Valentine Benjamin

Valentine Benjamin (@theValentineBen) is a Nigerian travel journalist and documentary filmmaker with interests in development journalism. His work primarily centers around global health topics, including healthcare systems, mental health crises, reproductive and sexual health. He also focuses on social justice issues such as criminal justice, immigration, housing segregation, economic disparities, poverty and labor rights across Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa.

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Ime Effiong (left, in yellow), one of the women who received mental health care from the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, tends to the birds on the poultry farm under Sr. Catherine Nkereuwem’s supervision in Uyo, a town in southeastern Nigeria

As mental illness rises in Nigeria, nuns offer treatment, shelter to indigent people in Uyo

Up to 30% of Nigeria's population may suffer from mental illness. To address a gap in care, the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul provide treatment and an inpatient home to those rejected by society.

To foster inclusiveness, Nigerian nuns mainstream pupils with disabilities

On a sunny afternoon, the Rev. Gideon Oyabugbe, a minister at a local Baptist church, walked into St. Vincent's Centre for Inclusive Education to pick up James, his 8-year-old son, who is autistic.

Sr. Matilda Iyang poses outside at the Mother Charles Walker Children Home Oct. 7, at the Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus convent in Uyo, Nigeria. (CNS/Valentine Iwenwanne)

In Nigeria, nun cares for abandoned children labeled as witches

Since opening the home in 2007, Sr. Matylda Iyang has cared for dozens of malnourished and homeless children from the streets of Uyo; many of them had family who believed they were witches.

In southern Nigeria, nuns put TB, leprosy patients on road to recovery

After three years of visiting clinics and traditional healers across Nonwa Tai, in the southern corner of Nigeria, 55-year-old Benedict Ngbaji was shocked to discover the sores and lesions under his foot and ankle were symptoms of Hansen's disease, or leprosy.

Nuns try to fight lure of Europe by offering programs for young Nigerians

Up to 80% of Nigerians who leave for Europe end up trafficked and in prostitution. In Edo, the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus are working to fight the problem.