Ovuoba qualifies for a hard-to-reach community. The road is long, bumpy, and dusty. Ovuoba is about 2 hours drive from the State capital – Abakaliki; it is far-flung from the infrastructure which dots the State capital; not even the crumbs of infrastructure can be seen in this community. At a time, there were no health centres, no pipe-borne or borehole water, no electricity supply, no educational institutions, and no presence of government is visible in terms of basic infrastructure.
Veronica Nwamba, 30 is a teaching staff of Ovuoba Okpitumo Ndiegu Community Primary School, the only school in the community built by ActionAid. Veronica never had the privilege of attending Primary School in her community: “It was a very difficult journey going to school every day. I and my sibling will have to go to school in another community very far from this community, my mother will tell me to go to school for only 2 days in a week and rest at home for 3 days, I had to rest from the long journey to school” Veronica recounts.
Before ActionAid built the first Primary School in Ovuoba, the community had a makeshift School, where children who could not bear the long tortuous trek to the neighbouring School learn under a tree shelter. It was an informal system just to keep the children busy, while most of the children in the community meander during School hours, some help their parents in the farm, some sell petty goods around the neighbourhood. “Before ActionAid and PDA gave us this school, many children could not attend School, many of them stay at home; especially the girls; we had reports of many teenage girls getting pregnant” Veronica hints.
In response to the need for educational facility, ActionAid constructed 4 blocks of classes, with a staff office on a land donated by the community. The School accommodates about 330 pupils.
Veronica recall: “When ActionAid and PDA came to our community, they had a meeting with some of the community people, I was young at that time, they asked us what we wanted, we made a list of many things; water, electricity, school, support for women and other things, but we agreed among us that the most important need of the community is School, so they built this School. I can tell you that because of this School that has been brought close to us, many people would have remained illiterates; without this School I don’t know where my children will be going to School”.