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Moving out, moving in and moving on

Submitted by Pamela on 23 November 2012 - 1:05pm

Dadamac is an ongoing exploration, and Dadamac.net is part of that exploration, so things are always moving and changing. As a result some things are moving out of this space, and some new things are moving in. First stage of Dadamac.net I started this online space - Dadamac.net - with Nikki Fishman. The main idea behind it was to make John Dada's work more visible. I won't discuss now the reasons why, or what worked and didn't work, and what we discovered in the process - but maybe I'll cover some of that in future. What we have here now...

Another Lovely Wednesday

Submitted by Pamela on 22 November 2012 - 3:00am

Today was a gem. It followed my current Normal Wednesday pattern . Unplugged today included a mix of "regulars" and people who discovered Unplugged via Redrawing the Maps . Our discussion started with a diagram by Anthony McCann, and bounced off into explorations of play, experimentation, using our senses, science, philosphy/psychology of identity, roles, cultural stereotypes, learning through play and playfulness, how that kind of learning can/could/shoud/does apply to us as adults as well as children. After Unplugged is a good time fo rme to meet people. Today my meeting was with Julliet Makhapila. She has just done a great...

My Trade School Session - Tuesday November 20th

Submitted by Pamela on 19 November 2012 - 12:00am

Tuesday Nov 20th 2012, I'm doing a Trade School session called "Finding Your Way in a Rapidly Changing World" (from 6:00pm to 7:00pm at 1st floor, New Zealand House, London) I've just been reminding myself exactly what I plan to cover - and also discovering what the participants are offering me in return. I have no idea who the participants are and I had forgotten what I'd asked for. Reading the list of "trades" I've felt like a child handling a bumpy Christmas stocking - getting a good idea of what's there - soon to take a closer look and...

Reflections on visit to Kafanchan

Submitted by nikki on 15 November 2012 - 12:33pm

Frances, from the Fantsuam Foundation Leeds office, has just returned from a visit to Nigeria and has generously agreed to sharing her reflections of her trip with us. "The weather was lovely. Much cooler than I thought it would be but we did have torrential thunder storms as well. The rain on the metal roof of the main house was deafening. I just wished it would stop! The doorway to the bathroom in the big mud hut started to collapse as the rain soaked through the walls. Fortunately we had decided to decamp to the house next door in time...

Kazanka & women entrepreneurs

Submitted by nikki on 9 November 2012 - 3:35pm

It is fitting that last week here in Croydon was Enterprise week and this week is Global enterprise week as during the last UK-Nigeria meeting we were all reminded how Fantsuam Foundation grew in response to the needs of the local women traders. Frances who has been a UK based supporter of Fantsuam has just returned from vsiting John Dada and the team and shared with us her abbreviated history which tells how microfinance arrived at Fantsuam. Fantsuam Foundation: An Abbreviated History by Frances The very early beginnings: John Dada first came to Kafanchan in 1972 to work in a...

A typical UK - Nigeria Meeting

Submitted by nikki on 25 October 2012 - 9:42am

This week I thought that I would give an insight into the 'nuts and bolts' of our weekly meetings. Below is an example of a typical agenda which we use for these meetings. It demonstrates the breadth and depth of what we cover in an hour. The photo was sent in by Fola the Manager of the Dadamac Outpost in Ago-Are. Agenda THURSDAY UK-Nigeria Meeting Skype Typed meeting 10:00-11:00 1. Meet and Greet: 2. Fantsuam Foundation: General news and catch up DEVTECH and review of project and next steps Feedback from Linus now he is back in Nigeria? FF &...

Looking forward

Submitted by nikki on 18 October 2012 - 8:45pm

The topics covered during this week’s hour long UK-Nigeria skype meeting ranged from recycling waste plastic water sachet to the Kafanchan market- Pay-As-You-Use toilets. As the end of this year approaches, John Dada is already keen to look at Fantsuam Foundation’s objectives for 2013. Some time was spent discussing how best to move forward with the development of Fantsuam Foundation’s website and some suggestions were made together with the decision to look into the costs involved. On the subject of the recycling plastic project Pamela Mclean reported that she had met Linus ( the FF engineer seconded to the UK)...

Plastic recycling & women entrepreneurs

Submitted by nikki on 11 October 2012 - 10:11pm

This week's UK -Nigeria meeting centered around the current recycling waste plastic project. Fantsuam's engineer, Linus, had recently met the Dadamac UK Team in London and had explained the current situation and shared his hopes for the project on his return to Nigeria on the 20th October. John Dada of Fantsam Foundation and Ron Denis of DEVTECH are currently finalising the last stages of this phase of this project funded by Comic Relief. The main issue that this project hopes to address is to find a way to recycle the plastic water sachets which are so problematic in the region...

Update from Fantsuam

Submitted by nikki on 4 October 2012 - 10:41pm

Just before the start of this week’s UK-Nigeria online meeting, John Dada emailed photos of the recent floods around Fantsuam Foundation . These illustrated why the FastTractor was unable to work for a while. General news and catch up: “Comfort attended an entrepreneurship training in Kaduna on behalf of Fantsuam Foundation, and she has come to Fantsuam to do a step down. We expect up to 10 young women to attend.” The launch of the World Ageing Report published by HelpAge International was very successful. “We managed to get lots of media coverage, including a BBC World Service programme reading...

News from Ago-Are

Submitted by nikki on 27 September 2012 - 9:34pm

John Dada joined us briefly in this week’s UK-Nigeria meeting as his connectivity was patchy. However, he was able to suggest that the information that I have collected about high blood pressure and high blood sugar levels should be sent to Fantsuam via Linus the engineer who is in London working with City University to design a machine/process which will turn the waste plastic from around Fantsuam Foundation into plastic tiles. Linus arrived in the UK nearly a month ago and half of his suitcase was full of samples of the waste plastic that surrounds Fantsuam and is infact a...

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