The Congress does not leave a family alone at the graveside. We arrange the service. We fly the elders. We pay the bills. We write the names down and keep them, so that no Itsekiri name ever dies twice — once in the body, and again in the forgetting.
“She kept the prayers in three languages and the rice pot on the stove. The whole Congress passed through her kitchen, and no one left unfed.”
“Built half the pulpits in the Gulf. Raised five daughters, two of them doctors. Only raised his voice once, and the room still talks about it.”
“Taught forty-one years in two countries. Corrected my greeting the first time we met and blessed me the last. She taught the tongue to hundreds.”
“Built the Region from eleven members in a living room to one hundred twenty. Never missed a meeting, never counted a favor. The Region bears his name now.”
“Came here in '72 with a suitcase and a prayer. Left nine grandchildren, four of them Academy scholars. Every story of his ended with a proverb.”
“Ushered eight hundred children into the world, thirty-two of them Itsekiri, four of them ours. Called every child 'ọmọ mi' and meant it.”
One call or WhatsApp to the Regional secretary is enough. No paperwork, no form, no delay. The Region takes it from there.
Any hour · answeredWithin 24 hours, National Secretariat is informed. A named memorial is opened on this page; the 40-day contribution window begins.
Within 24 hoursMembers across all 8 Regions contribute what they can. Stripe handles payment; no names are shown unless a family asks. No minimum.
40-day windowAt day 40, funds are wired directly to the family — no fees, no holdback. Congress presence is offered at the service (members willing to attend).
Day 41 · wiredYour gift is tax-deductible, receipted instantly, and sent directly to the named family at the close of the 40-day window.
If you or your family have lost a loved one, a single form opens the memorial, notifies your Region, and begins the 40-day contribution window.
Not here. Not in this register. Not in this Congress. We write them down, we say them aloud, and we keep them — for the family still grieving, and for the grandchildren who will learn the name one day and know they belonged.