This is an archive of the Dadamac.net website, as it was in 2015, it is no longer being updated.

nikki's Blog

Bush Fire at Attachab

Submitted by nikki on 7 February 2011 - 12:24am
This week at the UK-Nigeria meeting some of the benefits of a typed Skype meeting were demonstrated. Namely, that team members were able to join from different sites and Kelechi who had to urgently leave to assess the damage of a bush fire at Attachab was able to read the archive and join the meeting later. John informed us that 6 key staff were away from Fantsuam Foundation on training this week. We were pleased that one of the staff was able to join us from Kaduna where she was attending EU Inside training. It was this staff member who...

Community Health Committees in Rural Nigeria

Submitted by nikki on 31 January 2011 - 1:23am
Training was once again a top topic at this week’s UK-Nigeria meeting. It is in fact an intrinsic part of Fantsuam Foundation - be it computer training at the Academy or health education or teaching staff to take blood samples from 5,000 children to screen for Sickle Cell Disease. It seems that once again FF has excelled in this area. Towards the end of 2010 I reported that John was hoping to set up Community Health Committees, and in December we were delighted to report that three communities had signed up to the concept. It was therefore very exciting to...

The road to significant and sustainable funding?

Submitted by nikki on 25 January 2011 - 11:27pm
(Taken from Nikki's Notes in the December's Dadamac Digest) Although I haven’t personally visited Fantsuam Foundation or met John Dada face to face, I have - through our weekly online contact and emails - been in a unique and privileged position to see both the man and the organisation at work for the past two and a half years. One of my biggest frustrations has been watching John spend his precious time chasing grants and funding applications when his energy could in my view be far better spent. Invariably, even once he has succeeded in securing funds, he is forced...

A Model of Integrated Development

Submitted by nikki on 24 January 2011 - 3:49pm
The subject of training was again at the heart of discussions during the wide-ranging UK-Nigeria team meeting which took place this week. Comfort told us that the Fantsuam staff and their partners had received Nutritional training from one of their International volunteers. This highlighted the fact that although the local environment does in fact have all the food groups one needs for a healthy diet, it is important to educate the community about which food sources provide good cheap sources of protein, vitamins, carbohydrates etc. And to inform them what portions of the various food groups are required for a...

Building for the Future

Submitted by nikki on 16 January 2011 - 11:54pm
Wednesday saw the second UK-Nigeria Skype meeting of 2011. However there was no gentle easing back into ‘work mode’ in the wake of the holidays! Already the Fantsuam team are quite literally building on their success of the previous 12 months. During the week Zittnet Network Administrator Chollom had Tweeted that the roof was being put on FF’s new AIDS/HIV building. John informed us that construction of the new laboratory has now been finished, complete with electricity supply. The next phase will be creating a borehole for the water supply plus sourcing furniture and equipment. The lab has been built...

Climate Change and going for ‘Green’ in the New Year

Submitted by nikki on 9 January 2011 - 7:25pm
Wednesday saw the first UK-Nigeria online meeting of 2011, and it was straight down to business as usual. Following on from discussions at the Dadamac Day (Local goes Global) - and from the Directors’ meeting at the end of 2010 - the topic of climate change had already been identified as a focus for the New Year. As ever, John Dada is keen to be at the forefront of raising this important issue at grassroots level. The hope is to develop the Knowledge Resource Centre and Attachab, ensuring that we are mindful of the issue of climate change. The team...

A farewell to 2010

Submitted by nikki on 19 December 2010 - 11:38pm
Wednesday saw the last UK-Nigeria core team meeting of the year and it was a good opportunity to catch up with the latest from Fantsuam Foundation . (However, it was agreed that there would be a Directors meeting on December 22nd, which duly took place) The next UK-Nigeria Team meeting has been arranged for Wednesday, January 5th 2011, followed the next day by the First Thursday meeting of the year on the 6th. Now back to the last full team meeting of the year......... Pam joined us online from the ICTD 2010 conference. It was quite something to think that...

Fantsuam Foundation Annual Report 2010

Submitted by nikki on 17 December 2010 - 11:21am
FANTSUAM FOUNDATION ANNUAL REPORT - MARCH – DECEMBER 2010 Executive Summary – JOHN DADA (CEO) Through the commitment and dedication of staff, volunteers, partner organisations and donors, Fantsuam Foundation has this year continued its journey towards its vision of becoming the most effective model of rural development in West Africa. Our integrated approach is enabling us to continue improving on the level of impact and change we have on individual beneficiary's life, e.g. an OVC client benefiting from psycho-social support as well as being supported to develop a secure livelihood through BDS training and a loan to get started in...

From Termites in Sambarkas to mobile phones

Submitted by nikki on 13 December 2010 - 12:54pm
THE thorny issues of smart phones in rural Africa and termites in the sambarkas (traditional mud huts with a straw roof) were among the topics raised in our UK-Nigeria online meeting. However, the majority of this week’s session was used to ensure the team updated Pam on any project developments in readiness for the ICTD 2010 conference, where she will be presenting. Witchcraft update: From the team’s discussion it is sadly not unusual for children in Nigeria to be accused of being witches - they are sometimes called 'spirits', and are often held responsible for illnesses and deaths. There seems...

A busy week at Fantsuam

Submitted by nikki on 3 December 2010 - 10:32pm
This week at Fantsuam Foundation is expected to be even busier than usual as it incorporates the celebrations for both World AIDS day and World Disabilities Day. Volunteers Day also falls this week, with the culmination being an end-of-year party and a volunteers’ award night on December 5th. Quite understandably, some of the Fantsuam staff were busy organising these celebrations and apologies to the UK-Nigeria online team meeting even arrived via Twitter. One attendee arrived late because invitations needed to be delivered! However, despite this hectic workload the meeting went ahead as scheduled. The first news the team were keen...

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