Some Village Care Projects...

November 2008 Salka Training

The Salka training was very successful and probably one of the best trainings we've done yet. Over 500 people attended, and they were very willing and enthusiastic.

We had a great time. The only issue we had was that the materials were not enough. Time will tell how the program was received.

In the training there were over 200 Pastors with their wives, because there is a bible school in the community. The principal of the school and his wife, who paved the way for us to be in the community, have agreed to adopt the VC program in their curriculum. In the weeks ahead we will work out the details on how this will happen.

We also need to have a business open space as soon as possible because; the people we trained are marginally poor. In fact, the majority of the folks hardly have food to eat.

I believe we will have a great time in this community. By way of giving you an idea this community is in Niger state. On the same way to Tungan Magajiya from Minna but instead of branching off to that rough road, you just continue driving head on for another one hour and you will be there. The road is good.

The last training holds from tomorow.

Thanks for your update

- Phillips

Nigeria April 2008 Report

Village Reports: Village Care Initiatives, Nigeria initiates community discussions throughout Nigeria. People come together and discuss issues in their communities. The community makes plans to address these issues. Below is a report on the implementation of various projects that arose from the initial community discussions.


AMANAWA

• All the registered kids in this community now attend school and some of their academic performance is encouraging.

• The adult education class has discovered some fast learners and they are now working on how to get certificates for them from the Local Education Authority. There is also need for a teachers and additional classroom to separate the fast learners from the slow ones.

• The committee is working on how to begin a computer-learning center. This according to them will be a channel through which jobless youths can be drawn closer for counseling, education, and empowerment besides the project can result into the first internet café in Amanawa community.

• The shop given by the church is still running the laundry services and they also sell sachet water

• The production of groundnut oil is now being retarded due to high cost of groundnut.

• The vegetable plantation too is in a bad shape due to lack of water.
  

BWONPE

Helping children:

• Registered kids and their families are visited regularly

• More soaps, books and learning materials are steadily being provided to these children.

• The families of the kids were recently challenged by the committee to provide beds even if it is a locally made one so that every child will sleep on a dry bed that above the floor. About 20 families have responded to this and were able to provide local beds, though most of them are yet to get mattresses, some have local mats on the beds. This I see is a step forward in achieving the outcomes for children.

• The committee that works on the children meet once in a month to look into better ways of helping these children.

• The committee members are happy doing their work and seeing the kid look cleaner.

• The children are being brought together once in a while for prayers (this was done last on 27/04/08)

Economic security:

• Potatoes seedling were purchased in preparation for planting season, which has already commenced.

• Members of this committee now have vegetable plantation out of which some of the product are sold to meet family needs.

• Some of the people have engaged themselves in irrigation farming which is yielding results.

• The committee is planning to own a poultry farm, after harvest time. This will be financed with the money realized from the harvest of the potatoes.

• One major threat and challenge is the availability of fertilizer during farming season, As some of the villagers will not mind their kids staying out of school for lack of fees, but they can spare any amount for fertilizer.

Nutrition:

• Most families are trying their best to eat and maintain balance diet especially with the aid of the vegetable plantations.

• They have had several awareness and the recent issue they are emphasizing is on the need to all cultivate beans alongside other crops which they discovered is a good source of protein.

• They have now zoned the monthly VCI awareness/lectures’ following the fact that it has not always been easy gathering all the people together.

Sanitation:

• A general sanitation now takes place every 1^st Saturday of the month. With 100% participation from the community.

• There is an order that all pigs be reared or kept in the out sketch of the village, if any is seen moving around it should be taken to the police. This is being adhered to and has improved the neatness of the community.

• The committee is now working on how to stop loitering the environment with pole tine bags

• Water drainages will soon be dug to prevent erosion in the community. A date has been fixed that all the community will come out for this work and all have agreed to it.

• All refuse dumps have been moved to farms where they also serve as manures

• Waste around houses have significantly reduced since the commencement of VCI programs in Bwonpe Community.

• The committee has gotten the backing of the village head that any one seen defecating around houses should be penalize.

Education:

• The holiday classes has now been extended to period of any industrial action e.g strikes, this is common in that setting.

• The classes holds thrice weekly and in the evenings.

• The teachers have been of great encouragement because, beside, volunteering their time and winning the confidence of the pupils, they squeeze out of their meager resources to provide some of the materials needed whenever they go out of stock.

Good behavior:

• Two (2) of the drug addicts the committee are working on who were also school dropouts are now back to school

• A mentally challenged person they were also taking care of now looks neat.

• The committee’s visit to a family lead to the reconciliation between a parent and their epileptic child whom they threw out because of his condition. Assistance of some drugs for the child was also give to the family by them.

• The committee talked with the village head on the side effect of alcohol particularly on the youth. We are waiting and hoping to get a positive response from him.

• In Bwonpe today cases of theft, rape, fighting, and all the likes has significantly reduced all credited to the work of VCI in the community.

BILIRI POSHIYA

Water:

• The community had an internal lunching on 4^th may 2008. To work on the source of drinking water. Already one of the two wells was hedged round so that as rain begins it would not flow into the well.

• The money raised in the lunching is to work on the second well and part of the money will be used to purchase school uniforms for their orphans.

Sanitation:

• This takes place fortnightly and this is indeed given the community a goodlook.

• they challenged nearby Fulany settlers on the importance of keeping their environment clean.

• They took the challenge and commenced tidying their houses. our frequent surprise visits made them to always ensure that their houses are clean at all times.

Economic security:

• The VCI shop in poshiya which operates shoemaking, tailoring and laundry services is progressing. The people involve are happy doing there jobs.

• The drycleaner is now enrolled into a school which he hopes to sustain with the stipends he gets from his job as well as provide for his family.

• The income from the business is usually divided into 3 parts one goes to the person working while the rest goes to the business and the community project of VCI.

Healthcare:

• Those in this committee made it a duty to visit sick people in the community to encourage and assist some of them with drugs, soaps and other necessities. Today most sick people in the community looks forward to their visitation.

Well behaved:

• Youths in the community church now dress more decent than they have always done before the commencement of the VCI program.

• Through the work of this committee work, a well-known notorious boy in the community has changed and now attends church, respects and help people around.

• Members of this committee are now being given responsibilities in the church because of their work and influence on the youths.

Education:

There is a significant improvement in the performance (in school) of the children who are part of the extra- moral classes.

G/ZALLA

• Beside their efforts in providing learning materials to students and desire for scholarship to their registered kids; This community has really being struggling to maintain other practices which they began at the take off of VCI program. The committee is really down in terms of finances, as such there is almost nothing more that has being added to there previous works on the children and the community. This supervision visit challenged them and they affirmatively said they are going to revive their work from sanitation to economic security.

T/MAGAJIYA

Registered children:

• The new VCI committee has been given clothes (fairly used), soaps, detergents, grains (food), toothpaste, brushes etc to the kids as their needs have always being.

Sanitation:

• They have collectively cleaned all churches and the community’s cemetery and even planted flowers.

Education:

• some Youth Corp. members recently posted to this community volunteered to take final year students extra lessons as they prepare for exams alongside dropouts who are have decided to return to school.

• The Local Education Authority has boosted their adult education class by given them trained teachers.

• A member of the VCI committee has taken a challenge of buying 2 plots of land where he intends building a school that all orphans will study freely.

Sanitation:

• Pigs have been completely stopped from moving about in the community.

Nutrition:

• The economic trees planted are growing up well and some of the farmers have made fence round their plantation.

BAGUSA

Help:

Two children are being helped in this community. The committee where able to;

• Enrolling them in school

• Sow school uniforms for them

• The VCI committee members in this community are just two and currently one is sick and even had a surgical operation.

Economic security:

• Three women in this community who could not even say anything during the open space, silently took up the challenge of going into petty trading; selling yam, soft drinks and soup ingredients.

• They are now able to at assist their husbands in providing for the family and also take care of some their personal needs.

T/WAKILI

Children:

• The VCI committee in this community made an attempt to adopt some children of which only 1 fall within the age-bracket required, this is because of the committees’ initial understanding of adopting and helping children, which I personally took time during the supervision to explain. I later asked them to adopt and help more vulnerable children in the community.

• This community however tried in some of the practices.

Economic security:

• They have a class organized on fish and poultry farming that is going on currently.

• Most people in the community are engaged in vegetable plantation.

• Some have sterted foundation of poultry farming by securing places and constructing cages.

• Some of the women in this community who were fully dependent on their husbands have started petty trading to also support the home.

Sanitation:

• General sanitation holds every last Saturday of the month in the community

• Most compounds now have toilets.

• People have improved on their sources of drinking water.

Nutrition:

• Most families have now made fruits and vegetables a daily necessity.

Education:

• They are running an extra moral class for primary school pupils, which hold thrice weekly though not many kids attend.

• More children in the community are enrolled in school due to the lessons on the outcomes and practices.

KABA

Education:

• -An extra moral class holds in the community, but only primary pupils attend.

Help:

• This community at the open space decided to help widows, widowers, orphans and destitute on their own terms. An interesting thing about this community is that the head was fully part of the training and the community is Islam dominated, with about 90%.

• All those who made one commitment or the other were faithful in helping those in need.

• During my supervision, a Local VCI committee was instituted. With the church pastor as the chairman.

• This community however was excellent in the practice of sanitation which they do bi-weekly, keeping their surroundings clean.
  

Nigeria, Village Care Initiatives

This is a brief report compiled by Lucky. We embark on visitation soon and will bring in a more detailed report. Thanks!

Biliri : we are currently digging wells although due to the nature of our land most have not reached water level. We are also working on improving the standard of the existing wells. We have all agreed to gather money for purchase of chemicals to purify the source of drinking water in the community, every family is registered in respect to this. The registered children are still benefiting from the exercise books and soaps provided by the committee.

G/zalla : sanitation takes place nightly by sweeping the community surroundings. Calculators and higher notebooks are being given to students in tertiary institutions. The youths behavior is rapidly improving by respecting parents, leaders and elders. problems; we need scholarship for all registered children, we need bed nets and chemicals especially as raining season approaches, parents participation in the entire program is discouraging.

Amanawa : Adult education teachers were presented with gifts to encourage them, more trees have been planted, gifts will be given to the three(3) best cleaned houses. There is a plan to bring all registered children for prayers. The economic security group is still contributing money.

Abuja : Kaba, Kagini, Bagusa, Guidna and T/wakili are all working towards organizing a re-training for all the committees in the communities.

Bwonpe : The 50 registered children have been provided with books, soaps and other learning materials to keep them keep clean and enhance their learning. The committees visited and challenged 74 individual homes and some fellowship groups mostly women and youths on the practices and the expected outcomes.

More families and groups are inviting us to sensitize as well as educate them on how to start as well as maintain the practices. Currently in Bwonpe, the homes and children look cleaner. Everyone is doing his/her best to maintain regular nutritious diet, some of the youths who are school drop-outs, drunks, smokers and thieves have indicated interest to change some of them registered to be part of the extra morals classes which shall begin as soon as schools vacate.

The committee took an extra step, buying soap and washing the clothes of some mentally challenged persons. More seedlings were acquired in preparation for the next planting season to boost economic security.

Sokoto: The number of pupils in the extra morals classes have increased to 74, some parents are finding it difficult to pay the N200 charge for each child. One of the two (2) teachers (a youth corper) will soon live,which means there will be future need to look for another. With the current move by the police authority to have schools in all barracks we hope that our effort will be boosted soon. Our needs have been for permanent structure as the used place will soon be taken over for the recruits training others include chalks, desks and other learning materials.

From Phillips

Our program is a community based program based on the need to develop and not envelope the communities. In all the communities we work and the children we are helping we have a commitment first by the guardians of the children to contribute do something for their children, and the community also make a commitment based on their identified need to do something to help the children in crises on outcomes and practices for the children of their community.

First of all, we make sure that the children we are working with are safe. This means that both the guardians and the community agree with us what safety is and work together to see that these children are cared for and protected, they are not exploited or abused. Basically we provide alot of information here working with professionals in promoting how children should be kept safe.

Second, our training program includes that children are made to be ' At Home'. What this means can be defined by the communiy but the underlying principle is that we see children happy with their lives. The families also see to it that all children we are working with, have their homes, beddings, cloths, toilets, nails . . . are kept clean. They also ensure that children have a bed of their own above the ground. Beds are provided with beddings, latrines constructed, repaired to good hygiene standards, boreholes are constructed and well repaired,

Third, we also ensure that the children are kept healthey by obsersing some simple hygiene practices. Washing, bathing etc. Parents and the entire community are also trained on how to prevent, identify and treat minor illnesses and how to set up medical facilities that will help the community. Here mosquitor nets are provided, soaps, beds and bedings, supplements, drugs, hospital bills, training on HIV/AIDS prevention, counselling, testing and retroviral drugs through other NGOs. Nutritional information is also provided but that by itself come with the buying of food, planting of fruit trees, and supplements

Fourth, our communities also ensure that all children are in schooll and not just that, but that each child is individually succeeding in school. This is usually a community effort along with VC to supply school materials, provide scholarships and provide appropriate facilities that will stimulate learning and educational programs.

Fifth, we also ensure that apart from having children be in school, healthy, at home and keeping safe, that they are also behaving well in the community. Keeping to community rules and becoming contributing members of their community. This means that these children are made to keep away from drugs, alcohol, and not become sexually active.

Our entire program's success is hinged by what we call COMMUNITY PRACTICES. Here each community would have to ask and agree to do something to change the living standard of their own community. In each tarining we ask the following questions;

- What, as an individual, can i do to help myself

- What can i do to help my family

- What can i do to help my community

- When am i going to start

- With which other people in my community can we do these things

- How do we go about doing these things to help the community.

These questions are usually answered at the last day of our training called the " Open Space" where everyone and the community will say what they will do for themselves, hinged on the practices of

Sanitation,

Heath Care

Nutrition

Education and

Economic Security.

The community, by the very reasons of what they have aggreed to do to help themselves, offer themselves some checks and we work with them often to ensure that we do not only provide for what we think they need, but are helping them to achieve what they say they will do and are ofcourse doing for their communty.

Now these becomes their own programs and not ours in such a way that whether we stay or leave the programs will endure. This is what we call transformational develoipment in which people identify needs themselves and work to solving them and we offer a back up in helping them realize their community goals.

On top of all these we help them to become economically secure so that they can take care of their own orphans and all children in the worst of crises.

I hope this suffices, if you need more information i am there for you.

Thanks,

Phillips

Nigeria: December 2007

Phillips Elisha, Nigeria Director
Village Care International
December 4, 2007

The following is the report for each community.

1. Tungan Magajiya

Very little is done here and there appears to be some crises with the committee members and Nuhu. Some of the committee members belong to a different political party from that of Nuhu and they allowed their differences to weave through this. They always disagree unnecessarily. Hakumi and i will be meeting next week to find how we could sort the issues out. We may at the suggession of the community come up with fresh leaders. Time will reveal this.

2. Amanawa.

This community is doing well. There is ofcouse a drop down in the initial zeal, but they are still helping a few orphans and widows numbering about 10. This help is not as comprehensive as helping in all the 20 indicators but some amount of help is rendered anyway. We have just completed the re training of this community and about 50 people turned out for the training. They both renewed their comitment to start all over. They are also helping in giving out soft loans, not cash to boost the economic security of families to take care of their own.

3. Sokoto,

Still keys into helping make families economically secure. The few families also key into helping each other by giving scholarship to their children and basically on the need to keep the homes clean.

4. Gidan Zalla.

Helping out in making sure children succeed in school by paying school fees and providing school supplies. They are helping in no less than 9 children in the community. The community is makin effort to keep their environment clean.

5. Billiri, Poshiya,

Most of the orphaned children and widows are actually being taken care of here. There is a marked reception to the need to help not just the ophans and widows here but even those in dire need. Over 20 children are registered and all these are helped in some way or other to make them responsible members of the community. The help may not be comprehensive enough but help is being giving anyway. Similarly projects such as drilling of wells are done here including helping to keep clean the already existing ones. Again, families are helped and youths encouraged to run some petty bussineses to raise the economy of the families and to keep them away from being idle. Ofcourse the community is also being kept clean by regular sanitation programs. Homes too.

6. Kagini, Kaba, Guidna, Tungan Wakili, Bagusa,

These communities can actually be said to be in the initial phase of VC development. The first training conducted last year saw only 1 or 2 of them attending in a central place. The training we had two weeks ago appears to be a fresh training for all of them. In the open space, they made a commitment to helping the orphans and the widows, cultivate fruits to boost their nutrition, sanitize their environment which is in a terrible mess, dig latrines and wells and own their schools and boost adult education which will help the parents know how to implement VC programs, they also will generate funds by themselves to boost the economic status of their homes there by empowering the weaker families. Individuals have also offered scholarships to children whose parents are not able to pay school fees or the orphans. Time will let us know how well they are doing this.

7. Kaduna and Mangu,

These are fresh communities to be trained. The training for the Mangu community comes up next week. We are still working to fix a date for the Kaduna training which we hope will come up this month

Nigeria Update: October 2007

Phillips Elisha, Nigeria Director

Village Care International

October 22, 2007

Just so many things on my mind.

1. The re - trainings is on going, hope to finish by 2nd week of December.

2. I have conducted a survey on 2 communities for possible VC presence. The trainings for these communities comes up in December. The communities are called Bwonpe in Plateau state and Kakura in the suburb of Kaduna, Kaduna state. The total number expected for these 2 trainings is 500.

3. I now have the first English Outcomes and Practices booklet printed in Ngeria. I have sent copies to David to help check the quality. Please let me know if it is ok. As far as am concerned they are excellent but i am not a professional here.
4. The entire training materials i have, about 1300 copies may not be enough for the trainings and the re trainings. We need to urgently produce more.

5. The Hausa Outcomes and Practices booklets are ready for printing. This would be better than the English copies. But the point is if we have to have them printed we must swing into action now. I am working with the printer on the cost because the number of pages for the Hausa material are more than the English copies

6. If teams are coming from January, then we have to start making arrangement for the bus.

7. Warware Note! I have concluded making contacts for Niger and Cameroun as you have asked me to do. We need initial visits to these places as a survey trip.

8. The VCI registration process is on. Because of so many things to handle i have asked Lucky Simon to coordinate that.

9. DAVID NOTE, others too. While in Kaduna ( Kaduna is the largest city in Northern Nigeria after Kano and this is where the worst of religious crises took place. Hopefully VCI programs will bring genuine reconciliation. I am optimistic ), i have talked to a few church leaders on VCI program and they welcome the program so much that they asked me to invite you to lend your voice. They have a program in October of each year. So its either you come next week for the program or wait till next year. At this program over 200 churches will come together with over 7000 people. It is because of this discussion that we are going to have one of the trainings at Kakura ( see item 2 above ). Hopefully this result into many trainings next year. I have slated you to speak to the churches for next year, since you are only returning to US today. This will blow VCI up in the entire country. I hope i am not too fast. Someone gotta stop me!
Let me beg to stop here, but i have more, as soon as i get other ideas worked out, i will get this across to you.

Thanks,
Phillips