This is an archive of the Dadamac.net website, as it was in 2015, it is no longer being updated.

nikki's Blog

Fantsuam Update

Submitted by nikki on 23 May 2012 - 8:43am
The Weekly UK-Nigeria meetings are always varied but this time the focus was more on the format than the content. In fact the meeting was comprised of a mixture of Face to Face, sms, email and speakerphone conversations as well as brief Skype IM (Instant Messaging). John Dada had intended to join us online from Jos but we received an sms at the start of the meeting to say he was experiencing connectivity problems. Steve Podmore of Transform Capital Management Ltd had been invited to join the meeting this week as he is helping Dadamac raise a loan to help...

Tractor Trouble -Urgent help needed please

Submitted by nikki on 16 May 2012 - 6:01pm
Good news and bad news at last week’s meeting regarding John Dada’s long-running quest to secure a crucial tractor for Fantsuam Foundation. You may recall that John had been told by the Government that he could purchase this subsidised vehicle, which would transform the lives of the community, if he could contribute 40 per cent of the cost. He duly put down a deposit on that amount - having been assured he could pay off the balance in instalments - and officials have been holding on to that money for more than two years. John was delighted to hear some...

Talking Rubbish....again!

Submitted by nikki on 9 May 2012 - 12:12am
"The safe disposal of plastic waste is a perennial problem that gets worse by the day, so we have to be committed to efforts to control it". These were the words of John Dada in 2010 and at last it seems that Fantsuam Foundation will be leading by the way as it tackles this perennial problem with the help of Ron Dennis of Developing Technologies and his University students aided by funding from Comic Relief. The last details are being finalised now for the initial 3 month feasibility study and at this week’s UK-Nigeria meeting John informed us, via email,...

Storm at Ago-Are

Submitted by nikki on 2 May 2012 - 10:55am
This week the UK-Nigeria meeting concentrated on the Dadamac outpost in Ago-Are which is run by Fola Sunday. Earlier in the week we had heard from Fola that during the Chelsea/Barcelona match a terrible storm had struck the area. Additional photos sent by Fola can be viewed on Flickr . In a later Yahoo chat with Pam, Fola informed us that, had people been asleep and not watching the match, many lives would have been lost. I recommend that you read Pam's edited highlights of their conversation . However, the destruction and damage caused by the storm has resulted in...

John Dada in the UK!

Submitted by nikki on 25 April 2012 - 9:32pm
This week’s UK-Nigeria meeting was a very special event. It provided the UK team with a rare opportunity to meet face-to-face with John Dada, respected CEO of the Fantsuam Foundation and Dadamac Nigeria. The meeting was kindly sponsored by London’s Westminster Hub, which very generously made its space available to us for free. And the invited guests made the most of the opportunity by enjoying an open and wide-ranging conversation with John, who was able to offer us a unique depth of information. Steve Podmore ably and informally interviewed John, who at one point delivered an informative history of how...

Diagnostic Achievement

Submitted by nikki on 18 April 2012 - 11:17pm
All too often North Nigeria features in the press for all the wrong reasons, Boko Haram attacks and corruption just to name two. So it is a real privilege to be communicating weekly with Fantsuam Foundation, who under the leadership of John Dada is a positive example of integrated development, despite its ongoing battle for proper and sustainable funding. However, John surpassed even himself this week when he shared some extra details about the new Zipak Research Laboratory. As a former paediatric nurse myself, the significance of a diagnostic laboratory in this rural impoverished host community is a stunning breakthrough...

Developments at Fantsuam

Submitted by nikki on 11 April 2012 - 9:32pm
Despite being in Abuja, John Dada was able to come online to greet us during this week’s UK-Nigeria meeting. John had been asked by a representative of the Michigan State University to discuss starting a dry run of the Fantsuam Foundation ’s Zipak Laboratory next week (pictured above) and was in discussions in Abuja to do this. John also shared with us the following updates via email. Both PATHS and ESSPIN programs are continuing apace. Comfort added that the PATHs team is on mentoring visits and ESSPIN starts activities again next week. The Clinic expansion work being sponsored by the...

Kafanchan Crisis

Submitted by nikki on 4 April 2012 - 8:41pm
By the Southern Kaduna NGO Forum Title: Opportunity to Fast-Forward Development. Date: 3rd April 2012 BACKGROUND The full impact of the sectarian crisis that swept through some communities of southern Kaduna, is just beginning to be felt. The rows of burnt homes, businesses vehicles still litter the streets. Food security in homes has been severely affected. Children are unable to go to school because parents cannot pay their fees; the elderly and other vulnerable members of the population are most hard hit by the lack of shelter, food, medicines. This submission is not looking at the remote and long-standing and...

Aftermath of sectarian crisis still being felt.

Submitted by nikki on 4 April 2012 - 8:08pm
"The full impact of the sectarian crisis that swept through some communities of southern Kaduna, is just beginning to be felt. The rows of burnt homes, businesses vehicles still litter the streets. Food security in homes has been severely affected. Children are unable to go to school because parents cannot pay their fees; the elderly and other vulnerable members of the population are most hard hit by the lack of shelter, food, medicines". THe above words are taken from the presentation that John Dada was making on behalf of the Southern Kaduna NGO Forum to the Kafanchan Peace and Reconciliation...

This week's news in brief

Submitted by nikki on 28 March 2012 - 10:41pm
The topics covered in this week’s UK-Nigeria meeting ranged from solar power to maize with a bit of microfinance and minority languages thrown in for good measure! Following on from last week’s update about the visit from the Minnesota team (MRES) John Dada was able to give us the exciting news that some of the participants attending the solar workshop decided they would start a Kafanchan Solar Club, KSC. John will be helping the temporary officials of the KSC (Naomi ,Gabriel ) together with Kasang to send Dadamac UK a few sentences about and photos of the newly formed club...

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