As part of their 2024 reunion celebrations, the class of 1995 of Pope John Paul II Seminary, Okpoma, in Cross River State, donated some funds to the St. Joseph’s Centre for the Visually Handicapped, Obudu, to help the students realise their dreams.
Additionally, the group also gave prizes to five individuals, including Rev. Fr. Dr. Josephat Ekor, the rector of the school, for their impact and discipline in shaping each of them into the individuals they are today.
When asked what motivated him to lead his team to the centre on Sunday, December 29, 2024, in Cross River State, Comrade Etalong Emmanuel Etalong, the class president, stated: “We thought it wise that, as a class, God has blessed us, and it is only normal to reach out to people around us.”
Using the Dead Sea as an example to buttress his statement, which only receives water from its main tributary, the Jordan River, and has no outlet, the leader revealed that the cash donation was only a token for the time being, and that if God blesses the class, “we hope to do even more, either collectively or as individuals, to support the centre.”
Receiving the group on behalf of the centre’s head, Reverend Sister Victoria Onoja expressed her admiration for the class members.
“If I were to say the truth,” the nun from the Congregation of the Poor Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus (PHJC) added with a heartwarming smile, “I feel happy and jealous too.”
She went on to say that she was overjoyed by the group’s love and unity, but also envious since she wished her class could emulate this wonderful gesture and do something similar.
About the visually handicapped
According to Sister Victoria, the students dislike hearing the word “visually impaired” because they can read, play instruments, and do everything on their own without any assistance, often outperforming the sighted or the physically healthy.
“That is the miracle I saw when I came here; you can see the power of God even in disability,” she said.
The students, she continued, were making every effort to the best of her knowledge and could accomplish any life goal they set. This reality was confirmed by the recently concluded school exam, in which visually impaired pupils performed better than the sighted in all classes. The state’s third-best student in the most recent West African Examination Council (WAEC) is also physically challenged and is on a scholarship to study abroad.
“There is still hope for them to achieve whatever they want in life; they can,” she believed, urging the visitors to bring any handicapped person they come across in their various places to the centre for attention and care.
Award ceremony
One of the recipients, Rev. Fr. Dr. Josephat Ekor, rector of Pope John Paul II Seminary, described the gesture as a “positive surprise” because it was incredibly gracious and made him realise that “discipline and hard work pay.”
According to the Catholic priest, the discipline is precisely what has shaped each of the class associates into the people they are now, adding that he is always very happy whenever he sees his former students of John Paul II seminary come together, especially the class of 95, which has actually made an impression on him.
“I want to say this here not because you are gathering for your biennial reunion, but I am saying it because it is true.
“Since I came into John Paul as a rector, after I left as a dean, the class that has actually made an impression, not just because of the pledge of N500,000 you made in 2021, but it is the level of your connectedness. You have made a massive impression on me, and I will never forget it,” Fr. Ekor stated.
The rector praised the class for their togetherness, which he said was producing many fruits, emphasising that if the school can have two or three additional classes organise themselves in the same way as the class of 95 is doing, the school alumni association will be very strong.
“You may not know it yourself, but you need an external body from your group to tell you how productive this class has always been and will continue to be,” he asserts.
As a result, the impressed clergy exhorted the group not to give up, to keep the team spirit alive, and to make the class as unique as ever, because it takes a lot of sacrifices to ensure that this works.
“Our people say, when spiders connect, they can tie up a lion. This unity is quite impressive, and I will call on other classes to emulate your level of unity,” he concluded.
The class president, Comrade Etalong Emmanuel Etalong; the treasurer, Uchenna Francis; Emmanuel Uzowuru; and Julius Agada, a former economics and commerce instructor, were the other beneficiaries of prizes. The class also had the chance to play a football game, have church Thanksgiving, receive a lecture on leadership, and have her Annual General Meeting (AGM) during this noble event.
Conclusion
In response to his feeling over the entire programme, Rev. Fr. Humphrey Uche Udechukwu, the chairman of the 2024 reunion planning committee and parish priest of St. Charles Catholic Church, Odudu, said he is satisfied that everyone is happy.
Man, in his humble view, is only a custodian of earthly wealth, which God has bestowed upon the class as an opportunity to reach out.
“When people are happy because of you, you will count yourself blessed. So, I am happy that all of us are happy,” he told the interviewer in front of his guests, who were extremely proud of his conduct as a Catholic priest.
By Etta Michael Bisong
