‘The Fight Against Poverty Begins With You’ – Chris Oyakhilome

The fight against poverty isn’t about charity, it is about lending your voice to the plight of the indigent in our world. A world free of poverty, where every child has equal opportunities to thrive and fulfill their God-given potentials.

 

The Vision of Chris Oyakhilome

 

InnerCity Mission, under the auspices of The Chris Oyakhilome Foundation International (COFI), was started in December 2004 after the Founder, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, the President of LoveWorld Inc, made a profound statement “Every Child is your Child”. He went on to say: “They are our extension, they are our future. No matter how dirty or untouchable they are, think again, one day you were just that small, but you were fortunate to have someone help you, many of these are fortunate to have us if we would only open our hearts, our minds, our eyes and ignore them no more. We need to help give them a home, we need to help give them an education, we need to help cloth them. As small as they are, as needy as they are, as frustrated as they are, they have dreams, we can help make those dreams come true.”

 

The Innercity Mission for children went on to be registered in Nigeria in the year 2005 with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) Abuja, RC No CAC/IT/NO 41931. It is a faith-based, Non-Governmental Organization in consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. One of the core missions of the InnerCity Mission is believing in the future of indigent children and taking action to reach and meet their needs.

 

Over the years, the programs and interventions in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have impacted the lives of over 20 million indigent beneficiaries mostly children around the world in underserved, hard-to-reach communities, from one country in 2005, to over 60 countries in 2020.

 

 

 

Send Portions

 

The vital work of the InnerCity Mission is only made possible by the dedicated people who selflessly give of their time, talents, and skills to put smiles on the faces of the children and their families in desperate need. The latest initiative to ensure that this Christmas is memorable and does not go unnoticed is “Send Portions”.

 

You can be involved in this initiative at various different levels. For $5600, ‘Send Portions’ offers donors the opportunity to adopt a country under the InnerCity Mission Global Missions Initiative and sponsor portions/Christmas packs to indigent children in your county or countries of your choice where the InnerCity Mission operates.

 

You can also sponsor ‘Send Portions’ to children in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camps, children’s hospitals, and other institutions for children in your country. For as little as $1400, you can adopt and sponsor Christmas packs for an orphanage in the ‘Send Portions Adopt an Orphanage’ initiative in the InnerCity Mission Orphanage Support Program or any orphanage of your choice within your community. You can also organize ‘Send Portions’ Celebration and Distribution to indigent children in identified communities in your area by visiting https://sendportion.theinnercitymission.ngo/

 

 

 

Sustainable Development Goals

 

The primary goal of The InnerCity Mission is to create an environment where every child can live above the poverty line, to rise above it, and become an active participant in the socio-economic development of their community.  Through humanitarian aid programs, ICM strives to ensure that every child succeeds in life according to numerous Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

• No Poverty: SDG 1
• Zero Hunger: SDG 2
• Good Health and Well-being: SDG 3
• Quality Education: SDG4
• Gender Equality: SDG 5
• Clean Water and Sanitation: SDG 6
• Decent Work and Economic Growth: SDG 8
• Sustainable Cities and communities: SDG 11
• Peace, Justice and strong institutions: SDG 16
• Partnerships for the Goals: SDG 17

 

 

“Every Child is Your Child” – Chris Oyakhilome

 

Tesiri Moweta, a Nigerian writer and author committed to the InnerCity Mission wrote: “In every nation, great or small there are poor people. From time immemorial, the eradication of poverty has been on every responsible government’s “to-do list”. Yet, there are still poor people everywhere. People who can’t feed properly because they have no food, people who can’t afford decent clothes because they have no money, people who sleep on the streets, in the slums, and even in dirt because there is nowhere to call home.”

 

“No matter what community, society or nation, poverty gnaws at a high percentage of children deprived of the right to live a decent normal life, like a tsunami consuming a small city. Even our Lord Jesus Himself mentioned in Matthew 26:11 “the poor, you will always have with you” however, He never forgot the poor and still remembers them even today. They are always on His mind.”

 

She further went on to say: “Children are God’s most valuable asset, they are made in God’s image and likeness and created to glorify God but how does poverty bring God glory? How can these poor children serve God and praise Him when they can’t feed, clothe, sleep, even read? Life for them is parched and dry.”

 

Tesiri Moweta reminds us that “It is our reasonable service to remember the poor and take care of them for in each child is a potential seed for greatness and every child is unique, with unique qualities, gifts, and talents that the world needs which can shine forth if not limited by the confines of poverty. We are the hope that the poor have; no government can help them like we can, they need us because we have the power by the Spirit and the Word to change their state of existence.”

 

Don’t ignore poverty and watch it consume children in your community or society, do something in your power to help them. Partner with the InnerCity Mission today and make a difference in the lives of millions.