Voice of the disenfranchised, we call her. Simply Ms Benson, she calls herself. Madam Jisola Benson just cannot help herself, it seems. She continues to render support to the seemingly forgotten. We sighted her a while back, in Oke Aarin Market in Lagos, massively shopping for bulk items to be donated to some Charity organizations she would not disclose.
We have since found the three charities Madam Jisola Benson visited were the Old People’s Home, Children with cerebral palsy, and Boys Welfare Centre, all at Sabo-Yaba environ of the State.
She coordinated this on behalf of the prestigious Grand L’afric Club of Victoria Island, a predominantly men’s club to which she was later elected Welfare Secretary due of her affable nature, passion for charitable causes and cheerful hospitality towards all.
As expected, Madam Jisola Benson is presently planning another charity giveaway for the club this Christmas season.
Recently we again ran into Madam Jisola Benson visiting and donating tons of Foodstuffs and Clothing in readiness for the coming festive seasons, to the under-privileged at Lakowe area of Lekki/Ajah, and later to her hometown in Ikorodu, we learnt
In her usually unassuming way, Madam jisola Benson goes about fulfilling her passion – no fuss, no fanfare.
She just gets on with it, saying with teary eyes that we are all equal in GOD’s eyes so we should constantly share with those in need. She believes God blesses us so we could bless others.
During a recent visit to a hospice for children with disabilities, we were surprised to see Madam Jisola Benson take along her daughter who was on holiday from the US and her daughter’s friends from the UK.
The essence was to give, to count their blessings, and to empathize with those she considers not so fortunate.
Madam Jisola Benson is relentlessly committed to such ethos, despite being a single parent of three, and still running her dredging and real estate businesses.
Madam Jisola Benson believes everyone deserves a measure of good life and no one chooses where or what family they are born into.
To her, we are just lucky to be doing well, and every one of us should give back to society, period! She says due to the high poverty level in the country, corporations and successive governments need to do more to better the lives of the ordinary people and we individuals need to do our bit in sharing with particularly those in despair and giving them a sense of belonging.
Outspoken Madam Jisola Benson, who also goes by her middle name Funke, reckons the cries of the downtrodden should not go to deaf ears and every little always surely helps.
When asked in an interview if there is an ulterior motive or political agenda with all these efforts towards helping people, Madam Jisola Benson replied “Every one has a calling. We only need to tap into it.
This is the direction my GOD wills me to take. My only ulterior motive is to alleviate abject poverty. Any personal motive completely negates that cause.” We have followed Madam Jisola Benson’s benevolence for a while. We applaud her tenacity. There is no doubt, she is indeed God sent.
Emeh Achanga,the CEO of the Miss Petite Nigeria Brand is a lawyer turned blogger. She is very passionate about writing, with several publications and awards to her credit .She is currently working on publishing a collection of short stories which are basically a memoir about her exciting true experiences.
Keep the good work