Catholics in Nigeria celebrate Mother’s Day.
Some denominations celebrated Mother’s Day on the
fourth Sunday of Lent. Some other countries, like
America (May 11), are yet to celebrate Mother’s Day.
Anyway, whether it is in advance or in arrears, I wish
our beautiful and wonderful mothers a very happy
Mother’s Day.
I celebrate you on this day for your love, motherly care,
patience, sacrifices, the discomfort you went through
during pregnancy and pains at childbirth. I celebrate
you for those sleepless nights and the pregnancies that
created pot bellies out of your flat tummies. We might
buy you gifts, take you out for dinner and spend quality
time with you on Mother’s Day and at some other time,
but we can never repay you for all you have done and
gone through. Whatever we do is just a token of our
appreciation and love.
I dedicate today’s column to all super mothers who
have gone the extra mile and made tremendous
sacrifice in bringing up great children who are useful
members of the society. Specifically, I celebrate the
following women for their great and heroic deeds. Our
first super mother is Mrs. Patricia Ogigirigi. Many years
ago, you showed the world the way to go when you
were holding very important positions in the church
and your children were role models.
One of your daughters got pregnant. More than 90 out
of 100 women in your situation would have secretly
aborted that pregnancy to save themselves the “shame”,
maintain a false façade and continue to live a lie. But
not you; you hauled defiance at what the world will
think or say, you took her in and nurtured her until she
gave birth. You took the baby from her and she went
back to complete her studies. My respect and love for
you have tripled since then.
Thank you for being a real and true Christian mother;
thank you for not throwing away the baby with the
bath water. The last time I came around, the young boy
has grown into a devastatingly handsome man. The
world would have been much poorer had he been
flushed down the drain as a fetus. Happy Mother’s Day,
Super Mother Patricia Ogigirigi.
A few months ago, I saw the photograph of Mrs. Hilda
Adefarasin on the pages of newspapers on her 90th
birthday. At 90, she still looks very trim, beautiful,
elegant and royal. I had not seen or heard about her
for a while and I was wondering until I saw the birthday
photographs. I do not know her personally, but I read a
lot about her in those days, especially when she was
the president of the Women’s Society of Nigeria now
National Council of Women’s societies.
At a time when many women got carried away by the
gale of women liberation and derailed, she came out in
the media to put the records straight: women liberation
does not mean women should shirk their marital and
motherly responsibilities. She proved what she said on
the home front. Her children have turned out great,
whatever earlier hiccups there were. Three of them are
pastors, winning souls for Christ. Happy Mother’s Day,
Super Mother Hilda Adefarasin.
Many years ago, there was a story of a molue that got
burnt with the passengers on board on Third Mainland
Bridge, Lagos. While the fire was raging, a nursing
mother threw her toddler through the window of the
burning bus. The mother was consumed in the inferno
with other passengers, but the baby survived.
Happy posthumous Mother’s Day to this caring and
brave super mother. Mother Teresa of Calcutta was a
Catholic nun. She never had any biological children,
but went on to become the only mother thousands of
sick, abandoned and poor people knew in Calcuta,
India and around the world. She died in 1997. Happy
posthumous Mother’s Day, Super Mother Teresa.
On June 4, 1994, the Rev. (Mrs.) Christiana Bamidele
George sowed a mustard seed which has grown into
humongous shrub sheltering 100s of children. On this
day she started the Little Saints Orphanage whose
programmes over time have transformed over a 1000
lives. Currently the orphanage has over 100 children in
four locations.
Little Saints orphanage has a three-tier programme for
the children: rehabilitation, reformation and
reintegration. Little Saints has brought smiles to
numerous homes of childless couples through adoption.
Surprisingly, the couples adopting these children do not
pay a dime to the orphanage, I learnt. Ultimately, Little
Saints “vision is to erase the stigma attached to the
orphan status and to create a leverage of equality for
these group of children with their peers in the world,
irrespective of the unfortunate circumstances they were
born into. We dream of a greater Nigeria devoid of
street beggars, street children and homeless women
laboring for crumbs.”
Without Mrs. George, these children would have faced
an uncertain future, but because God lives through her,
these children can face tomorrow. What made Mrs.
George’s story more interesting to me was because of
her privileged background. She is the first child of our
former hard-working governor of the Midwest Region,
Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia.
She started her orphanage when it was not fashionable
for the rich, famous and privileged to get their hands
soiled with such issues concerning the “Wretched of the
Earth.” Never mind, now it is become a fad for the rich
and famous to spend birthdays and other landmark
days with the less privileged. Happy Mother’s Day,
Super Mother Christiana Bamidele George.
Happy Mother’s Day to millions of other super mothers,
especially those whose great deeds go unrecognized.
God recognizes you. Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers
who have made enormous sacrifices in bringing up
children who are blessings to their families, their
generations and the larger society. God bless you all
now and always.


source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/04/happy-mothers-day-to-super-mothers/