PROJECTS | WLFF IN NIGERIA – PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

Foreword
In December 2008, WLFF, with the generous funds raised from the Grand Ball for our Iwaya/Makoko Book Fund Project, visited Lagos, Nigeria to begin the implementation  of the project aims at our chosen school, Premier Foundation Primary School.

This proved to be an amazing and inspirational trip, and you can find below a detailed report on our time in Nigeria and Loads of amazing photographs of the school, the children and our partners in Nigeria......Enjoy the read!

Day 1 – Preliminary meetings with partner voluntary organisations
Before we arrived, we had organised several  meetings with our partner voluntary organisations to work out all the logistics required to purchase the materials required and organise transport and times for our visit to premier foundation. Our lovely and ever so helpful contacts were....

Meet Ete, ACDI
Some of you who attended the Grand Ball might have met Ete already. For those who did not, Mrs Ete Ayida is the founder of African Child Development Initiative (ACDI), our partner charity, and she is the mastermind behind the school building which ACDI are currently completing for Premier Foundation.

Meet Sina, Link-a-child
Sina Bello is the head of the management team for Link-a-child, a fantastic registered charity dedicated to bridging the gap between the society and the disadvantaged child. www.linkachild.org

Sina has great knowledge of the Iwaya community having worked there in the past.

He was able to provide WLFF with invaluable advice and support to help make the implementation a success. Thanks Sina! 
 

Day 2 – HITV Christmas Party for Little Saints Orphanage and the Iwaya Community
WLFF was invited to attend the Hi-TV Christmas Party organised by Hi-TV, a major TV station in Lagos, Nigeria for Little Saints Orphanage and the Iwaya Community. This presented a great opportunity to meet and interact with some of the children from Premier School, Iwaya prior to our visit to the school. .

Quote from WLFF representative at the party

‘Hi-TV provided every single child with uniform Hi-TV t-shirts but it was more than a branding opportunity. It meant that every child (orphan and non-orphan) was identical and all you could see was a bunch of kids having a fantastic time’.

Little Saints Orphanage, Palmgrove & Akowonjo, Lagos
www.littlesaintsorphanages.org
Contact telephone numbers: +234 (8033024066)
 

Day 3 –  WLFF at Tejuosho Market!
Clad with a long list of books and the best negotiation skills we hit Tejuosho market in Yaba, Lagos on Day 3. Approximately fours hours later, we had a car filled with books, art materials and stationery.

At the time of our visit, there were roughly 150 students in attendance at Premier Foundation School.We purchased the following list of books across all six levels of primary school. We purchased the following list of books and stationery for all the pupils across the six levels from Primary 1 to Primary 6.

•    MacMillan Primary Science
•    MacMillan Primary Social Studies
•    MacMillan Agricultural Science for Primary School
•    Eko Ede Yoruba
•    MacMillan Primary Computer Studies (textbook and workbook)
•    Quantitative Reasoning
•    Verbal Reasoning
•    Oxford English Dictionaries
•    Drawing Books
•    Pens
•    Pencils
•    Rulers
•    Erasers
•    Sharpeners
•    Crayons

 
Please click for pictures .

Day 4 – Presentation of Books at Premier Foundation School
On the day of the presentation of books, we, along with some volunteers all gathered in Tori’s house for breakfast, some of us stamping all the books with the WLFF stamp, some trying on WLFF T-shirts and other talking animatedly.

This was the most exciting day because it was a culmination of all our efforts from January – December 2008.

We headed out to the school mid morning and when we got there, we split the pupils in groups of five and assigned them with team leaders.

Please click for pictures.

Tori gave a playful introduction to the children and told them why we were visiting them and very soon she managed to get them chanting rather enthusiastically, ‘EDUCATION IS VERY IMPORTANT’.

Each of the team leaders then kicked off group introductions, asking share with the group; their name, age, favourite subject and what they want to be when they grow up...particularly encouraging them to say it loud and proud. For example, Zanu Damian (pictured right) wants to be an artist when he grows up.

After introductions, the next item on the agenda was the SUPER QUIZ where the children had to work in their groups to answer the following questions:

•    Who is the president of Nigeria
•    What is the capital of Nigeria
•    Who is the governor of Lagos
•    …and a few maths sums

During this exercise, the team leaders encouraged them work closely with members of their group so as to instill the habit of working as a team and also friendly competition with the other groups.

So instead of all shouting excitedly to answer the question, they were asked to quietly confer with group members and nominate a team member to say the answer the question. For example, Chantal Asokee here (pictured left) was often nominated to represent her group, showing early leadership traits. We think she will make a great leader some day.

We also played other games (eg, which group can clap the loudest), some of the children sang for us and we all danced together.

Lunchtime
They tucked in contentedly into their snacks: meat pies, sausage rolls, sweets, biscuits and drinks. During this time we stole a few minutes to chat to the teachers about their experiences of teaching the children. We also congratulated them and presented them with gifts (bags of rice) for their hard work and passion in continuing to teach the children, even at times when the proprietor Mr Sunday Zanu is unable to pay them because some of the children have not paid their fees.

 
Presentation of books and goodbyes
At the end of the day, we presented the children with all the books and stationery we had bought for them and urged them to read, listen to their teachers and do their homework. (Please see general slide show of the entire event). With this we said our goodbyes (emotionally) and headed home. A day well spent!

General update
Dear viewers, please note that at the time of uploading this report the school is still being built. WLFF still aims to be involved with this project when the school is complete to see other areas where we can plug in our resources (Please click  to see photos of the building and Iwaya community).