The Beginning...
Irene Willoughby
In 1958, a woman generously endowed with the milk of human kindness established a home for abandoned babies in Ota. This marked a turning point of hope for the life for some children who otherwise would have been left to die uncared for. It is no doubt a rare humanitarian gesture (more so at that time). The home was founded by Late Yeye Abiye of Ota Kingdom, Chief (Mrs.) Irene V. Willoughby (Nee Liverpool) in the year 1958. She was born in Georgetown – Guyana in the United States of America in 1904. She was brought to Nigeria by her parents – Pa. J.B. Liverpool and Mrs. Elizabeth Liverpool when she was eight years old.
She did all her schooling in Nigeria and became a trained Nurse/Midwife. She worked in so many places within Nigeria until she was brought to Ota by the Local Government to open the maternity Centre in 1956. She started running a Motherless home in 1958; the home was approved by the state Government in 1979.
The late Chief (Mrs.) Irene Willoughby gave hope to otherwise hopeless little ones who were unjustly given a raw deal by a society that is not caring enough. Today, some of Mama’s children are happily married. Some have passed out of higher institutions and vocational schools. And many are still attending schools looking forward to a brighter future. She cared for more than five hundred abandoned children in her lifetime. Some of these children today are married and doing well in their different human endeavors. It was a till death-do-us-part relationship between Mama Willoughby, her children, and the people of Ota
