History

The story of Ilora Baptist Mother and Child Clinic (IBMACC) cannot be complete without mentioning its genesis.Dr A Ogundare shared his vision/desire to give back to his community through a community health improvement initiative with his cousin Gboyega Ogundipe. They brainstormed on how to actualize his desire. By 2014, the vision became a reality with the birth of St Lucy Imole  Catholic Eye Clinic Ilora. This was a partnership between Dr & Mrs Ogundare’s NGO( Imole - Lichtstarke e.V ) of Germany and the Catholic Diocese of Oyo. The NGO funded the project 100% while Dr Ogundare donated his property for the take off of the clinic and the catholic diocese was to manage the clinic. 

In 2019, Imole - Lichtstarke donated a brand new 2 floor building consisting of an operating theatre upstairs and offices/ board room on the ground floor to the Eye Clinic.The commemoration of the modern eye clinic coincided with the Free medical mission organized by the Operation Africa Health whose founder is another Illustrious son of Ilora , Dr Dapo Popoola. It was a great opportunity for Dr Popoola’s medical mission to use the newly constructed hospital facilities. There was also a free Dental intervention provided by Prof Jare Lawoyin, another Ilora son now of blessed memory .The synergy between these two was a huge success as there were free cataract surgeries and various  other medical/ dental treatments provided for the Ilora community and its environs. 

Unfortunately, by 2019 however there  were some challenges with the partnership with the Catholics and it was becoming evident that the NGO was going to sever their relationship/ funding.Gboyega Ogundipe was on the Board of the Clinic and witnessed the back and forth of the challenges.And this was what gave birth to IBMACC.

His vision was to look for another Institution in Ilora that Dr Ogundare’s NGO can partner with. His main concern was that the Ilora community would loose out if the NGO stopped funding completely. So, another option was to partner with another local organization to set up a new project. By a strange coincidence, in the summer of 2019, in Maryland, USA, Dr Popoola, Dr Alawode and Mr Gboyega Ogundipe met and had a conversation about the just concluded successful Medical Mission in Ilora and the  opening of the modern St Lucy Imole eye clinic donated by Dr Ogundare’s NGO. The four of them are passionate about helping Ilora community and always looking for an opportunity to give back to the community of their birth. 

Gboyega mentioned that the German NGO was considering pulling out of their partnership with the eye clinic . He suggested that they could actually start their own project to meet the health needs of the Ilora community in collaboration with Dr. Ogundare’s NGO in Germany.Dr Alawode shared his idea of a Medical Village. But Gboyega shared his idea of a non profit hospital project which Dr Popoola supported. However, non of them had a clear perspective of what the intervention would be and or how it would work. 

Covid struck in 2020 and the whole world was locked down so the vision was floating until March 2023 .Gboyega was invited to attend the annual general meeting of Imole Lichtstarke (Dr Ogundare’s) NGO in Germany. He was to give a progress report on the Empowerment Project the NGO was funding in partnership with the First Baptist Church Ilora. After his report, he seized the opportunity to appeal to the NGO not to wind up their support to the Ilora community completely since they were not satisfied with the management of the Catholic dioceses. The Akibio of Ilora, Oba Stephen Oparinde also intervened on behalf of the community. A respected community leader, Chief Bamiji Ojo also lent his support. Gboyega suggested that he would get another local organization like the Baptist that can manage/support another hospital project . More so since the empowerment project was being managed successfully and 

However no decision was taken on his request because the matter was not on their agenda . 

After , the meeting, Dr Ogundare suggested to Gboyega that they visit Mr Heinz Verrieth, a respected board member of the NGO and a great supporter of the Ilora Project. Inside the car and on their way to meet Mr. Verrieth, the idea of a “Mother & Child Clinic “ crossed Dr Ogundare’s mind and based on that , they solicited for his support. Mr. Verrieth promised his support only if there is a building/premises on ground for the project. Gboyega immediately pledged his 2 Acre land in Ilora and promised to start  a building as soon as possible to realize this project.With this support secured, Dr Ogundare agreed that Gboyega should reach out to Dr Popoola and Dr Alawode when he returns to the United States which Gboyega did.

At a zoom/virtual meeting on 19th of March 2023, the four collaborators, Dr Abiodun Ogundare, Dr Dapo Popoola, Dr Remi Alawode and Mr Gboyega Ogundipe agreed to establish a Mother and Child Clinic in collaboration with First Baptist Church Ilora which would be non-profit for the use and benefit of the Ilora community and it’s environs as their pay back to the community. The Medical Village idea of Dr Remi Alawode would also be kept in view.Gboyega was mandated to communicate their decision to Chief Bamiji Ojo a staunch supporter of the development of the community and the Kabiyesi , the Akibio of Ilora land. The Kabiyesi was very happy about the initiative and gave his blessing and support and so also Chief Ojo.

They all set to work, Dr Alawode to come up with hospital design, Dr Poopola to give vision and mission statements and create a website in conjunction with Dr Alawode so the Clinic can get donor support from US  while Dr Ogundare is to get the support of his NGO from Germany and Gboyega to start the building project. The Clinic design provided by Dr Alawode was the template the Architect engaged by Gboyega Ogundipe used and the final design was approved by the Collaborators. Site clearing and fencing of the land started on March 6 2023 while The Foundation for the building project was laid on Monday, 3rd of July 2023. The building is presently at the roofing stage and work is in progress.

Gboyega Ogundipe 

April 3 2024