Raise Up the Roof Foundation Mission Appeal
A Message from Father Edmund
Since my childhood, I sensed a special calling to serve people with disabilities (PWD) – a population that is overlooked and neglected in Nigeria and many African societies. These countries are not ‘handicap-friendly’. Often disabled people are viewed as burdens to their families and are treated as outcasts by society. Most lack access to food, shelter, clean water and often have less opportunity for formal education than citizens without disability. Following my ordination, I was privileged to serve as a missionary in Mamfe, Southwest of Cameroon. During those five years, I provided both spiritual, educational, and material support and advocacy for PWD.
My continued desire to help PWD has shaped my philosophy of life and propelled me into channeling my spiritual, mental, material, and intellectual resources to learning and assisting the PWD, which is why I started the Raise Up the Roof Foundation (RUTRF).
Raise Up the Roof Foundation’s name is taken from the Gospel of Luke 5:17-26, where Jesus healed the crippled man, whose friends raised up the roof (going the extra mile) to bring him to Jesus. This name is a reminder to humanity about the need for inclusion, compassion, and interdependence. Using the actions of the crippled man’s friends, Jesus calls all Christians to raise up the roof for our brothers and sisters who are disabled but have special gifts to bring to the table.
Raise Up the Roof Foundation focuses on a social justice advocacy for the recognition and inclusion of ‘People with Disabilities (PWD)’ in Africa, with Nigeria and Cameroon as start off points. Our mission embraces the Catholic Social Teaching principles of options for the poor, solidarity, subsidiarity/participation and common good to foster the flourishing of these marginalized vulnerable groups. It is imperative to remember that every human person is created in God’s image and likeness and have an inherent dignity.
To empower these groups in recognition of their inherent dignity as human beings created in God’s image, the Archdiocese of Boston has recognized the good works done so far and has granted Raise Up the Roof Foundation an opportunity through the ‘Mission Cooperative Appeal’ to tell the stories of PWD, especially those who are marginalized and stereotyped in Africa, and raise money enough to support our mission in Africa and beyond. Presently, Raise Up the Roof Foundation sponsors close to one hundred children in Africa who are either orphans, internally displaced children (IDPs), widowed women or the impoverished. Our mission, focusing on people with disabilities, also extends to those who are on the margins. The Foundation provides financial support when ‘necessary’ to seminarians training to become priests. We also aid suffering priests and their parishes in Africa, especially in Nigeria and Cameroon.
Thank you so much. May God bless you and your generosity to Raise Up the Roof Foundation.
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To make a donation from your cell phone, simply use your camera on the QR code below and click on “givebutter.com” or visit the RUTRF website for more ways to donate.
