It is a hive of activity inside the compound of Vine Heritage Children Center in Gwagalada, on the outskirts of Abuja, Nigeria. It seems that everywhere one looks, there are babies crying, laughing, or playing heartily, all unaware of the nature of their true stories.
The children in this home are not orphans or abandoned babies. Thanks to an extraordinarily brave couple, they were all rescued from death.
In the garden, former university lecturer turned evangelist, Pastor Stephen Olusola is holding a three-week-old baby close to his chest. Two other children on the ground are tugging on his legs, wanting to be carried as well.
Inside one of the larger rooms at the centre, his wife Chinwe is changing diapers and helping feed hungry new arrivals. She is frantic. The doctor and nurse had been summoned earlier on and they’d declared the newly arrived babies healthy but now they are crying non-stop.
“Some of the children come in just after hours of birth, some come in a few weeks after birth and some others come in after a month or so. It’s usually challenging, especially with regards to their health, because some of the children would have been already poisoned before they are given to us,” explained Olusola.
The practice of killing or sacrificing twin babies is not new to many parts of Africa. In pre-independence Africa, many communities viewed the birth of twins as a bad omen, with twins deserving to be killed to appease the gods. In post-independence Africa, there were various campaigns to eradicate the secret killings of twin babies but there are indications that the practise hasn't entirely disappeared.
Olusola doesn’t mince his words - or hide his pain - when explaining how he discovered that the communities where he served in parts of central Nigeria still secretly got rid of babies.
“While I was doing my work, I discovered with my wife the killing of children in some places near here…especially the killing of twins, albinos, children that lost their mothers, children who grew upper teeth first and children who had deformities,” he said.
Olusola and Chinwe founded the Vine Heritage Children Center in 2004 and embarked on a mission to save as many children as possible. To date, the home has saved more than 300 children. Many are in school - or reunited with their parents.
Olusola said his program ensures that many of the children are later integrated into society or given back to their parents but under close supervision. Apart from giving the children refuge, the home also provides education for the children to prepare them for life.
“As they grow up, they need adult foods and education which we provide them. We hope some of them make it tertiary so that they can able to care for themselves in life,” said Olusola.
Initially, Olusola’s crusade met resistance from some of the village spiritual heads but that is slowly easing as more families accept their children and also offer to secretly help save more babies before they are given poison to die.
Olusola said the centre would not have been able to care for all the children had it not received assistance. That has come in the form of aid from the government of Nigeria, churches, individual Nigerians as well as overseas institutions like the European Union and ActionAid.
Olusula did not provide details of the rescue activities but they can be extremely dangerous. The killing of babies is a crime and parents go to extreme lengths to keep the deaths a secret. However, the young twins that had arrived were a clear indication that babies remain at risk and that the centre continues to be a place of refuge. The centre also offers the children vocational training in soap making, perfume making, baking and tailoring.
Inside, Chinwe's new arrivals have begun settling down. They had better get used to their new home. It may be quite a few years before they leave.