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[email protected] Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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DANIEL IGALI
AND THE DREAM SCHOOL IN BALYESA STATE

very single hair on my head stood up in salute and with crushing excitement an overwhelming feeling - an Olympic gold medal for Canada! It was jubilation all the way. The Canadian television and radio stations, the newspapers and every neighbourhood in Canada was agog with celebrations and swept by the repeated performance of the victory dance (on television) of this new Canadian hero, the first Olympic wrestling champion from Canada who spread out the Canadian flag on the wrestling mat, jiggled around it, fell on his knees and kissed the flag. The gold medal winner is not only Canadian but a Canadian of Nigerian extraction. Baraladei Daniel Igali had crowned a tough, rough and excruciating six-year stay in Canada with a huge showing at the 2000 Sydney Olympic in Australia, a follow-up to his World Wrestling Championship gold medal of 1999. He had decided to stay back in Canada at the end of the 1994 Commonwealth Games hosted by Canada in Victoria, British Columbia, as a refugee, and had struggled to make ends meet, to keep pace with school work, to ensure he did not lose sight of his dreams, and to give back something to his nation of birth and origin, Nigeria.

Olympic gold medallist Daniel Igali adds a bachelor of arts degree to his many accomplishments, Fall of 2001

Daniel nurture big dreams and took the necessary steps to realize them. One major dream of this other great Daniel was the desire to support development in Nigeria, particularly in Eniwari, Bayelsa State. Eniwari is a village alongside the Nun River, a river where the villagers still bath, drink and fish. It was here in Eniwari that Daniel grew up. He described his childhood succinctly: "I still vividly remember as a child going out to the river and picking up dead fish, going to the bushes to scavenge for dead bush rats, rabbits, squirrels and grass cutters when there were oil explosions. We did not know any better. We could not drink the water and had to go into the streams in the bushes, sometimes miles away to fetch water for days on end. I still remember that we cannot, till this day, fetch rainwater in the first thirty minutes of the rainfall. The acid rain makes the water so black, that you have to wait for about one hour to be able to fetch rain water, by which time the acid in the air might have been washed into the soil".

With determination and unparallel zeal, Daniel sough the help of friends and organizations to realize the dream of building a school. He rallied his associates and confidants, most of them Canadians, and shared his background, his upbringing and his desire to do something to improve the lot of the children and youths in Eniwari. Still trying to find his own feet and improve his condition while working on his degree program at Simon Fraser University, Baraladei Daniel Igali had a mission; he wanted to build a school at Eniwari. His dream is of a model school, one of its kind in Bayelsa State and a centre of academic excellence and opportunity for youths who would otherwise not have had an opportunity to attend a school, let alone a decent and standard school. Daniel walked the streets of big and small cities cum communities in Canada and got good support. When the school project started and the Canadian International Development Agency were contacted and they saw the progress, they provided $200,000. Another notable contribution came from Mr. Paul Nemeth, a former wrestling coach in British Columbia. Mr. Nemeth also gave Daniel a two-year athletic scholarship to Simon Fraser University.

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Named after Baraladei Daniel Igali's surrogate mother who supported him morally, financially, educationally and emotionally, the Maureen Matheny Academy has eleven classrooms, an auditorium/gymnasium, a computer laboratory capable of accommodating 50 computers, a library that will sit 200 students, a residential accommodation structure made up of 6 rooms, 2 bathrooms/washrooms, a kitchen and a living room, a borehole to provide clean drinking water, the first of its kind in the Eniwari community. There are also plans in the pipeline to build a boarding facility capable of accommodating 200 students in the future. As can be gleaned from the pictures of the school project, much still needed to be done. The physical structure is almost ready but there is the need to source for more funds to procure furniture for the classrooms, living quarters, computer room, library and auditorium/gymnasium. The library and computer technology room requires computers and other educational equipment and facilities. There is an opportunity for all of us to contribute to this noble project going on in Bayelsa State. Daniel Igali would have done it all by himself if he has the means and he would have continued on the journey to build a modern school for Eniwari and its neighbours all alone but it is clear that he needs help. We all must join him to complete this project and put smiles on the faces of the children there while bringing a renewed hope for a better tomorrow for the youths of that community. Daniel Igali can be reached through Igali Foundation Inc., 8876-140 Street, P.O. Box 16531, Surrey, British Columbia V3W 2P5, e-mail: [email protected], telephone: 604 787 5827. This is very good news coming from Bayelsa State and Nigeria. Let all our Nigerian societies here in North America and Europe, town and community associations, groups, philanthropists, and individuals rally behind Baraladei Daniel Igali to take this dream to the finish line.

Condolences to President Obasanjo, the Oniwindes and Nigerians

The death of Mrs Stella Obasanjo and the loss of a wonderful couple, Dipo and Nkiru Oniwide and one hundred and sixteen other Nigerians in the ill-fated Bellview Airline plane should pull us all together as a people. This is a painful time and another sad chapter in the history of our nation. Death is a debt we all owe and everyone must pay up eventually. This is a good opportunity to commiserate with President Olusegun Obasanjo who lost a wife and also lost 118 children being the father of all. The Oniwides were an unusual couple, ever friendly; full of laughter and with smile handy for everyone who came their way either at PricewaterhouseCoopers or Zenith International Bank. Dipo Oniwide was a gentleman and an easy-go-lucky fellow. In that air crash Nigeria lost a lot of brilliant people, high performers and committed souls. We pray that the good Lord will console their families and protect our nation and people. Condolences also to those who lost loved ones, friends, associates and relations in the air crash.