Educate and Train 100 Disadvantaged Children

Chisom was very impressive during the assessment done at her home in Jakande, where she lives with her parents and three siblings, earlier this year. She's an 11 year old girl in JSS1, with dreams of becoming an actress in future. Her school referred her as a child in need, as her parents have been struggling to keep up with her fees. Chisom’s dad is a welder while her mum sells water and is currently learning hair making.

Following our Valentine Luncheon in February, a new sponsor rescued Chisom from our waiting list, and she became an FLA Kid. Her school was contacted for her second term bill, and we learnt Chisom’s dad had made a partial payment of her school fees and other bills. The balance was promptly settled much to the delight of Chisom’s dad, who expressed his gratitude towards his daughter’s sponsor.

Unfortunately, tragedy struck in less than two weeks afterwards. During one of our routine calls, Chisom’s mum mentioned their residence had been pulled down by the Lagos State Government due to ongoing demolition of houses and shanties along the Lagos-Calabar coastal road. The family’s properties were thrown by the side of the road, while Chisom, her mum, and three siblings watched helplessly as other illegal structures were brought down, with people scampering to salvage whatever they could before the caterpillar’s damage.

It was a devastating event that affected thousands of people who live in that community. Four other children sponsored by FLA were affected, and we reached out to our supporters to help us help them get new homes.

Chisom's dad quickly found affordable accommodation at Ikorodu, a remote part of Lagos, and they moved there, leaving Chisom to stay with the proprietor of her school until she could complete her second term exams and join her family at Easter. Fair Life Africa Foundation presented Chisom’s dad with a cheque for the amount paid for their new rent - N250k - in March, as part of our efforts to support the displaced families. This was a great relief to Chisom's family, who would have borne the loss alone if not for being part of the FLA family!

We are glad to report that Chisom has finally settled down with her family at her new home. Thank you for your support, which enabled us to respond quickly to their plight. Chisom would resume a new school close to her house for her third term of JSS1 next week.

We are still raising funds for our children and their families who were affected by the demolition exercise by the Lagos State Government and solicit your generous support, which would go a long way to help them recover from the loss and continue to press on.

Just like Chisom, we also have several children on our waiting list seeking sponsorship of their education. Your support would bring joy to their faces as well as that of their families. Do visit our website to see more children you can sponsor. God bless you as you do.

Links:

• Read About Our Valentine Luncheon
• Visit Our Website
• Follow Our Blog

Writing this report, I feel so emotional... It feels like the end of an era!

We met Dami back in 2014 when we began the Disadvantage to Advantage Initiative. She was one of our first ten children that we took on without sponsors! We got sponsors for all ten in April the following year. Now, she's completed her university studies, and looking at how far she has come and how she has grown over the years...it's emotional.

We reached out to her and asked her a few questions about the experience, being an FLA Kid, university life, and her plans for the future. This is what she had to say...

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1. Please tell us about yourself. Who are you and how did you get to hear of Fair Life Africa Foundation?

My name is Damilola. I am from Ondo State, but I reside in Ajegunle-Apapa, Lagos State with my family. I’m a graduate of the department of Guidance and Counseling, and I’m also a hairstylist. I attended an evening lesson when I was much younger, and sponsors used to come from far and near to care for all the children. Fair Life Africa Foundation was one of them, and I was opportuned to be among the lucky children that FLA selected to be among the D2A! Kids.

2. How has it been over the years, being an FLA Kid?

It has been and it’s still an amazing experience. FLA has made everything I do academically with ease, from when I was in SS1 till date. I did not have to worry about being sent home for non-payment of school fees or missing an exam because my parents couldn’t afford it. During festive periods, FLA always made sure we enjoyed ourselves with our family members by giving us things to help with financial difficulties. I also met other amazing children and made new friends; we were more like one big family. FLA took us to educational conferences, even to places we could have fun and still learn in the process. There was a time we were given the opportunity to plan our Christmas party ourselves, and it was so much fun because all the kids showed their abilities in their various areas of interest. Looking back now, if it wasn’t for FLA, I don’t know if I would have made it this far educationally.

3. You've just completed your university course, how do you feel?

Hmmmmm, sometimes I feel very happy and relieved that I finally completed the course, other times I feel very confused because of how the outside world is like now.

4. How was the university experience?

At first, I was confused because Guidance and Counselling wasn’t the course I intended to study, but with time, I got to understand the course. Sometimes, the university experience was fun, and other times it was exhausting and often scary too. It was fun when doing school activities, meeting new people, forming study groups, and meeting amazing lecturers that made their classes interactive. It became exhausting when we would go to class as early as 7am and the lecturer won’t come to class. Even when we would go to the admissions office or anywhere to correct a mistake made by the school, they would keep pushing us back and forth, and they often attended to us very late. It became scary because there were constant accidents killing many students, so I was always praying and moving in fear because death of students became a normal thing in the village. But thank God that I and my friends weren’t victims of such circumstances.

5. What did you do for teaching practice?

We do teaching practice twice after 200lvl & 300lvl second semester, where we were acting teachers for six weeks. It was easier for me to relate with the kids because I worked as a teacher in a school before I gained admission. I was the CRS teacher in both TPs, but we did Practicum in the second TP, where we had a counseling session with children with academic difficulties and helped them resolve issues the best way we could.

6. What do you plan to do now that you have graduated?

I’d like to work on the interpersonal and business skills required of a guidance counselor, i.e communication, emotional intelligence, and problem solving. I will also be active in the vocational aspect of my life, hairdressing.

7. Tell us about an unforgettable experience and what you learned.

This happened in the evening on the 23rd of January 2021. I and my friends were coming back from a tutorial, so we passed our school's big gate because we wanted to get something in that area. We stayed there for long because most students were making payments for their school fees. So I started feeling restless, like I should leave that place, and I told my friends. They said the same thing, so we left there. Five minutes after we left that place, an accident happened claiming the lives of over 40 students in that same spot. It was quite traumatizing. If we didn’t listen to the Holy Spirit that day, it would have been a different story. I learnt that we should be able to identify when the Lord is speaking to us from the normal voice in our head.

8. What would you like to say to your sponsor?

I’d like to say a very big thank you to my sponsor for supporting me this far. I’m forever grateful to be among the few to benefit from your generosity. Your support has played a key role in my life. God bless you and your family abundantly, sir, in all ramifications of life, and the source of your income will never run dry.

9. What would you like to say to other people out there considering child sponsorship?

It feels very meaningful to be a positive part of a child’s life. It makes them feel that someone cares about them and can help them dream of a brighter future, then build it . Child sponsorship really transforms lives for both you as the sponsor and the child.

10. Is there anything else you want to say?

Thanks for all the support Fair Life Africa Foundation. God bless you abundantly.

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And we would like to say a very big thank you to our GlobalGiving family for supporting us on this initiative through the years! Thanks for the platform, thanks for your trust, thanks for your donations! We wish you and your families a most wonderful Christmas.

For Christmas, we distributed hampers to many of our sponsored children in Lagos, and we sent funds to others, to help them have a merry time too. Check out our IG post, which we linked to below.

Thanks once again for enabling us to do all that we do!

Links:

• Visit Our Website
• Official Blog
• Watch our IG Reel