Over 2,000 households smile residence as Mary Ikoku Basis hosts 2025 free Nkwo market day in Arochukwu

On December 30 to 31, 2025, the Mary Ikoku Basis efficiently hosted its 2025 Free Nkwo Market Day in Arochukwu, Abia state, reaching over 2,000 susceptible households with meals and family necessities — fully free.

Beneficiaries shopped with dignity utilizing the Basis’s distinctive “Love Forex”, a symbolic voucher system designed to take away stigma and restore selection.

Objects distributed included garri, yam, rice, beans, meat, condiments, clothes, and different necessities, making a full of life, joyful neighborhood market.

Past meals aid, the initiative targeted strongly on empowerment. Members obtained abilities coaching in confectionery and cleaning soap making, alongside {financial} literacy and digital onboarding periods, equipping them with sensible instruments for earnings technology.

Ladies from the Basis’s Aka Ajaja Mission performed a significant position in meals production and logistics, supplying farm-grown produce and reinforcing the Basis’s dedication to native empowerment and sustainability.

Because of the overwhelming turnout, the market was prolonged to a second day, making certain extra households may benefit.

The occasion was peaceable, well-coordinated, and crammed with music, studying, testimonies, and shared hope.

Talking on the occasion, Founding father of the Basis, Hon. Mary Ikoku, reaffirmed that the initiative is about dignity, empowerment, and restoring hope, whereas commending key supporters for standing with the Basis.

She additionally known as on extra organisations and public-spirited people to assist and scale this mannequin of love-driven neighborhood intervention.

“Final yr, I left with meals and pleasure. This yr, I got here again and obtained much more. Could God bless the Mary Ikoku Basis,” a beneficiary, Mama Christy, stated.

“They taught us the way to bake and make cleaning soap. I didn’t simply obtain — I discovered. This expertise has modified my outlook,” one other beneficiary, Chidinma, stated.