Matildah Kambassa Jumbo, who hails from William Jumbo Community in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State, a model, event management expert, and also contested for Miss Niger Delta 2000. She is currently the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Speakspan Ushers, an event management outfit and Founder/Executive Director of Kambassa Foundation, a non-governmental organization focused on providing care and love to the needy, elderly and the less privileged in the society.

In pursuit of the realization of her passion of showing care to those that need it, she and her team are in Bonny ahead of special visits to the elderly in different communities that makes up Bonny LGA. She spoke with Kristina Reports’ Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, Godswill Jumbo about plans for this year’s event among other issues. Enjoy the read:

What is the Kambassa Foundation all about?

Kambassa Foundation is an NGO that caters for the needy, the elderly and the less privileged.

When you say cater for them, how do you mean?

For the elderly, you know these elderly people are almost always forgotten. So, we try to reach out to a lot of them that feel very lonely, that feel abandoned. And you know because of ailment too, a lot of them don’t get to mix up with people, they are almost always inside the house, just waiting for death to come. These are the people that we intend to go to and we usually have a date set aside for them for them to come together and mix up. We usually have a date that we celebrate them and we try to do it like twice every year. We had one recently on the 20^th of July and we are hoping to have it again this December on the 21^st. Only that this time we are going to them, to meet with them in their homes and spend some time with them to make them feel okay.   

With so much you can do as a young lady around the world with your time, money, and all that, why focus on the less privileged and elderly? What’s the motivation?  

For me, I think it is just me. Recently, when I visited the Home for the Elderly in Port Harcourt, it was not actually something I wanted to take very serious but when I went there I saw the excitement. And these elderly people sat me down and they asked that I come back. That is shouldn’t miss coming back. So, I decided I should do something. I went to them. I gave them what I had. But for them, they liked the whole idea that I could come, bring them together, sing, dance, and all. It was everything for me and that is what changed the whole thing. And then again, I had my old Grandma that recently had an accident and she is not able to mix up again. So, she is always inside. For me, it started thinking if we had something like this where we can gather these old people. She cannot come out again because of her condition. I know she is not totally happy. Of course, we are trying for her. Some of the programmes like this you are giving them hope again to be able to mix up. Then again, a lot of these elderly people are abandoned. Recently, I ran into this lady, she was like ‘Nwam (my child), everybody is gone’, her kids and all of them. So, these are the people I want to reach out to. There is this passion I have for elderly people. I do not believe in celebrating people when they are gone, that is the thing with me. I still want to be putting smiles on their faces now that they are alive, now that they are still living because again I still understand that most of them don’t have any reason to smile. For them, everyday they wake up they are asking themselves if they are still alive. So, for me, knowing that there is a day, you know, to celebrate these lovely people.

Since you started doing this, what’s the buy-in like? What kind of support have you been receiving? Are there other people keying into your vision?    

Yes, they are really trying because the first time we had it, I was looking at having it for just 40 persons but with the support and love we had from our people we were able to cater for 80 persons. So, people are really keying into it. Yeah, people are supporting.

Are there any specific persons or organizations that you want us to know about?

Okay, so far, I don’t know if I am allowed to mention some names…

Yeah, you should…it’s a way of appreciating their support

In terms of support, Mayor Ala (Aladiokuma Hart, Chairman of Bonny Integrated Recruitment Centre) has been something else. For the first time we told him about it he just keyed into it. He understands giving. He did so much for us. And then you have Uncle Larry Pepple, he was awesome. And then you Ambassador Charles Jumbo. And then you have Vice Chairman of Bonny Local Government Area, Hon. Anengi Barasua, always supporting us. You have Gogo Brown in Finima, a lot of them. We have Redman Awanta. So people are really keying into what we are doing.

For this year, what is the different thing we are expecting to see in this next edition of the programme?  

I am hoping to have a better and a bigger event. Last time, we had a health outreach as part of the event. So, we are hoping that this time it is going to better. This time we are trying to bring them into it. What I am trying to do differently this time is to register a lot of these elderly persons into this health insurance scheme. I couldn’t do that the first time. So, this time I am trying to follow them, like get them registered and see how they will be able to be going for their daily checkups. Yeah, that is what I am trying to do differently this time.

Now if you were to talk to these elderly people, in a world filled with all kinds of distressing situations and especially at their age, and then their children and grandchildren are out there trying to make ends meet and most times, these quest for survival competes with the time and attention they should be giving to their elderly ones; in that kind of situation, as an elderly person, sometimes, you feel like you are abandoned or left alone. Sometimes, they lose hope, sometimes they are despaired, and sometimes, like you said, they are just wondering if they are still alive. What are you telling them?  

I want to tell them to stay focused, to be strong, never to give up; that is the reason they have the likes of us, trying to put smiles on their faces. That we see them. As much as possible we try our best to reach out to them.

For our kind of world where everybody is on the high speed, everyone is on the road trying to make ends meet. And sometimes, we abandon our parents, our elderly ones; sometimes, they hardly have anybody talking to them, hardly have anything to eat, hardly have their medicals sorted, and then somehow, God calls the person home and then we are like pulling down the whole world to give them ‘a befitting burial’. What do you have to say to the children, grandchildren or other relatives of these elderly people?    

Okay, the thing for me is that I would like to beg us to have time for our loved ones, our parents, our aged parents because we are going to get old someday. It doesn’t make any sense still to me that…for us we do not believe in celebrating people in death. Of course, we want to do those things but it still doesn’t make any sense to me why people will just abandon their loved ones and just wait for them to die and then they build them the mansion and everything. I think the problem again is that if you go to the Home for the Elderly, you see some well-to-do people – I don’t know if they are ashamed of their parents or what. So, I am begging everyone that we should have time for our parents. For me, I always tell people that we will all get old: being old or acting old or not acting the way we expect them to act is not enough reason for us to want to go dump them in the Home for the Elderly. It is embarrassing, I have to say. So, please let us all try. It is not easy to manage them – I also have my own Grandma, it is not easy – but let us just stop this whole thing. I think some people are embarrassed to feel like ‘this is my mum, she messes up things in the house and all of that’. This is Africa, we are not like the whites. We just want to do this whole thing they do overseas. When you start worrying them, they just abandon you in the home. This is Africa. We are different. Let us have time for our loved ones, for our aged parents. The system here and there is not the same. If it was abroad, of course, when you go to the homes for the elderly, you will see the facilities. The ones here are not conducive for us. It doesn’t make any sense for us to leave his or her aged Grandma or Grandpa to someone else. I don’t know how they are able to live with themselves. I am just saying please, if they are catering for these people we won’t be out here trying to bring smiles to these people. There is this blessing that comes with catering to your aged parents. This thing about life is a give and take thing. You know, when you are a child these people take care of you. You are a child, you are innocent and they have to do this and that for you. So when they get old, you should be able to understand that these are like kids too. You still have to still love them despite the fact that maybe they nag, mess up and all of that, let us just keep loving our aged parents to the day they finally leave us.