Support. Empower. Build pathways.
To identify, support and empower vulnerable people by providing practical assistance, compassionate care, opportunities for development and sustainable pathways toward improved living conditions.
A charitable organisation committed to supporting vulnerable people, empowering communities and developing sustainable solutions for those in need.
Founder, Soteria Charity Centre
A life shaped by compassion, service, family, faith and a commitment to human dignity.
Founder, Soteria Charity Centre
Nkiru Henrietha Mbajiaku is the Founder of Soteria Charity Centre, an organisation whose roots go back to December 1995, when she was just 17 years old and still a student at Queen’s School, Enugu, Nigeria.
Her journey into charitable service did not begin with an office, a large team or financial resources.
It began with a moment that changed her life.
As a young newly married woman, Nkiru witnessed vulnerable people being left without adequate care after a major transition in the ministry with which she and her late husband, Pastor (Dr.) George Udoka Mbajiaku, were associated.
While some people were able to return to their families, others had nowhere to go. Among those left vulnerable were elderly and sick people and other individuals who had depended upon the ministry for care and support.
Nkiru could not simply walk away.
Although she was only 17 years old, she opened the doors of her family home and began caring for those who had been left without adequate support.
That decision became the beginning of Soteria Charity Centre.
The circumstances that gave birth to Soteria Charity Centre occurred at a very young age, but the responsibility that followed continued throughout Nkiru’s life.
She went on to become a wife, mother, lawyer, community leader and humanitarian.
She raised five children, while continuing to carry a deep concern for vulnerable people and communities.
For Nkiru, motherhood also deepened her understanding of the importance of providing children with security, education, opportunity and a sense of belonging.
Her experience of raising a family while pursuing professional and humanitarian responsibilities has strengthened her conviction that vulnerable children and adults should not merely be given temporary relief, but should be given opportunities to build meaningful and productive lives.
Her own life has therefore become intertwined with the values at the heart of Soteria Charity Centre:
Compassion
Responsibility
Resilience
Dignity
Education
Opportunity
Service
Nkiru is a lawyer and Principal Partner of LawEdge Legal Consultants, where she has developed a professional career in legal and advisory services.
Her legal career has given her experience in professional representation, governance, regulatory matters, business affairs and working with individuals and organisations in complex circumstances.
This professional background has also influenced her approach to charity.
She believes that compassion must be accompanied by structure, accountability, good governance and responsible stewardship.
For this reason, the long-term vision for Soteria Charity Centre is not simply to provide charitable relief.
It is to build an organisation with the structures, systems and professional standards necessary to serve vulnerable people sustainably.
Nkiru’s story is also one of perseverance.
She became a mother of five and carried the responsibilities of family life alongside professional and humanitarian commitments.
She also experienced the loss of her husband, Pastor (Dr.) George Udoka Mbajiaku, in 2009.
Through seasons of responsibility, change and personal loss, the humanitarian vision that began in 1995 remained important to her.
The Founder believes that service to vulnerable people cannot be measured only by the size of an organisation or the amount of money it raises.
Dignity
Whether people who were vulnerable are treated with dignity.
Opportunity
Whether children who were disadvantaged receive opportunities.
Remembering
Whether elderly people who were forgotten are remembered.
Hope
Whether a person who has lost hope is given another opportunity to rebuild.
More than three decades after opening her home to people who had nowhere else to go, Nkiru continues to carry the same fundamental conviction:
“No vulnerable person should be abandoned simply because they have nowhere else to go.”
But she also recognises that the needs facing vulnerable communities today are far greater than what can be addressed through individual acts of generosity.
That is why her vision has evolved from providing immediate care to developing a sustainable centre for care, education, vocational training and empowerment.
The proposed Soteria Charity Centre development represents the next stage of that journey.
The objective is to create a purpose-built environment where vulnerable people can receive appropriate support while also gaining access to education, practical skills and opportunities that can help them move toward greater independence.
The story of Soteria Charity Centre is therefore not the story of an organisation that suddenly appeared with a multimillion-dollar fundraising target.
It is the story of a journey that began more than three decades ago.
In 1995, a 17-year-old student opened her home.
Over the years, that act of compassion became a sustained humanitarian commitment.
Today, the Founder is seeking to help transform that original vision into a professionally structured, sustainable institution capable of serving many more people.
At 17, Nkiru opened her family home to vulnerable people who had nowhere else to go.
Family, professional responsibilities and humanitarian service continued to shape the Founder’s journey.
The proposed $4.5 million development is intended to provide infrastructure for the next stage of the organisation’s work.
The proposed $4.5 million development is intended to provide the infrastructure required to take the work to the next level, including a vocational and empowerment centre and residential facilities for vulnerable beneficiaries.
The scale of today’s vision is therefore very different from the small family home where the journey began.
But the reason remains the same:
To ensure that vulnerable people are not forgotten.
Nkiru’s life brings together several worlds, each connected by a commitment to service and human dignity.
Mother
Lawyer
Founder
Leader
Author / Writer
Arbitrator
Humanitarian
Woman of Faith
But beyond every title is a simple conviction that has remained with her since she was 17:
Every human being deserves dignity.
That conviction is the heart of Soteria Charity Centre.
What began with one home can become a lasting institution of hope for generations to come.
Nkiru Henrietha Mbajiaku
Founder, Soteria Charity Centre
Soteria Charity Centre is a charitable organisation founded in 1995 in Enugu, Nigeria, with a commitment to supporting vulnerable and disadvantaged people through practical humanitarian assistance, welfare support, empowerment, skills development and sustainable community initiatives.
We seek to respond to immediate needs while developing long-term solutions that can help individuals and communities become stronger, more stable and more self-reliant. What began in Enugu in 1995 has grown from a personal act of compassion into a vision for a sustainable institution serving vulnerable people and communities.
Soteria Charity Giving Out Foods
Our Founder Addressing The Children
Every day, people face circumstances they cannot overcome alone. An elderly person may have no one to provide adequate care. A sick person may lack resources to meet essential needs. A family may struggle to put food on the table. A young person may have the ability and determination to succeed but lack access to education or vocational opportunity. A homeless person may have nowhere safe to turn.
These realities are at the heart of Soteria Charity Centre. Our work is driven by the conviction that compassion must become action. We seek not only to respond to immediate needs but also to develop sustainable structures through which vulnerable people can receive care, acquire skills, gain opportunities and rebuild their lives.
To identify, support and empower vulnerable people by providing practical assistance, compassionate care, opportunities for development and sustainable pathways toward improved living conditions.
To build a sustainable centre of care, empowerment and opportunity where vulnerable people can find support, dignity, skills, protection and hope.