Igbedor is an island in Olumbanasa in Anambra West LGA of Anambra State.
Olumbanasa is a vast island in the middle of the River Niger.
It comprises about 8 towns and a population of over twenty thousand people.
Being an island this people are cut off from any governmental presence in the form of hospital,
good school and drinking water, not to talk of electricity or other social amenities.
The teaming children of this island do not have a bright future as there are no good schools
where they can be trained in order to take their place on the stage of modern society while
their parents busy themselves with their farming and fishing.
Nearly 20 years ago, Italian nun Enza Guccione moved to Igbedor
with the aim of assisting the local community and helping young female
Nigerians who wanted to join the Figlie di San Giuseppe
(Saint Joseph's daughters) Catholic congregation. In 2009, Guccione contributed to the
creation of the Emmanuel Childrenland Nursery/Primary School in Igbedor, where about
400 children attend lessons. In the same year, she and the bishop of Onitsha in southern
Nigeria, founded NGO Emmanuel Family Italia, aimed at providing humanitarian assistance to
Igbedor's people.
