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The PATH ahead!

Submitted by nikki on 26 February 2012 - 10:36pm

This week’s UK-Nigeria meeting saw John Dada inform us that four Fantsuam staff were in Kaduna, attending training for PATH. This followed the indication from the Kaduna State Government the previous week that it was willing to take over the PATHS programme. This suggestion was made at a meeting attended by Comfort. However, it must be said that their readiness for such a task has yet to be proved. John went on to explain Fantsuam Foundation’s ongoing bandwidth challenges. The new Government-owned service provider is not meeting their needs, but they can no longer afford the US-based provider. This has...

A week's news in brief

Submitted by nikki on 19 February 2012 - 8:47pm

During this week’s UK-Nigeria meeting we covered a variety of topics ranging from waste plastic recycling to water and sanitation and e-learning. Below are the summaries of these varied discussions! John Dada informed us that the NEWSAN steering committee meeting went well and “ Fantsuam Foundation is now headquarters for six states advocacy activities.” John went on to explain that: “ The advocacy is to improve citizens voice in budgetary and project implementation processes”. Diagnostic Laboratory: Michigan State Uni sent some more equipments for Zipak Lab. The plan is that the laboratory will become operational by March. Comic Relief and...

Congratulations Fantsuam!

Submitted by nikki on 9 February 2012 - 11:21pm

Over the last few months, and during our weekly UK-Nigeria meeting, John Dada has been informing the UK about his on-going dealings with the Minnesota Renewable Energy Society (MRES). We were therefore delighted to hear that following on from their recent visit to Fantsuam Foundation a sloar project for Kafanchan Hospital has been agreed between the two organisations. The full story can be seen on the MRES website .

Food shortages and the vulnerable

Submitted by nikki on 29 January 2012 - 11:07pm

These were the sobering words of John Dada and summed up this week’s UK-Nigeria online meeting: “This month we must focus on stocking up grains, be ready to respond to alerts on elderly and children who may be at risk of abuse” The words followed on from last week’s discussion when we learned of Fantsuam Foundation ’s rescue of an elderly mama who had been beaten and accused of witchcraft by her family and of the Rumbu (food bank) programme. John explained that: “The famine is most likely to hit Kafanchan and Kaduna state as a whole since many could...

New staff but old witchcraft accusations

Submitted by nikki on 23 January 2012 - 10:57pm

My weekly involvement with the news from Fantsuam Foundation as documented by these blogs should have prepared me for the unexpected but again it was shocking to hear of yet another accusation of witchcraft. John Dada explained that it was the new team members Emmanuel and Ayuba who since the last meeting had been at the centre of a rescue of an elderly mama who was accused of witchcraft. The FF team held a meeting with the entire family on Tuesday(17th), and their nurse had been to provide drugs and further treatment for the mama. As Emmanuel stated : “These...

Networking and Collaboration in action

Submitted by nikki on 15 January 2012 - 10:08pm

This week brought the usual UK-Nigeria meeting at which a number of issues were discussed. But at this juncture I would like to take a moment to highlight another part of the two groups’ work together - namely how our network can be utilised for good. On January 9th, Dadamac in the UK received a message from Peoples-uni (Australia), an organisation which is building public health capacity using internet based e-learning. In this message, staff there informed us that they had received a message from one of their Nigerian students, who was clearly distressed. This student had informed them that...

Starting the New Year

Submitted by nikki on 8 January 2012 - 11:41pm

Following a short Christmas break, Wednesday the 4th of January saw the restart of the weekly UK-Nigeria team Meetings. These meetings are a weekly link between the UK and John Dada a local innovator who delivers integrated development programmes in rural Nigeria and who is the CEO of Fantsuam Foundation . As we approach the fourth year of these weekly meetings (which have proved to be a valuable insight to what is really happening ‘on the ground’ see Nikki’s Blogs ) I was reminded again how so much respect and affection John receives from his host community. Instead of our...

Reflections on employment, a TV programme and a guru.

Submitted by Pamela on 8 January 2012 - 4:54pm

A TV programme in 2011 was a turning point for me. The programme followed a familiar format. There were four participants, all facing similar difficult situations. They were shown struggling on their own; a guru offered advice; they acted on it. When the credits rolled a voiceover updated us on their situations a few months later. This is an account of what happened as I watched the programme, and what I did as a result. First I'll describe the programme itself and how I responded to it. Later I'll write about the action I took, progress so far, and what...

2011 - Dadamac and Dadamacademy - asking questions and exploring answers

Submitted by Pamela on 31 December 2011 - 4:46pm

I tend to ask questions. When my Dad read us bed-time stories one of my favourites was about the Elephant's Child - who: "asked questions about everything that he saw, or heard, or felt, or smelt, or touched, and all his uncles and his aunts spanked him. And still he was full of 'satiable curtiosity!" ` Like the Elephants Child I pestered my many uncles and aunts with endless questions. As an adult the Open Univeristy increased my confidence and ability to "ask questions" and find things out. In particular the systems course that I did helped me to see...

Diary Dates for December 2011

Submitted by Pamela on 30 December 2011 - 8:17pm

My December diary - heading towards the Christmas break and the close of the year. It's a varied collection of diary dates - and I hope during 2012 it may become more obvious how all these things are connected with each other. Thursday 1st - GlobalNet21 webinar - Supporting Local Groups and Activists - Given that I'm developing "Landscape of Change" workshops that will feed into collaboration groups (and those groups will be active in their local communities) I appreciate learning more about community organisations. Monday 5th - Eirenicon Africa Public Lecture Series inaugural lecture by Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Governor...

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