Africa Representative of HelpAge International from Nairobi, Kenya, visits Agency for the Aged in Ipaja, Lagos...

On Monday 15th June, Nesta Hatendi, the Africa Representative of HelpAge International, visited Agency for the Aged to see the work being done for elderly persons on Abesan Estate, Ipaja, Lagos. Nesta met with many of the elderly volunteers who help with the running of Agency for the Aged as well as the co-ordinator, Mrs Idowu Okunsanya, a retired major from the Nigerian army, and who is more fondly known as 'Mama Major'.

HelpAge International is an international development NGO which helps older people claim their rights, challenge discrimination and overcome poverty, so that they can lead dignified, secure, active and healthy lives. HelpAge International works in over 75 countries and its reach is further strengthened through a global network of like-minded organisations – the only one of its kind in the world. The organisation is driven by a fundamental understanding that older people themselves have the wisdom and the personal drive to contribute their own wellbeing and that of their families. The contribution older women and men make to society – as carers, advisors, mediators, mentors and breadwinners – is invaluable. HelpAge International does not currently have affiliates in Nigeria, but are hoping to expand their work in West Africa over the next few years.

Agency for the Aged currently reaches out to over 162 elders on Abesan Estate in Ipaja, through four key areas of work:

1. Elderly health care
2. Elderly skills and knowledge empowerment
3. Family and community support
4. Social and leisure activities
Agency for the Aged is a vision of Family Ark Mission, started by Mama Major in 1994, which firmly believes in the respect for the dignity of elders and so assists them to celebrate ageing with wisdom, grace and independence. Mama Major and the elders shared this vision with Nesta, whilst Nesta shared some literature and wisdom from HelpAge International, especially around the growing incidence of elderly grandparents looking after their children's children orphaned by HIV and AIDS across Africa. Agency for the Aged currently supports the elderly caring for orphans and vulnerable children, but this area of work is something that will grow over the next few months with the support of Ipaja Community Link, and with guidance from HelpAge International and its affiliates from across the continent.

And then we increased Ipaja Community Link's income by almost 10%...

Recently, Ipaja Community Link (ICL) acquired an extra N250,000 (£1,000) funding after a fundraising drive on Red Nose Day in March by Children's International School in Lekki, Lagos. The school raised over N1,000,000 during their fundraiser and donated half of the money to share between ICL and People Against HIV and AIDS in the Barracks (PAHAB). Jennifer and Heather, both VSO volunteers with ICL and PAHAB, collected the money during their Africa-themed assembly at the school on Friday 5 June.

The fundraiser was co-ordinated by Lucy Jennings and Natalie Ghazi, from the UK, who are primary school teachers at the school. Lucy and Natalie visited the work of ICL and PAHAB earlier this year and wanted to see what they could do to raise money for children in Lagos who are less privileged than those who attend Children's International School. They were deeply moved when they visited Iba Community Primary School where PAHAB does a lot of work with orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC). There are over 700 children in the school, with many classes bursting at the seams with over 150 per classroom, and with no toilets and no safe drinking water. Both PAHAB and ICL will use the money raised as part of their existing OVC programmes. ICL intends to use the money to help with the running of its Saturday programme for OVCs and for the expanded programme which includes school attendance grants and nutritional support for extremely vulnerable children and families in Ipaja. Some of the money will also be donated to Baruwa Community Primary School - recent campaigning by ICL resulting in the renovation of the school; however, much work is still to be done by constructing toilets and building new classrooms.

As well as raising money, the children in the school also went home and collected lots of resources for the children of Ipaja and Iba, such as clothes, shoes, books, stationary and toys. The pupils of Children's International School were delighted to have collected so many resources and were eager to assist with packing them into the van destined for the mainland of Lagos - over two hours drive from Lekki. This money, however, is just the start. N250,000 is an amazing amount of money to have raise to assist our programmes, but much much more money is needed. Pupils at Baruwa Community Primary School (seen below) needs at least four new classrooms, modern toilets and a functioning bore hole (the government recently installed a bore hole, but with no means of electricity to pump it). ICL aims to facilitate this process, not to lead it, hoping for matched funding from other organisations, such as Rotary and community leaders, to ensure a sustainable development programme.

Happy Children's Day in Ipaja!

Last Wednesday, 27 May 2009, Ipaja Community Link (ICL), celebrated National Children's Day in Nigeria by throwing a party for over 60 children living in and around Ipaja. The children, many of whom attend ICL's orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) programme, took part in dancing and singing competitions, fashion parades and drama. The children, along with the Baale of Baruwa, the head teacher of a nearby school, parents and staff and volunteers of ICL, came together to focus on enjoying a day dedicated to them and to celebrate being children.

Several of the children from ICL's OVC programme presented a drama around the issues of HIV and AIDS from information that they have learnt during the Saturday Club. According to UNICEF, there are an estimated 1.8 million children in Nigeria orphaned by AIDS. But this is still just a fraction of the number of children whose lives have been radically altered by the impact of HIV and AIDS on their families and communities. ICL is working hard to reduce the stigma surrounding HIV and AIDS, to educate children around the issue and to empower them to care for and educate other young people in the Ipaja community. Lucy and Segun, ICL's Community Care Workers, along with several of ICL's youth volunteers, run the Saturday OVC programme by providing an opportunity for children to socialise outside of school and their homes, receive some additional lessons around literacy and numeracy, and also some nutritional support. During the Children's Day celebration, the children received food, prepared by trainees on ICL's skills acquisition training programme, drinks donated by staff and gifts and prizes donated by supporters in the UK.

However, as with much of the work of ICL, there is so much more that could be done to increase the scope and impact of the OVC programme. ICL is working on developing a sustainable partnership with the Rotary Club of Gowon Estate, Ipaja, to support the growing number of orphans and vulnerable children in the community through the international development organisation HOPE Worldwide. ICL currently has funding to support just 20 OVC's, but Lucy and Segun are regularly identifying more OVCs in the community and, with the assistance of Rotary and additional funders, ICL could support many more children who need our support. We are particularly focussed on the need to deliver school assistant grants, especially for uniforms, transport, books, stationary, and to support the families of OVCs with nutritional support, education, and the provision of essential items such as mosquito nets and drugs. For more information or to pledge financial support to our programme for the most vulnerable children in the community, please contact Yomi, the Coordinator of ICL, on icl@difn.org.uk, or visit the work of ICL when you are in Lagos.

What are you doing or what can you do? Development Impact for Nigeria, Diaspora Workshop, 14 May 2009, London

On Thursday 14 May, over 25people interested in development awareness issues in Nigeria, mostly Nigerian Diaspora, gathered to hear about the work of Development Impact for Nigeria (DIFN) and its main partner, Ipaja Community Link (ICL). Ade Fashade, General Secretary and Trustee of DIFN, said "The presence at the event was very encouraging to us all at DIFN and ICL. DIFN is determined to continue to support the great work going on in Nigeria in making a difference in society. Although the bulk of the work is concentrated in one small, deprived local area of Lagos, the work could, and has, begun to be a template for further development, poverty eradication and skills empowerment work in other areas of Lagos and beyond. To continue to sustain this, your help, both financial and in kind, will continue to be most valuable to our work."

As the international volunteer with ICL, I shared what we work we have been doing in Ipaja - from empowering women and training teachers and youth volunteers, to supporting orphans and vulnerable children and people living with HIV and HIVS. The work of ICL is far-reaching. With more assistance, we could do even more. In partnership with VSO, DIFN would like to recruit individuals from the Diaspora in the UK to volunteer on 3-6 week placements in Nigeria, as either teacher trainers or community development professionals. This is an amazing opportunity to make an impact to the development of Nigeria at grass-roots level in both Lagos and Adamawa.

For more information about the VSO/DIFN Diaspora volunteering initiative, how to subscribe to our regular emails and newsletters, or to make a donation to our vital work, please contact Ade, in the UK, at difn.uk@googlemail.com, or Yomi, in Nigeria, on icl@difn.org.uk. Please do not forget us - your support and commitment will be most appreciated! As Ade says, the impact of the work of ICL in Lagos is just the start - let's work together to achieve much much more.

Youth volunteers and staff help to renovate ICL's new Youth and Community Resource Centre...

In April, ICL acquired a new office in Akinyele, Ipaja, in addition to the current office in Baruwa, Ipaja. Our main funders, Christian Aid, were able to secure the payment of the rent for a much-needed Youth and Community Resource Centre in Ipaja. Over the last few weeks, volunteers and staff have been working tirelessly to clean and paint the office before some of the staff can relocate here in May. This new office will become the hub for our youth, community and Diaspora volunteering initiatives, community health education work and our growing orphans and vulnerable children programme. Once the office is fully furnished, we hope that this will serve as a 'drop-in' centre for young people in the area. But can you help? Do you have spare computers to donate to the Resource Centre? Do you have any spare materials or books to develop our Library? We really need additional assistance to make sure this new office is a great success. If you have anything to donate, please contact Yomi on +2347029698523, Mercy on +2347069743615 or Jennifer on +2347056369269 or email icl@difn.org.uk. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

Ipaja Community Link and NYSC - an exciting new partnership!

Back in March, Yomi, Coordinator of Ipaja Community Link (ICL), Tonye, one of our dedicated youth volunteers, and Timothy and Jennifer, Youth Volunteer Coordinators, visited the NYSC camp in Iyana Ipaja, Lagos, to talk about the work of ICL in Lagos and the many benefits of volunteering. National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) is a mandatory one-year of service that all graduates in Nigeria, under the age of 30, have to complete. Usually corpers are placed in a different state to their state of origin and each year there are hundreds of thousands of corpers who complete this service. VSO and NYSC already have a partnership with the Corper Plus programme in Nasarawa and Kwara. There is more information aboutr NYSC here: www.nysc.gov.ng. As part of the NYSC placement, corpers are encouraged to volunteer as part of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) project. During camp, interested volunteers signed up to be part of a five-day intensive training programme around the MDGs and how they can actively become involved in their host community. I spoke to them about how ICL are working hard to meet all of the MDGs, even if this is in a small way, in a local community on the ground. Following this sensitisation session, ICL are now engaging corpers, who are based in and around our local government area, as volunteers with our community-based work on their once-a-week community development (CD) day. One corper, Dipo Ogunfeibo, aged 27, is regularly volunteering to assist at the local mother and baby immunisation clinic in Akinyele, Ipaja. Dipo told us that he is passionate about community development and has been challenged by the commitment of ICL staff and youth volunteers to do more in his community. The immunisation clinic, which exists to reduce child mortality and is synonymous with millennium development goal four, enables Dipo to have an impact in the local community by assisting with the registration of mothers and babies, handing out needles for injections and weighing babies. Dipo studied Eduation at Ile-Ife University, Nigeria, and is a Development Knowledge Facilitator on the MDGs, so he regularly talks to pupils in schools about poverty and development. He believes that peer education is key for young people - "if we plant these ideas in the minds of young people at an early age, they will tell their parents, brothers, sisters and friends about development, and hopefully become actively engaged with the issues as they grow older." Dipo is planning to provide some additional training for ICL staff and volunteers around the MDGs.

Ipaja Community Link facilitates basic health education training for teachers and volunteers in Ipaja

This week, on 1 - 2 April, Ipaja Community Link facilitated a two-day workshop for public primary and secondary school teachers and ICL youth volunteers on the Child-to-Child Health Education Programme at St Andrews Anglican Pimary School in Ipaja. The Child-to-Child approach is an educational process that links children’s learning with taking action to promote the health, wellbeing and development of themselves, their families and their communities. Through participating in Child-to-Child activities the personal, physical, social, emotional, moral and intellectual development of children is enhanced. Teachers and volunteers learnt how to convey messages about basic health issues to children, such as how to treat diarrhoea, malaria, worm infections, the importance of brushing teeth, washing bodies and boiling water. They then demonstrated methods of how to step-down their training in classes, through role plays, songs, poems and dances in both English and the local language, Yoruba.

On the second day, the 26 teachers from 16 schools and 4 youth volunteers spent time putting together action plans about how to implement their training. Ipaja Community Link will provide support to the schools by providing resources such as information packs, posters, and stationary, youth volunteers who will assist the teachers in schools and also find avenues for sustainability of the Child-to-Child programme. Confidence, Ipaja Community Link's new Community Health Worker, will work closely with Mercy, the Assistant Coordinator, on implementing this programme.

For more information about the Child-to-Child Programme, please visit www.child-to-child.org.