Speech

ADDRESS DELIVERED IN KWARA STATE 

All protocols dully observed.

The idea of Sweet Mother International is dedicated to Madam Salomey Nze, 1904 – 1986. Madam Salomey Nze despite her predicament as a young widow with over six teenage children, single handedly founded a home where she accommodated and fed women who were widows like herself, aged women, old-women-without-children, destitute women and women with mental illness. She was also a counselor to newly married couples and young women. She acted as a mediator in times of dispute between families, assisting to restore peace, love and affection in homes. She was so devoted in her fellowship with God and humanity that she was regarded as an "Angel " in her community. She died in 1986.

In the year 2000, this vision was regenerated by the idea of Sweet Mother International which was conceived by, John Nze Bertram the grandson of Madam Salomey Nze.

This organisation was registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, under the Company and Allied Matters Act of Nigeria for jurisdiction purposes in 2005/2006. The Kwara Team of Sweet Mother International has over 200 volunteer members spread across Kwara State of Nigeria, and will continue to spread to every LGA head quarters.

The World Health Organization’s report indicates that at least one woman dies every minute as a result of pregnancy related complications. Out of the number of deaths recorded, half happens to be African women. It is neither a curse nor a natural phenomenon for African women to die as a result of pregnancy complications, such deaths come as a result of ignorance, poverty or falling into the hands of quacks mistaken for professional medical practitioners.

Goal five of the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals seeks to improve maternal health by reducing maternal mortality by 75% by the year 2015. To achieve this goal, we all have to join together as One People, One Nation, who are United in Progress to reducing the increasing rate of avoidable maternal deaths  in Africa particularly our country, Nigeria.  According to Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations Secretary General, He said and I quote "In the 21st century, no woman should give her life to give life". (end of quote). Indeed, this is a call to ACTION! and in response, if we all take a firm stance on this issue and do something about it, then , we are on our way to eradicating avoidable maternal deaths in Nigeria.

As we make our own contributions towards establishing a Trust Fund to assist rural women with obstetrics care, we call on our beloved government, corporate bodies and good spirited individuals to join hands with us to provide a free and efficient obstetrics care for our rural women. Many families are poor and cannot afford cesarean operations in time of pregnancy breach; having free obstetrics care and emergency intervention unit, that can convey pregnant women with an ambulance from rural areas to an obstetrics hospital in time of complication will invariably save hundreds of rural women. Sweet Mother International would wish to achieve all these in collaboration with the government, corporate bodies and good spirited individuals.

We applaud the responsiveness of Kwara State government and corporate bodies to the development of health care delivery services, and we trust that in this very important issue concerning the welfare and survival of our mothers and sisters, we shall all swiftly respond, by joining the campaign to save African women from pregnancy related-deaths

On behalf of SMI, I hereby express my sympathy to all the families in the continent that have lost loved ones. May the Gentle Souls of all WOMEN who have died from pregnancy complications Rest in Perfect Peace. Amen!

We all must stand-up and say NEVER AGAIN should women die from avoidable pregnancy-related deaths in Africa. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Africa is the only region where there has been no improvement in maternal deaths for more than a decade. Indeed, the average maternal mortality ratio has increased from 870/100 000 live births in 1990, to 1000/100 000 live births in 2001."

Flowing from the maxim that ―evil prevails if good men [and women] do nothing‖, we will like to call on all good men and women in Africa to rally together and TAKE effective ACTION!

SWEET MOTHER INTERNATIONAL stands up to the challenge of LAUNCHING THIS CAMPAIGN TO SAVE AFRICAN WOMEN FROM PREGNANCY RELATED DEATHS. SMI wants every one of us to be aware of this preventable ravaging fire of destruction that cut shorts valuable lives at the prime of their ages. There are SMI coordinators in all the states of Nigeria and all through major cities in Africa. Our goal is to join hands with the government to put a stop to these manners of deaths and we also require individuals and corporate bodies to support us in both in cash and in kind. Let us save African women from unnecessary deaths. We can’t say who’s turn it would be but only those that turn out victims are concerned. The organization aims to discourage prostitution, women battering, and harmful cultural practices by organizing seminars, television programs, reformative music & dramas. The organization will also encourage the youths to love their mothers and honour them. Competitions will be organized where Youths could win prices for their Mothers. Sweet Mother International will encourage cultural, racial and religious tolerance by organizing sight-seeing expeditions, tourism, cultural exchange programs and social interaction vacations among member countries. SMI will examine and address critically the socio-economic and political situations affecting Mothers from performing their primary responsibilities as the epitome of love, care and hope in the home.

Sweet Mother International will achieve these aims and objectives by embarking on mass training and capacity building of women through skill acquisition, provision of educational loans & scholarships grants , social reforms, entrepreneurial and business empowerment.

Sweet Mother International will formulate itself as pressure group to push the government to enact policies that will affect Mothers/ Women positively. Some of the activities tailored towards achieving these aims are by: Sponsorship of legislative bills, mass rally/protest and media campaigns.

Sweet Mother International will collaborate with other organizations to deliver: free health care services; free legal interventions for oppressed women especially to Mothers of infant children whose fundamental human rights have been abused, or unlawfully detained, imprisoned or awaiting trial, also, Mothers whose economic means of livelihood has been encroached upon. The organization will institute legal action on behalf of children whose mothers died as a result of pre-meditated murder.

Join us in this laudable project TO SAVE MOTHERHOOD IN AFRICA