.
“You can’t even imagine what his situation. He’s so far away, you seem him running, he’s crying, he’s wondering, just to come get some food. That’s when I realized this isn’t just a side Bobbie, this isn’t just something I do in my free time, this is real. This is people’s lives. It’s not numbers.”
Giwa says her main driving force is the impact her organization has on people. “The main question I’m asking is ‘What is the impact? Who are we helping?’ It’s not about how we look to people donating. No, we don’t want to look like we’re helping, we want to actually be helping.” Giwa said.
With the COVID-19 pandemic ravaging the world, Nigeria, an already impoverished country, took a major hit. Giwa said that because of the pandemic, her organization had to step up its game.
“As you may know, Nigeria is the poverty capital of the world. When the pandemic hit, poverty and hunger was at an all-time high, so we decided to do food relief packages. We were distributing food in the community. We were going to about three communities of five people in total. We had people who found my house in Nigeria, I didn’t even know how, and they’re standing and praying, and I realized this is a much-needed organization.” Giwa said.
Giwa says in 2021, she hopes her non-profit can gain more funding through bigger investors, increase her social media influence, and sponsor someone for the Gbade Giwa Cancer Fund, named after her father.
Until then, Giwa hopes to continue helping those less privileged than her. “I’m 19, so now I’m dealing with girls that are younger than me, but seem to be having a different life than I’m having. You sit and you wonder, ‘What did I do different, just because I was born in a different community, just because I was born to different parents?’ It makes you think, makes you reflect, makes me realize how privileged I am, and it fuels that desire to help.” Giwa said.