Gala Opening Remarks by Miss Cynthia Atuchukwu

Good evening Your Excellency Mr. Abdel Sattar Issa Ambassador of Lebanon, Mr. Rachid Seghrouchni the Minister Counsellor Embassy of Morocco The Hague; Ms. Isaura Cabañas Charge d’Affaires of the Embassy of Cuba. Ladies and Gentlemen, My name is Cynthia Chimsimdindu Atuchukwu a Nigerian national. 

I am a human rights advocate and a fundraiser. Personally, I believe it is one of the best jobs in the world, I know many who may disagree. Simply put I give people the chance to make an extraordinary impact in other people’s lives and oftentimes in the process, they end up saving lives.  Sometimes we are in danger of forgetting that the differences we can make are to give people the chance to make a difference too. 

In February this year, I gave a speech at Webster Diversity Equity and Inclusion virtual Conference where I spoke about how diversity unifies, defines, and enriches our lives including its underlying differences that are below the surface. I know many of you have questions about Safe Base, Webster, and L’Arche and what unifies these organizations. These various organizations are interconnected on the basis of acceptance, diversity, and inclusion of all. Safe Base is a student-led organization founded by Webster Leiden Student Government Association and volunteers to raise social awareness campaigns and funds for global causes.  

We are here to support Safe Base’s disability rights advocacy campaign and fundraiser for L’Arche International.  L’Arche International is an international non-governmental organization that creates healthy communities for individuals living with and without disabilities. We are here tonight to advocate for the global implementation of disability rights, celebrate L’Arche international for its consistency and celebrate you all for your consistent support towards Safe Base. 

Let me share a short story of how I found L'Arche. Honestly, I often say to people when asked about L’Arche; I always reply they just found me. I had just gotten into the Netherlands still trying to adapt to my new environment and academic curriculum when I met L’Arche at Webster  Career Fair through Handshake for the purpose of further clarity for some of our guests - Handshake is an app like Indeed for job seekers. At the fair, I met Jeff and Angie who were from L’Arche St. Louis Missouri. Jeff is a L’Arche St. Louis core member while Angie is L’Arche Recruitment Coordinator. When I interacted with them during a one on one session, I felt a sense of belonging in my exact words - Family. Family for me means these words: home, safety, peace, friendship, and that was everything they embodied. I was inspired from thereon. 

Safe Base was born during my summer 2021  grant writing and fundraising class under the supervision of Dr. Jill Adler as a nongovernmental organization to be established in Neni, Anambra State in Nigeria - My hometown. My inspiration for Safe Base was drawn from two factors, My brother Collins Atuchukwu and  L’Arche International. 

Globally, more than one billion people live with some form of disability, of whom nearly 200 million experience considerable difficulties in functioning. Across the world, people with disabilities have poor health outcomes, lower academic achievements, less economic participation, and higher rates of poverty than people without disabilities. This is partly because people with disabilities experience barriers in accessing services that many of us have long taken for granted, including health, education, employment, and transport as well as information.  

Safe Base is a firm supporter of the  United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with disabilities. Although following its entry into force and getting disability understood as a human right issue, disability is still an important issue ridden with an increasing body of socioeconomic barriers. Despite the magnitude of this issue, both awareness of and scientific information on disability issues are still lacking, especially in developing countries. Through advocacy campaigns, Safe Base seeks to affirm that disability is part of the human condition and should not be a criteria for lack of realization of human rights.  

To achieve the long-lasting, vastly better advancements prospects that lie at the core of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 10; we at Safe Base assert that to attain its objective, we must empower people living with disabilities and remove the barriers which hinder their participation in their communities, finding work, getting a quality education and having their voices heard. 

Tonight, Safe Base celebrates the increasing global awareness of the need for a more equitable disability-inclusive community. As we celebrate tonight, I encourage you all to make a donation to support the L’Arche International community who are in dire need of our support.