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The weekly online UK-Nigeria meetings have been established in their present format for more than three years. However, following Nigeria’s terrible post-election violence, John this week identified a new and unexpected benefit of our regular sessions - explaining that the Dadamac meetings are “evolving into a balm, a tonic, a forum where Fantsuam Foundation can unburden ... a psycho-social element of our weekly meeting”. The rural community has been badly shaken by the attacks and, although the news reporters appear to have moved on, the real story is still unfolding. For example, how people from both sides of the religious...

John joined this week’s online UK-Nigeria session from Abuja, where he was due to attend a number of meetings - the most significant of which from our point of view was with the French Embassy. At this, John was to discuss the promised support for Attachab . Meanwhile Kelechi and Chollom joined us from Fantsuam while the UK provided three participants, based in Leeds and London. We were pleased to hear there are reports of some semblance of normality returning to Kafanchan as people of all faiths were beginning to interact at the old and new market sites. John informed...

John joined this week’s online UK-Nigeria session from Abuja, where he was due to attend a number of meetings - the most significant of which from our point of view was with the French Embassy. At this, John was to discuss the promised support for Attachab . Meanwhile Kelechi and Chollom joined us from Fantsuam while the UK provided three participants, based in Leeds and London. We were pleased to hear there are reports of some semblance of normality returning to Kafanchan as people of all faiths were beginning to interact at the old and new market sites. John informed...

Regular readers of this blog will know that the weekly UK-Nigeria meeting has been dominated of late by the aftermath of the post-Election violence in Kafanchan. This week’s meeting was, predictably, no exception. Previously we had been told that the field officers from the Microfinance programme had been afraid to visit their clients in the Muslim Areas due to safety fears. This time, John Dada related the tale of Grace, one of the field workers who - despite the danger - felt compelled to visit one of her clients who had suffered bereavement in the Muslim ares of Kafanchan. “In...

An Executive Summary by John Dada There was a sudden outbreak of politically motivated ethnic-religious violence in Kafanchan, on Tuesday 19th April, 2011. The magnitude of the violence was unprecendented and it caught most people unawares, with resulting loss of lives, property and means of livelihoods. Fantsuam Foundation's immediate concern has been to provide as much basic shelter, food clothes and security for over 200 people who escaped and took refuge in the Fantsuam compound. Three weeks later, the magnitude of the loss suffered by our microfinance clients and the entire Kafanchan community is becoming clearer. As a caring community-based...