Boston – By Emman Okuns
She probably did not expect the question, but her answer came from the heart – appearing to be a true expression of her inner-self.
It was almost the last of the series of questions that were posed to her in an exclusive interview with Alltimepost.com recently in Los Angeles, California, United States of America.
Engr. Bose Ogbeifun, a United States-based philanthropist, humanitarian and an accomplished entrepreneur told Alltimepost.com that she derives happiness from being able to help people in need.
The question was: what do you consider to be a life well fulfilled? And she opened up: “What I consider to be a life well fulfilled is the ability to touch lives, you know, that is the desire of my heart.”
“I would have fulfilment in living this life that we are in if I am able to reach out to many people that are in need out there; providing job opportunities, helping people in diversified areas of needs.”
With reference to her recent trip to Nigeria, she told Alltimepost.com that the condition of her mom, a 95-year old woman has inspired her to explore the possibility of establishing a geriatric care facility in Nigeria.
“What my mom is suffering right now as a 95 years old woman, my brain is already thinking of the geriatric populations in our country, Nigeria; how we can have a facility, for people like us to care for the old people whose children have already grown up and left the home.
“These people are in the hands of nannies who are not really doing the right thing because they do not have the skills; so with what I am seeing from my mom’s situation, my desire is being able to have a geriatric facility in Nigeria.
“Probably I can start from Edo State which is my state or any other part of Nigeria; it could be Lagos or Abuja whereby people that are in that range can be cared for.
“In my mind I can imagine the number of people that are suffering what my mother is suffering right now. So for me to have fulfillment is actually reaching out to people,” she said.
On whether she has a charity in place either here in the United States or Nigeria, she said: “I don’t have any charity in place, but I have been doing my own personal outreach to the people in need or when people ask for help I just do my thing, not that I created any charity or foundation.”
With every milestone comes the moment of sober reflection, such as any regret in life or things that one wishes he or she could have changed or accomplished.
For Engr. Bose Ogbeifun there is nothing to regret, but she does have a serious concern about her busy schedule which she wants to change.
Her words: “At 50, I do not have anything to regret, the only thing that I would tell my self is try to rest, getting older. As you get older, the more you know that a lot of people are dying.
“When I was younger, I never felt it that a lot of people were dying. As you are getting older people are checking out of this world like crazy.
“So the only thing I am now beginning to tell myself is for me to slow down from all this work and do away with stress because it can kill.
“Stress generates sickness in people. So that is the only thing I am conscious about right now.
“I run my own business which is very stressful and in as much as you want to reach out to the world and help at the same time, you have to consider your own health to be alive and be able to do that.
“Then these community activities – serving the community is a voluntary thing that you just do. I was the president of Edo Association of Michigan. We bought Edo house, you do all this work but you are actually burning yourself.”
Engr. Ogbeifun is the president of Trust Care Group Homes, Inc. in Michigan, taking care of people with mental disabilities.
In April this year, she turned 50 years and the entire world heard about it – with a three-day birthday bash beginning from Friday April 10 to 12, attended by dignitaries from various parts of the world.
The birthday celebration ended with a thanksgiving service at Brightmoor Christian Church, headed by Pastor Jamie Kjos in Detroit, Michigan.
She reminisced on the birthday when asked how she felt on that day: “To be honest, I was really dumfounded when I saw the crowd, the day one which was the old school, the moment I walked into that hall and I saw the huge crowd, I felt very humbled and was happy that people took time off from their tight schedules to make the trip. People came from all over the world.”
As a very successful entrepreneur, Engr. Bose Ogbeifun poured encomiums on her oldest brother, also an accomplished businessman, Engr. Greg Ogbeifun, whom she sees as her role model, mentor and true source of inspiration when asked about the people that have the greatest influence on her life.
Her words: “Number one is my oldest brother, Engr. Greg Ogbeifun because there is so much I learned from him. As a child, I stayed with him, I watched him, you know, even when he started running his own business.
“I believe that what I am doing today, like way of running business I learned so much from him.
“But at the same time you know how the adage says that you take things from your parents; my mother was a goal getter, she was a business person. I am also sure that influenced me too.”
She named the following as some of the guests at her birthday event: Mr. Obaseki Tom from Dallas Texas, Chief Dr. and Mrs. Ukponmwan, Dr. Ikponmwonsa Oviasu of NNPC from Nigeria, late Chief Lolo Nwazurike and some religious ministers.
See Alltimebubbles for her birthday pictures …
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