Welcome!

Thank you for visiting the blog for Ipaja Community Link (ICL), a small community-based organisation in Lagos, Nigeria, working towards creating a prosperous, healthy and empowered community in Ipaja.

The main activities of ICL are:
- skills vocational training for women and young people in basic cooking, sewing and bead-making
- youth and community volunteering
- community health education, awareness and support
- community care initiatives

ICL specifically aims to support and empower women, people living with HIV/AIDs, young people, and orphans and vulnerable children.

The following information is representative of the work of ICL and reflects the views of staff, volunteers and those that ICL are working with.

ICL is working hard to make poverty a thing of the past in Ipaja - no one in the community is asking for a handout; they are simply looking for ways to make their lives better, to provide for their families and to secure their future. For more information, please call 0702 969 8523, 0706 155 0665 or 0705 636 9269 (or add +234 if calling from the UK) or email icl@difn.org.uk.

Please read on... (and here's a tip: it might be best if you read from the bottom, for older posts, to the top, for newer posts)...

Monday 19 October 2009

Celebrating World Elders' Day

On Thursday, 8 October, Agency for the Aged hosted an event in Ikeja, Lagos, to celebrate World Elders' Day. There were over 500 elders in attendance from Lagos, Ondo and Ogun States in Nigeria. There were representatives from the Lagos State Government, as well as two local traditional community leaders (Baale's) and representatives from other aged NGOs in Lagos.

The theme of the event was "The Role of Senior Citizens in Nation Building". Agency for the Aged believes that elders should be cared for in their homes, as well as empowered to build organised relationships with other elders in the community so to avoid solitude and to celebrate ageing in wisdom, dignity and independence. As well as key-note speeches along these lines, there was also singing, dancing and drama with youths from Ipaja Community Link (ICL) and Covenant University.

Throughout the day, there was also a first aid and health stand providing free health screening tests, HIV testing and eye tests. Agency for the Aged works closely alongside Melvin Jones Primary Health Screening Foundation to deliver critical health care services to the elderly during community health check-up days and events such as this. Each elder received a health pack containing vitamin C tablets and other literature about health issues. The elders were also served breakfast and lunch during the day.

During the next few weeks, representatives from Agency for the Aged will be going to the Lagos State Secretariate in Alausa to lobby on elders' rights and to discuss the status of the latest Elders' Rights Bill which is yet to be implemented on the ground.

1 comment:

  1. Wonderful article on Ipaja Community Link
    I did come across a websitehttp://www.gotoaid.com/. It’s has all information on first aid emergencies. It has information on Human emergencies and even for pets like cat or dog. Hope it help you guys too.


    Signature: Online First Aid Kit

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