The greatest gift the Asido Foundation gave me was that of an ideal. One man can be destroyed, buildings can be leveled, and whole armies can be wiped out. But an ideal? An ideal can endure. It can defy the ravaging of time and circumstance.
People often speak of turning points, moments in life that are so imbued with emotion they move a person's will and 'radicalise' them.
By an act of providence, a couple of years ago, I was seated in the midst of a small group of people who strongly felt the need to build something that would cater to the neglected mental health needs of Nigerian society. Albeit one I came to realise I was unprepared for, that was my first turning point.
The second came in the likeness of a friendship, and when I think of how I came to be reacquainted with Asido a few months into its founding, I cannot help but draw comparisons with the Bible's account of how Christ went out to the marketplace, saw a few labourers and called them to his vineyard. In my case, it was a friend. She reached out and called me to the Asido Campus Network. "Apply", she said, with the gentle firmness I would come to know her for. And so I sent that mail and took full advantage of that turning point.
As a student, a medical student, no less, you come face to face with human suffering nearly every day. Asido and Asido Campus Network helped me understand that often, more often than we realise or care to admit, that suffering is hidden, enabled by our lack of understanding or our refusal to do so, tightly wound and coiled, poised to strike at any moment, sometimes with deadly force.
As the years went by, mental health ceased to be the clichéd thing that must not be named and only whispered behind closed doors. It became okay to care. It became okay to question. It became necessary to learn, to try to understand, and to walk the path with others. Together.
And so we did. We advocated; we planned and sat in for workshops; we reached out to help, to support; we laughed and we cried; some of us found love, others never did, but we all found a place that felt like home.
The greatest gift the Asido Foundation gave me was that of an ideal. One man can be destroyed, buildings can be leveled, and whole armies can be wiped out. But an ideal? An ideal can endure. It can defy the ravaging of time and circumstance. And we've seen that ideal, heard it being said, read it in messages and in print: "together, let's make the world a better place, one person at a time". Add to that the sentiments of Theodore Roosevelt when he said 'Do what you can with what you, where you are', and one begins to understand the raison d'être of the Asido Foundation.
