BIOGRAPHY OF CHIEF DR. MRS. DAMARIS OGECHI ONWUKA
(Nee Abraham-Igwe)
Ada Nwere Ugwu I
EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION
Damaris Ogechi Onwuka (Nee Abraham-Igwe), Adanwereugwu I of Umunakanu, Owerre was born to the family of Late Elder Abraham Igwe and Late Deaconess Abigail Igwe on 5th June 1956 into the Umuebezala kindred of Umugolo Umunakanu, Ehime Mbano L.G.A. of Imo state. She was the last of her siblings and had lost her father when she was very young and tender. She, thus became the first daughter of Apostle Dr. T. I. Igwe her eldest brother who ensured she was nurtured and brought up in the fear of our Lord.
She attended Umugolo Community School and The Apostolic Church School, Amumara in Ezinihitte LGA of Imo state for her primary education. She attended Federal Government College, Sokoto and Federal Government College, Enugu for her secondary education from where she was admitted into the University of Nigeria (UNN) to study medicine obtaining an MBBS degree in 1982. She did her house job in Eku Baptist Hospital (now in Delta state) and served in the National Youth Service scheme in St. Camillus Hospital, Uromi and the Military Hospital in Benin City, in the then Bendel state (now Edo state).
Dr. Damaris worked in the Ibeku Central Hospital, Umuahia from where she got employed into Imo State Ministry of Health and worked as a medical officer in the then Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Umuahia. After her marriage she was transferred to Aba General Hospital where she worked as a senior medical officer until the hospital was converted to Abia State University Teaching hospital.
In addition, she obtained a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree from the College of Medicine, University of Lagos in 1998. Dr. Damaris also got into the National Postgraduate Medical College residency programme while in Abia State University Teaching Hospital Aba, passed her part 1 final in Public Health and became an Associate Fellow of the National Post graduate Medical College of Nigeria in 2000.
Further studies took her out of the shores of the country to Thailand where she earned a post graduate diploma in Health Care financing from the Chulalongkorn University Bangkok, Thailand in 2010 in a World Bank assisted project. Furthermore, she did a postgraduate diploma in Management in UNN (Enugu Campus) and also a postgraduate diploma in Health Systems Management from Galilee International Management Institute, Nahalal, Israel in 2011.
Dr. Damaris worked as a Senior Registrar in Abia State University Teaching Hospital from 1998 to 2000. Her passion in caring for children and women propelled her career and earning her employment in the Federal Civil Service as Deputy Director, Technical in then National Programme on Immunization (NPI) Abuja in 2001. She was deployed to Enugu as South East Zonal Coordinator in 2003 and remained so until the merger with National Primary Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) in 2007 when she was appointed CMO/Zonal Coordinator SEZ. She continued there until 2013 when she was transferred back to Headquarters in Abuja as CMO/Head Disease Control/Surveillance in the Department of Disease Control & Immunization. She worked and retired as Director Disease Control & Immunization in 2016.
MARRIAGE & FAMILY LIFE
Dr. Damaris was not just work and career. She got married to Dr. Eugene Onwuka on 5th October 1985 and they were blessed with three children: Adaeze, Kelechi and Emmanuel. The family lived in Aba and Enugu where the children grew up. She was not just a wife and mother but a mentor and support to other family members outside her nuclear family. She took interest in the career and wellbeing of her husband’s kit and kin. Her impact within family is just indescribable and brought value into the Onwuka family. Of particular note was the rapport she built with the women in her husband’s family home in Umuogele Umuakwu from the onset of her marriage.
On getting home from the city she would visit every household, laughed and joked with each one and would demand for ‘ukazi soup with achara and mgbam’ from our uncles’ wives. She had a great blend with her mother in-law and both would team up to decide issues which the men had no choice but to abide with. She took great care of her parents’ in-law and would sit most times and chat with her father in-law who would tell her a lot of family stories.
Dr. Damaris was an active member in the ECWA churches in Aba – ECWA 1, ECWA, Abayi and ECWA English Church where she worshipped with her family. When she moved over to Enugu, the ECWA Church 1 in Enugu equally felt her presence in its full ramifications. In all these churches she was an active member in the ECWA women fellowship.
DAMARIS’ SINGING MINISTRY AND COMMITMENT TO GOD
From her younger days in Umugolo Damaris started singing in the choir and rendering special numbers in the church. This she carried on into secondary schools in FGC, Sokoto and Enugu where she was active in the FCS and CU respectively. She sang inspiring songs that touched hearts, endeared her to her listeners, ministered the gospel and gave praise to our God. In the university, she not only sang special numbers with friends and colleagues in the Campus Evangels but was an active member of the drama wing. These groups would go out on crusades to the rural area and other towns.
During her life in both secondary schools and the university, she left indelible impact in the lives of colleagues and friends that she came across. The stories are endless and we remain grateful to God. By the time of her marriage to Eugene she released her debut album ‘Feed My Flock’ on her wedding day. She has since launched other viz.: ‘The Lion of Judah’, ‘Echoes of Love’ and ‘Riwo Otito’. Dr. Damaris also ministered extensively in the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International meetings in Owerri, Umuahia, Aba, Enugu and Abuja as well as at regional and national conventions. Specifically, the Umuahia chapter started their early meetings in her sitting room in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital while she was a medical officer.
HER VIRTUES AND PASSION
Dr. Damaris was a strong, bold and courageous character, a virtuous woman that represented all that was expressed in the famous biblical passage of Proverbs chapter 31. And behind that character was a kind hearted and tender woman who loved not just her own children but children generally. She feared none but spoke out the truth to all and sundry. Her home was open for relations, friends and strangers. She hated injustice and oppression in the workplace and at home. She believed in hard work and would not tolerate laziness or indolence. She was down to earth and despite her status or level had a motherly touch with a difference at home. Her close attachment to her mother-in-law from whom she learned a lot about her husband’s family endeared her to the entire family.
Her dedication to work and passion for children started manifesting in Eku Baptist Hospital where she did her house job and did not go unnoticed in the Okpara Ward (children’s ward) in Queen Elizabeth Hospital where she would go out of her way to make sure that the children lived. While in NPI and the NPHCDA, she crisscrossed the length and breadth of this country ensuring that children were fully immunized according to schedule and worked with the team that saw to NPHCDA providing the enabling environment for vaccine production in the country. Despite facing armed bandits across the borders in the Taraba/Adamawa axis, irate mobs in the Jos Plateau region and car snatching syndicates in the middle-belt region, she was unrelenting in the dedication and pursuit of duty to ensure children were protected from childhood killer diseases.
And from the toils of duty, Dr. Damaris was instrumental in getting her people to build a Primary Healthcare Centre in Umugolo and ensured nurses were deployed to work in the centre. As part of her contribution in giving back to society, she initiated and facilitated the provision of free medical services to Umuakwu and Umugolo communities in Abia and Imo states respectively; and giving out food stuff and clothing to the needy in both communities. In 2014, she registered the Damaris Care Network (DCN) which has been used to continue these services until illness took its toll on her health. It was in recognition of her contribution to her community that she was conferred with the title of Adanwereugwu I of Umunakanu Owerre by H.R.H. Eze Udo I, B.A. Onuoha and the Umugolo community.
Taking a break from these activities once yearly, Dr. Damaris would call out Christians, asking them to stop and take stock, count their blessing and give thanks to God in the annual ‘Glorious Evening of Praise’ which she organized in Aba and Enugu. She has been described as “an amazing amazon, a pearl of distinct value, a vessel and seed of encouragement, a silent motivator, enterprising doctor, sister of great zeal and courage in her practical love for others”. We will definitely miss this lady of songs.
But who are we to question the almighty God who had chosen to call her home at this time? Nkem, we love you, but God loves you most.
Rest in Peace, in the Bosom of our Lord till we meet to part no more.
Dr. Eugene Onwuka
(Husband)
