Oyinade Samuel-Eluwole: H&H Foundation Focuses on the Boy-child to Safeguard the Girl-child, Family and  Society

Impassioned by her natural love for humanity, Mrs. Oyinade Samuel-Eluwole left her plum bank career to pursue her dream of supporting the marginals and vulnerable members of the society,  especially the male-child of all ages, matured men and the aged. In this interview with Raheem Akingbolu, she explains her reasons for establishing the Elizabethan Humanitarian Life Foundation, otherwise known as H&H Foundation and the task ahead

Madam, I understand you left your bank job to start the H&H Foundation, could you let our readers know more about you?

I am Oyinade Samuel-Eluwole. I was born in 1970 into the family of Late Pa. Vincent & Deaconess Theresa Adeduro of Adaja Adeduro Compound in Ondo Town, Ondo State. I started my Primary Education at National Primary School, Gbagada Phase 2, Lagos, thereafter I proceeded for my Secondary School education in the same school – that was later changed to Community High School. I studied Accounting at the prestigious Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. In the quest for more knowledge I advanced my studies with a master’s degree in Financial Management from Ladoke Akintola University, Ogbomosho.

 Being a life-long learner, I’m still taking some additional courses to enrich my knowledge. I am a Certified Etiquette Consultant; an Associate Member, Certified Pension Institute of Nigeria (2005), and a Fellow of Enterprise Risk Professionals. 

In terms of my career, I have worked in several banks including the defunct Oceanic Bank International Plc (Now Ecobank), Bank PHB, FCMB, and WEMA Bank – serving in various Units and Departments and rising to Middle Level Management. 

I sought for early retirement in 2021 to pursue my vision and passion for humanity and  in Project Management. Beyond the Elizabethan Humanitarian Life (H&H) Foundation, I am also a board member of Ade Ologbonyo Foundation (formerly known as Lost Hope Foundation), the CEO of Tiffeys Concept, and the MD of Trust Designs Limited.

You talked about Elizabethan Humanitarian Life (H&H) Foundation which you are about to launch. Tell us more about the goals and mandate of the foundation?

Basically, the Foundation we are about to launch is about humanity, but the principle is constructed on life-circle-based interventions with a focus on the male gender. We offer a holistic intervention aimed at supporting and enhancing the wellbeing of the boy-child, teenagers, young adults, the aged, and others who are vulnerable in one way or the other. 

More than 2.6 million young people aged 10 to 24 die each year in the world. These deaths are mostly due to preventable causes such as substance abuse. A 2022 report by the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime in Nigeria indicates that 14.4 per cent  (14.3 million) of people aged between 15 and 64 years abuse drugs. Most of these people are within the category of boy-child and the young adults. 

In Nigeria we know about several other incidents of abuse particularly sexual abuse of teenage boys. Most times there is not enough attention paid to the growth circle of the boy-child including their hormonal changes and body care. We are aware of these challenges ranging from socio-psychological to sociocultural issues.

 The Foundation is set to attend to these needs and more. We have developed six platforms that will address different issues at different stages of life, ranging from “Rescue The Boyz” (RTB) to “Be Your Best” (BYB), “Cradle 2 Teens” (C2T), “Young Patriots” (YP), “Culture Vibez” (CV) and “Bland Lift” (BL). However, at the launch of thye Foundation, we shall also launch “Rescue The Boyz” (RTB). So, the Elizabethan Humanitarian Life (H&H) Foundation, and the Rescue the Boyz are the focus of the launch.

Could you elaborate on “Rescue The Boyz” (RTB) Platform?

“Rescue The Boyz” (RTB) is beyond the boys, let’s say male gender. You may want to ask why are we focusing on rescuing the boys and why are we not rescuing the girls? As a society we’ve been rescuing the girls and we’ll still continue to rescue the girls from various ills. 

We believe that there’s so much focus on the girl child and we’re leaving the boys behind. In fact, we’ve left them behind almost to a level of neglect. How do we mean? We believe that the males are naturally strong, they’re talented, they can do things on their own, re-invent the wheel, withstand a lot of stress etc. 

So, we’re making the mistake that the physical strength of a man is equal to his psychological and emotional strength. With that thought, we are not supporting the men in so many areas that they need to be supported because we believe they are super hero and super human, who can bear pains without expressing emotions when they need to. 

Now, we have challenges as a society, as a nation and globally because we tend to focus on the girl child, train her, give her all it takes to be a good wife, a good mother;  but we leave out the male child in this process. Let’s take a typical home, for example, when it comes to the issue of house chores, hardly do we find parents asking the male-child to join in the kitchen to cook or clean up. 

It’s as if it’s a taboo for a male in the house to know how to cook or do things by himself. By hyping the men as “kings”, who have capacity to do everything, we are hyping them without giving them what it takes for them to be the best. So, we want to focus on the male-child to bring out the best in him.

Actually, it will be curious to some members of the society when you start talking about focusing on rescuing the boys. How do you think the society will respond to this your project?

I think the society will respond positively to this call to rescue the boys – because, if we look at it from the perspective of a parent; you’re not a parent because of the gender of your child. You’re a parent because you’re a parent! So, whatever good thing a girl child deserves, a boy child also deserves as well.

 Why we have this twist is because, the world seems to have focused so much on our girls and we are having challenges in our homes. The girls we are grooming now to be the best are expected to be submissive to the men, may be in this part of the world. 

I think it’s a wake-up call for parents and it’s better for them to accept and support us, because we are focusing on a general problem. The few people we’ve engaged so far see it as a wake-up call, because, if you ask those who are older to tell you about how their children are faring in their marriages, I’ll tell you that a lot of our girls are going through a lot of challenges, to the point that some of them are fed up and some of our girls don’t want to get married anymore.

 That’s the truth! So, if any parent is wise enough, and I believe parents want the best for their children, such parents will give us their support.

Is there any compelling reason why you left your banking job to set up this Foundation or engage in this project?

I’m a mother, not only a mother biologically, but also a mother to many foster children. When you look around and evaluate  marriages these days, you would notice that the divorce rate is very alarming, and I’m asking; why are we having so much of it and what can we do?

 In many cases we train girls to be the best in their husbands’ homes, but, we’re not preparing the men to be the best when they start raising their own families, because, we believe that they have what it takes to be good husbands and fathers without first raising them from cradle. 

The society wants the girls to be submissive to men whose minds have not been prepared for marriage; of  course, that scenario will breed challenges in the home. Therefore, we want to help the girls to enjoy their marriages, save marriages, and help the society by infusing the required support for the boy child who will eventually become the husband, father, and head of a family. We are equally interested in recovering the boy-child whose emotions may have been damaged by some cultural mindset that restricts his self-expression.

This is a very interesting project. But, I hope you know that running a foundation can be expensive.  What are your plans in terms of funding this project?

First, let us not look at the cost of the project. Let us look at the value to humanity. If we place a value on humanity then we will understand that whatever it takes to bring out the best in humanity and advance the course of the human race is never too much to give. I don’t have much, but the little I have, I’ve invested in this project. 

However, we have also reached out to so many Individuals, Corporate Entities, Civil Society Organisations, Government Agencies and other Foundations for collaboration and partnership, because, we believe it’s a household project that will impact on individuals, homes, families, society and the world at large. When we succeed in our endeavor, the impact would also be felt in our Business and Political Leadership. 

We believe that when we start the campaign and we talk to people, they will reason with us because the facts are there. We are open to partnerships with people and organizations to pursue this social cause and ensure we get the best out of the project. So, the little we have, we have invested, but we hope that we will get positive responses from those we’ve reached out to.

So, what challenges have you faced since you started? 

Just like every other venture or endeavor, nothing good comes on a platter of gold. But the responses we’ve been getting from people, at least, verbal responses, have been very encouraging. People and Organisations have shown tremendous interest to partner with us and to support us. 

A close analysis of our SWOT indicates that our strengths and opportunities outweigh the challenges and threats. So, the responses from different quarters are pointers toward addressing the challenges we envisaged. Let me also say that if you want to do anything valuable don’t look at what can draw you down but look at the positive side to forge ahead. We believe the best will be achieved on this project by the grace of God.

Let us look at the launch proper, tell us the details about the launch and your expectations? 

So much is expected at the launch. The launch is not just going to be about the noise, but about what we want to bring out of it. We are launching on Thursday, April 20, 2023, precisely; and we have a lot of dignitaries and experts who are specialists in their own right on these socio-psychological and sociocultural issues. 

To allow those who cannot be physically present to participate in the event, we are going to go live via a link. If not for limited resources, we wouldn’t have minded booking the national stadium to accommodate as many people as can be at the event to benefit from the knowledge of the experts. 

However, we’ll make the link available for the public to benefit from the event. We’re going to be talking about partnership on that day. So, for those that may want to volunteer or partner with us, we will open the windows of opportunities on that launch date. 

The event will help us to highlight the challenges of these issues I’ve been talking about, those who have been facing them, and how to address them. For parents, the event will offer them the opportunity to learn a lot about these issues such that they won’t think their boys are super-human and leave them behind in the upbringing of their children.

You’re a visioner, where do you see this foundation in the next five years?

As a visioner, what I intend to achieve with Elizabethan Humanitarian Life (H&H) Foundation is very deep and big. So, in the next five years we envision that we would have been able to initiate significant interventions to recover a good number of emotionally damaged boy-children and establish a functional infrastructure to enable the continuous achievement of our objectives. We hope to have demonstrated that with proper training, the challenges of the boy-child will be reduced measurably in the society.