Two Nigerian women living in the diaspora, Valerie Osude and Julie Arobieke, have turned a friendship spanning more than two decades into a humanitarian initiative providing food, clothing and other essential supplies to vulnerable communities in Nigeria….
Two Nigerian women living in the diaspora, Valerie Osude and Julie Arobieke, have turned a friendship spanning more than two decades into a humanitarian initiative providing food, clothing and other essential supplies to vulnerable communities in Nigeria.
The duo are co-founders of Humanity Basket, a nonprofit organisation established in 2025 to combat hunger, restore dignity and support underserved communities.
Speaking on Diaspora Connect, Osude, a retired United States Navy veteran, said her years of military service exposed her to humanitarian interventions in countries including the Philippines and Oman, experiences that strengthened her commitment to community service.
Osude, who was born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Lagos, served for 15 years in the US Navy, retiring as a petty officer first class.
She said her partnership with Arobieke was strengthened by their long-standing friendship, which began when they were teenagers in Nigeria.
“We’ve met since JSS3. So, I know her,” Sudi said, explaining that their friendship had survived years and distance, including periods when communication was largely through email.
Arobieke, a media sales professional who has worked in the media and digital publishing industry for more than a decade, said the idea for Humanity Basket grew from their individual efforts to support people in need.
She recalled returning to Nigeria after spending time in the United Kingdom and being struck by the increasing number of people asking for food rather than money.
“Why are things so expensive? Why are there a whole lot of people banging on your window while you’re driving and all they will be saying is, ‘Give me food, give me food. I’m hungry, madam. I’m hungry,’” she recalled.
Moved by what she saw, Arobieke began privately setting aside 20 per cent of her earnings each month to provide food to people in different communities.
She initially kept the initiative to herself after being warned about the security risks of personally approaching vulnerable communities.
“I decided to do it behind everybody’s back and not tell anybody,” she said.
But after eventually telling Osude about the initiative, the two decided to combine their efforts. While Arobieke was providing food, Osude had been sending clothes and other items to Nigeria for distribution to people in need.
“We decided to merge the whole thing together. So we cater to both food and clothes,” Aru B said.
Osude said she immediately embraced the idea because giving back had always been important to her.
“I’ve seen the hunger in the land. I’ve seen all of that. So, I’m like, ‘Yeah, let’s do it,’” she said.
The organisation has since provided food, clothing and shoes to more than 1,000 beneficiaries, according to the founders.
Aru B, who remains the more active “boots-on-the-ground” member of the organisation because she spends considerable time in Nigeria, said beneficiaries are identified through community leaders.
She said the organisation deliberately seeks out people who genuinely lack basic necessities rather than those simply looking for additional provisions.
“I really want people in the community who really do not have anything, who really need this aid. Those are the kind of people I want to cater for,” she said.
The early days were not without challenges.
Arobieke recalled one of her first distributions, when she arrived at a location with limited supplies only to be confronted by a much larger crowd than expected.
She said community members and local youths eventually helped to control the crowd and maintain order.
With the initiative growing, the founders said they now hope to feed more than 5,000 people within the next six months to one year.
However, they acknowledged that sustaining the programme remains a major challenge.
“It’s only the two of us and it’s only so much two ladies can do,” Osude said, appealing for volunteers, donations and corporate or institutional sponsorship.
The founders said support was needed not only in cash but also through volunteer services, clothing, logistics and manpower during distribution exercises.
“You have good clothes, things you treated with love that you can give out, bring it on board. You have money, you want to support feeding people, bring it on board. You don’t have money, but you want to put in your services, you’re welcome,” Osude said.
The organisation currently operates mainly in Lagos but has plans to expand to other parts of Nigeria and eventually across West Africa.
Osude said the initiative also has an international component in California, allowing the founders to support vulnerable people across two continents.
The women also called for greater collaboration with government, particularly through grants, funding and structured partnerships that could make humanitarian interventions more sustainable.
Arobieke said government agencies could partner with organisations such as Humanity Basket because they often have closer knowledge of vulnerable communities at the grassroots.
“We are the people that see what’s happening on the floor,” she said, urging government to work with credible humanitarian groups to reach people who may otherwise remain outside official support systems.
Rather than limiting interventions to one-off food distributions, she advocated a more sustainable system that would provide regular support to people struggling to meet their basic needs.
For Osude and Arobieke, Humanity Basket is ultimately an extension of a friendship that has endured distance, different countries and different life experiences.
Their message is simple: kindness does not always require great wealth, but it does require a willingness to act.
As the programme’s motto puts it: “It takes nothing to be kind.”
