Andres Idika Mary is a member of a fast rising Facebook group, Yorochitv Facebook community which refers to all their members as Yorochians and to their group as not a group but a family.
He has been more active in the group since this year, partaking from minor group activities like "I met a Yorochian" and "Yorochitv then vs now challenge" to major activities like attending the group's hangout organized by the admin team and other Yorochians.
Recently, he celebrated his birthday on August 12th and jokingly wished to get a prosthetic leg as his birthday gift.
The Creator and CEO of the group, David Iyenyorochi Obi saw his birthday post and wish and decided to make it a reality. He shared Andres story to the group and asked Yorochians if they can be able to donate money and raise one million naira for Andres to get his prosthetic leg.
Andres story below;
"My mom had an operation in February last year and could not carry anything on her head. That was a bit challenging because we sold garri to make ends meet and it required getting the cassava from the farm, carrying it home, taking it to where it'll be processed and all of that. But thankfully, school strike and the indefinite lockdown happened, so I was able to stay home with my elder brother and help my mom.
On May 30th 2020, mom called me to come help her go to the farm, get the cassava and process it. It was a normal thing so I went, got the cassava from the farm, peeled and washed it, grinded it, and around 8 pm, my brother came around. We had dinner with mom, gisted a bit and heading to our place after telling her that we'll be back the next day to play a match -I used to dance and play football-.
We were on my brother's bike that night, and he was driving. As we were going, around a popular hill at our side, we noticed another bike coming from the opposite direction on a very high speed. It was not maintaining its lane, so my brother flashed the headlights twice to notify them. They were still not budging, we had to avoid them totally. But even at that, they still kept coming at us. We did not know that they were thieves and they had stolen a tank pump from a caterpillar that was parked in a construction site.
Two of them were sitting on the pump, but it was so heavy that the weight was controlling the bike. They ran straight into us. I fell separate from my brother. I actually stood up to go help him, because the bike was lying on top of him, then I saw that my leg was not there. My leg was very different from my body and the only thing that was holding it to my body was a thin thread of flesh. I looked at my brother, one of his legs was gone. I think it died that instant.
The thieves actually came to where we were lying and screaming for help, they looked at us, and went their way. We pleaded with them to at least take us to a hospital, but they just left. We were there till around 12 am or so. We were in the pool of our own blood, screaming our lungs out and when we were spent, we started talking to each other, waiting for the first person to die.
My brother finally managed to get his phone out and call a friend of his that was staying around. He came in that middle of the night, ran around to get a vehicle, and finally took us to a hospital. I woke up on a Monday morning. I had been out for 2 days. The doctor said that we lost so much blood. Mine was at 22% and my brother's was at 21%. They referred us to a private orthopedic hospita in Umuahia. When we got there, the doctor said that there was no saving my brother's leg, that it was straight amputation but they could do something for me. But when they opened the leg, they discovered that the previous hospital stitched it wrongly. I already had dead muscles in my leg and it was decaying rapidly.
My mom was given the option of us staying alive with one leg each, or dying with both legs. We both are the only children she has, so our legs were cut off."
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Yorochians read the story and came together to raise 1 million naira for Andres to walk again. The #Andreswillwalkagain and #ForAndres trended in both the group and Facebook.
It was beautiful seeing youths in the age range of 17-35, doing their best to send the amount they had for this cause. You'd see members contributing their last amount #200, #500, #100, #700 and members sending in their last card in the account #10,000, #1000, #5000 because they wanted one of them to walk again. The ones who didn't have at all, were praying in every Comment section and at their homes for Andres to walk again.
The fund raising started at exactly 3:05pm on Friday, August 13th. At 3pm on Saturday, August 14th, Yorochians successfully raised 1.1million naira for Andres to walk again!!
This successful feat caused tears of joy and happiness to flow in the group. Everyone was happy, Andres will walk again...while some petitioned for them to also raise for Andres elder brother, Chidiebere to walk again.
Still on Saturday, August 14th and at exactly 3:17pm, CEO of Yorochitv David Iyenyorochi Obi posted and asked his family (Yorochians) if they were still capable of raising extra 1million naira for Andres brother, Chidiebere to walk again.
They said yes they were capable! yes they were ready!, and that was how another hashtag, #Chidieberewillwalkagain and #ForChdiebere began trending in the group and on Facebook.
At 11pm that same Saturday, the money was at 1.9million naira. The next day, Sunday 15th of August, at 11am, David Iyenyorochi Obi posted and announced that they had successfully raised the 2 million naira for both brothers to walk again!!
Their goal was accomplished in two days!! Yorochians successfully raised 2 million naira in two days for Andres and Chidiebere to walk again.
They young man, Andres and his brother including his mother have been filled with tears of joy. They can't find the right word to express their feelings.
Still ontop that, Yorochitv Facebook community will be travelling down to Abia state where Andres family is based at, with some foodstuffs and money to see Andres and his family.
This movement kick-started in Yorochitv Facebook community by every Yorochian. Every member forgot their different ethnic groups, and came together for the sole purpose of making a family smile.
The beauty of all these is that they did this without expecting anything in return, they did this out of the genuineness of their heart, they did this because they wanted to see one of them smile again with his brother and their mother.
Indeed Yorochitv Facebook community is not just an ordinary group, it is a family filled with intelligent minds, Creative minds and Kind souls who are willing to do more everyday.
What started as a hashtag (#Andreswillwalkagain and #Chidieberewillwalkagain) is now a reality for the Idika brothers.
Yorochitv Facebook community is a force to be reckoned with.
