On May 6th, 2018, two years after my second child (my last biological one), my sister, some sweet friends, and I started a Moms group. We didn’t do it by ourselves; in fact, the idea didn’t originate from us. It was born in Texas by a sweet, humble lady named Jenny. She saw a need for moms and acted.
I struggled with my second pregnancy. Despite my best efforts, I had a C-section. I’m thankful for my husband, who stepped in, gave the doctor the signal, and gave me the courage to go for it. I didn’t get tested, but I’m sure I had postpartum depression. I really struggled. On a random phone call with a sweet friend, Marie, I heard about Gather Moms. I asked if we could start one in Nigeria, and she said, “Why not?” So we did.
Less than a year in, we realized you don’t have to birth a child to influence the life of a child. So we evolved and became a women’s group. It didn’t matter if you had kids or not; you were welcome, as long as you were female.
In July 2020, right after the 2-3 months of lockdown due to COVID, dearest Millicent, bless her heart, said, “My children’s teacher has a premature baby, and we’re not sure she’ll make it. Can we rally around her?” There was no other response than, “Yes, absolutely, how can we help?” A group of us crazy ladies organized a walk and car wash fundraiser (we tried hard to be COVID compliant). Once again, my amazing husband (don’t tell him I said so) willingly gave us his car wash to use—we needed an outdoor location. Baby Destiny not only survived, she is thriving. What a miracle. We were more blessed by the privilege of blessing her family than any gifts we gave. It gave us a taste of doing something outside ourselves. It was life-changing.
That’s when the seed started germinating. One of us said, “Why don’t we register a nonprofit and use it to keep doing good?” I said, “No, we don’t need another organization; we can work with others.” We continued with other projects as they came our way. But the group didn’t let it go. Someone said it again. This time, I prayed. We prayed. He answered. It was clear.
Delighted to share that we are now live:
www.gathernigeria.org
Special thanks to RemotewebNET Dynamics Limited for getting us there with such ease. If you’re a small business, a startup, or a young person struggling with how to move from your idea to a social media brand and presence, check out the team at RemotewebNET Dynamics Limited. They’ll even help you transform your incoherent thoughts into usable content.
