A 22-year-old Nigerian international student, Rodiyat Alabede, has died after donating plasma at a clinic in Winnipeg, prompting an investigation by Health Canada.

According to a report by The New York Times, the federal health agency confirmed it is examining the deaths of two plasma donors at for-profit clinics in Winnipeg following fatal adverse reactions recorded in October 2025 and January 2026.

The clinics involved are operated by Grifols, a Spanish healthcare company that runs 17 plasma donation centres across Canada, including two in Winnipeg. Health Canada said it received mandatory reports from the facilities and subsequently sent inspectors to both locations to investigate the incidents.

Friends of the late student identified one of the deceased as Alabede, whose parents are from Nigeria and Ivory Coast. She was studying to become a social worker and was said to be active in the Muslim Nigerian community in Winnipeg.

The identity of the second donor has not been disclosed due to privacy laws.

Executive Director of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Manitoba, Stephanie Holfeld, said Alabede became unresponsive during the plasma donation procedure and died shortly afterwards. However, she noted that the death has not yet been formally linked to the donation process as investigations are still ongoing.

“She had a motherly side to her, she was protective and sweet. She never gave up, even when things got difficult for her,” a friend, Chioma Ijoma, said in tribute.

In a statement, Grifols expressed condolences to the families of the deceased donors but stated that there was currently no evidence linking the deaths directly to plasma donation.

The company added that donors undergo extensive health screening before being approved and confirmed that both incidents were reported within the required 72-hour window. It also said an internal investigation had been launched.

Plasma donation involves drawing blood from a donor, separating the plasma, and returning the red blood cells to the body. The practice is common in Canada and the United States, where many students and low-income earners donate plasma to supplement their income.

Grifols advertises that regular donors can earn up to 6,000 Canadian dollars annually, equivalent to about $4,400 or roughly ₦7.2 million.

The All Progressives Congress has mourned the death of a party chieftain, Dr Chamberlain Dunkwu, who died at age 54. The national publicity secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, announced the passing in a statement, describing the late Dr Dunkwu as an energetic, selfless and loyal party man who contributed enormously to building and strengthening the party in his native Ika Federal Constituency, Delta state and beyond.

Until his passing on March 7 2026, Dr Dunkwu served as Deputy Chief of Staff Legislative to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt Hon Tajudeen Abbas GCON, Felix Morka said. Prior to that, he was a Special Adviser on Members Affairs to the Speaker of the 9th House of Representatives, Rt Hon Femi Gbajabiamila.

Felix Morka noted that Dr Dunkwu was a Knight of Saint Christopher KSC and President of the Nigerian Aquatics Federation NAqF, adding that he lived a vibrant life of service and philanthropy that touched many within and beyond his homeland. His exit has created a yawning void that will be difficult to fill, the APC spokesman stated.

Our party prays to God to grant his immediate family the fortitude to bear this huge loss, Felix Morka said. And may He comfort all members of the APC family in Ika Federal Constituency, Delta State and around the country at this difficult time.

In a poignant tribute, Felix Morka added, Amazing Grace Amazing Grace May His Grace lead you home, and may it be true for you as proclaimed in the old hymnal To that old rugged cross I will ever be true, its shame and reproach gladly bear then hell call me someday to my home far away, where his glory forever Ill share.

A remarkable story of human kindness spanning continents and decades has emerged, revealing how a small act of generosity from a Holocaust survivor in Sweden transformed the life of a poor Kenyan boy who grew up to fight the very hatred that destroyed her family.

In the 1970s, a boy named Chris Mburu was about to lose everything. He was the top student in his school district in rural Kenya, growing up in a small village called Mitahato, in an earthen house without electricity or running water. But his family was so poor they could not afford even the modest fees to keep him in primary school. Without help, Chris would have grown up picking coffee.

Thousands of miles away, in Sweden, a kindergarten teacher named Hilde Back signed up for a sponsorship program for children in need. She began sending roughly fifteen dollars per term to support a child she had never met, a boy in Kenya named Chris Mburu. That small check kept Chris in school. Back sponsored him through primary school and into secondary school, year after year, never expecting anything in return. She and Chris exchanged letters. She asked about his teachers and his favorite subjects. He began to realize she was not just an institution but a real person who cared about him.

Chris never forgot her. He excelled in his studies and earned a law degree from the University of Nairobi, where he graduated top of his class. He won a Fulbright scholarship to Harvard Law School and became an international human rights lawyer, dedicating his career to fighting genocide and crimes against humanity for the United Nations. But something gnawed at him. He had never properly thanked the woman who made it all possible. He did not even know who she really was.

In 2001, Chris created a scholarship foundation to help children like himself, talented kids from poor families who would otherwise never make it past primary school. He asked the Swedish Ambassador in Kenya to help him track down his mysterious benefactor so he could name the foundation in her honor. They found her. Her name was Hilde Back. Chris traveled to Sweden to meet her for the first time. He expected a wealthy philanthropist. Instead, he found a modest, warm, eighty-year-old woman living a simple life, stunned that anyone thought she had done anything remarkable.

Then a documentary filmmaker named Jennifer Arnold entered the story and uncovered a detail that Hilde had never shared with Chris or almost anyone. Hilde Back was not Swedish. She was a German Jew, born in 1922. At the age of sixteen, with Jewish children banned from public schools under the Nazi Nuremberg Laws, she was forced to flee to Sweden. Her parents could not go with her as Sweden’s policy at the time did not accept older refugees. Both were sent to concentration camps. Her father died. Her mother was transferred to another camp and was never heard from again. Hilde had survived the Holocaust because a stranger helped her escape. She had been denied an education because of who she was. And decades later, she had quietly paid for the education of a child halfway around the world, a child who grew up to fight the very kind of hatred that destroyed her family.

Chris was speechless. Hilde, in turn, had no idea that the boy she sponsored had dedicated his life to combating genocide. In 2003, Hilde traveled to Kenya for the inauguration of the Hilde Back Education Fund. She was welcomed as an honorary village elder by the entire community. In 2012, she returned to celebrate her ninetieth birthday surrounded by the children whose lives had been changed by the foundation that bears her name.

Today, the Hilde Back Education Fund has helped nearly one thousand children in Kenya continue their education. Its beneficiaries have gone on to universities around the world. And they are already beginning to give back, mentoring new students and pooling monthly contributions to sponsor the next generation through a platform they call A Small Act Jamii. Hilde Back passed away on January 13, 2021, in Västerås, Sweden. She was ninety-eight years old. Their story was captured in the Emmy-nominated documentary A Small Act, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to standing ovations and immediate donations, reportedly including from Bill Gates.

Chris once said, “You can’t change the entire world. So sometimes it’s just as good to help one child.” Hilde helped one child. That child built a foundation. That foundation has helped nearly a thousand more. And those children are now helping others. All from fifteen dollars and a stranger’s kindness.