Posted by Elizabeth Edozie on Nov 24, 2019
 
Heartbroken, Mr and Mrs Wasiu have had to watch their child, Haliyah without being able to save her, but thanks to members of Rotary Club of Gowon Estate for coming to their rescue.
 
 
5 years old Haliyah Wasiu was diagnosed of atrial septal defect (a hole in the heart) following a medical test conducted on her, after all efforts made by her parents to save her spiritually proved futile.
                    
Haliyah’s father, Mr. Wasiu, a native of Kwara state in the western part of Nigeria, while narrating his ordeal said, "My parents advised me to seek spiritual support because the symptoms of the illness is quite new to us so we started taking her to spiritually houses but all to no evil. Eventually, my wife suggested we take her to the general hospital.
 
 
 
Speaking further, he said, "We took her to the hospital where it was discovered that she had a whole in her heart and the doctor said she will need to be flown abroad for treatment. I was like `How much am I earning?’ As at then, I had no steady means of income but I later got a job in Ibadan. Since the day the illness was discovered, my wife started crying uncontrollably. "Then one day, someone told her to go to NTA and seek help on one of their programme dedicated to members of the public during which they air their problems and call for help.

We went to NTA and that was where I came in contact with Rotarian Ben. When Rotarian Ben called me and asked me to get her passport ready, I asked myself if this is possible. On a second thought, I felt maybe God wants to use Rotary club to bless me. I got the passport and Rotarian Ben started talking about the invitation letter so finally, we needed to get her VISA and flight ticket.
 
"Then my company told me that they will help with the money for VISA and flight ticket. I told Rotarian Ben and he asked me if am sure, I said yes. Rotarian Ben spoke with my company HR and they told him that they will help me with the money through loan. Rotarian Ben objected and told them if they really want to help me, it shouldn't be through loan. Eventually, they accepted to give me the money without a loan.
 
"When the issue of getting the 'Fit to Fly', that is a doctor's certification that she is fit to fly came up, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) couldn't provide one for me as at Saturday, meanwhile she is to travel the following day being Sunday so I called Rotarian Ben, he asked me to come to Egbeda and when I got here, he took me to Dr. Akinyemi, the Medical Director of Gowon Estate Hospital who is also a member of this club. He then gave me the 'Fit to Fly' report.

"Before the surgery, if you see Haliyah, you will think that she will die the next minute. I couldn't even take her out because she couldn't walk. If she walks for like 5 minutes, she will fall down but after the surgery, when we all went to NTA, I saw her walking around. I was just looking her saying in my mind that is this my Aliya" I thank Rotary club for restoring the happiness in my family", he said.
 
The club also beautified Gowon Estate Round-About with planting of trees, re-painting, and mounting of the Four Way Test in the Round-About. The Roundabout was commissioned on Saturday, November 23, 2019 by the District Governor who was on his official visit to the club. DG Akeredolu also joined members of the club in celebrating Aliyah who recently turned 5.