A Legacy of Compassion: The Humanitarian Journey of Dr. Loretta Ogboro-Okor
Dr. Loretta Oduware Ogboro-Okor is a shining example of compassion and kindness. Her humanitarian journey has touched countless lives, and her dedication to improving the well-being of others is truly inspiring.
Her mother recounts how, at the end of school terms, she would bring back provisions and essentials given to her for her stay in boarding house to share with her siblings at home. A particularly touching episode once recounted how on her way to help her mother in Oba Market one morning, she saw a young boy of school age, hawking carrier bags called “quality rubber bags’ by Nigerians at the time. Dr. Ogboro-Okor stopped and asked the boy why he was not in school. The boy stated that he was told by the guardian he was living with, to complete the sale of the quality rubber bag before he could have breakfast and goes to school. Loretta bought all fifty bags, then told him to go home, get ready and head for school. Next, she went to her mother’s stall and shared the bags for all the nearby traders who had good use for them, packaging goods for customers. This episode is most remarkable when one gets better insight into the fact that this young University student at the time, was herself fatherless, on the verge of being thrown out of University because her poor widowed mother and her siblings who could barely get along could not pay her own school fees at the time. Dr. Ogboro-Okor would eventually get a scholarship that enabled her pay for the last three years of her medical school.
Possibly, her heart-load-of-empathy and helping others originate from being born with a silver spoon and then tumbling down and having no spoon at all, during her teenage years as her aling father’s resources all went into managing his failing health before he died. In her book, My Father’s Daughter, Dr. Ogboro-Okor explains how the bubble of her sheltered life bursted and how her widowed mother fought hard to ensure herself and her siblings did not starve to death with her petty trading. These early life experiences, no doubt, have impacted her humility and understanding of the pain borne by others.
One of Dr. Ogboro-Okor’s most notable achievement is co-founding the Ashanti-Graham Health and Education Initiative Foundation in 2010 with her husband, Dr Douglas Emeka Okor, one of Nigeria’s foremost Consultant Neurosurgeons and Healthcare System reform advocate. This organization has been providing health and education support to those in need and exceptional individuals for over a decade. The foundation’s efforts have had a profound impact on the lives of many, and its commitment to awarding the best graduating medical student and lecturer from the University of Benin is a testament to the passion for promoting excellence in the surgical field shared by both doctor Okors.
Dr. Ogboro-Okor’s humanitarian work extends beyond the Ashanti-Graham Foundation. She is also the founder of the Loretta Health Initiative (LHI), which provides free medical assistance to rural communities in Edo State. This initiative has made a significant difference in the lives of many residents of Edo State who would otherwise go without medical care. LHI extends beyond borders as a registered community interest company in the United Kingdom, serving the community as a not-for-profit organisation promoting healthcare awareness and pushing for policy reforms to bridge the healthcare inequalities gap in vulnerable ethnic minority communities, women and youths populations.
What sets Dr. Ogboro-Okor apart from many other philanthropists is her selfless approach to humanitarian work. She has been known to support vulnerable Nigerians. Despite never meeting them in person, she pays monthly stipends to those in need. This kind of selflessness is truly remarkable and a testament to her commitment to helping others.
Ogboro-Okor’s humanitarian journey is a shining example of the impact one person can have on the world. Her legacy of compassion and kindness will continue to inspire others to follow in her footsteps.
Dr. Loretta Oduware Ogboro-Okor is a true humanitarian who has dedicated her life to helping others. Her work with the Ashanti-Graham Health and Educational Initiative Foundation and the Loretta Health Initiative has had a profound impact on the lives of many.
This humanitarian life style has not gone unnoticed by the world because Dr Loretta Oduware Ogboro-Okor was made a Global Goodwill Ambassador in 2018 and became a United Nations Eminent Peace Ambassador in 2023. She continues to receive numerous role model awards globally. There is no stopping this woman of service, who echoes her humane mantra every inch of the way, with every step she takes – “Our shared humanity is the true religion.”
