When I was growing up as a child and from the age of 6 years, I was conscious of the poverty, sufferings and the untimely death of my people. As young as I was then, I could not comprehend fully the reason for this poverty and why some of my peers can go to bed at night without food. It took me quite sometime to realise why some of my play mates follow me home after playing. I admired my mother’s interest in feeding them and on some occasions, she gave them some food to take home to share with their siblings. I was determined from the age of 10 years that I wanted to make a difference in the life of my people, and this contributed to my choice of a medical career.
My wife has a similar passion like me of wanting to help the poor in the society. She supports a number of charities working in developing countries and is a trustee of two charities in England. She always shared her dreams of how she would like to start a community development project or cooperative to support small scale traders and subsistent farmers in Nigeria.
All our adult life, we have been serving our local communities in various ways. However, in January 2017, we took the bold step to start formalising our charity work. We conducted our first free Medical Outreach, which led to the birth of Ben and Victoria Ononeze Foundation in 2018. The Foundation has two objectives, to provide free medical care and free financial assistance to the poorest in our communities in Imo State, South East of Nigeria.
The Foundation was registered with the Charity Commission in England and Wales in 2019, and the equivalent authority in Nigeria in 2020.
Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology with more than 36 years of experience.
Consultant in Public Health with over 20 years of experience.
