FON news Spring '13.pdf - Friends of Nigeria

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ProjectsFON Board Creates Emergency Fund for Nigerian Studentsat the Heller SchoolBy Greg Jones, (22) 66-68Providing emergency assistance toNigerian students attending BrandeisUniversity’s Heller School is the latestproject undertaken by Friends of Nigeria(FON).The idea for an emergency fund forNigerian students facing short-term financialcrises was originally proposed bythe associate dean of the Heller School (agraduate school specializing in InternationalDevelopment associated withBrandeis University in Waltham, MA) atthe FON board meeting in WashingtonDC in 2011. At the meeting, he statedthat Nigerian students as well as manyother foreign students have emergencies– a sudden illness, an accident, a theft,or a cultural misunderstanding – thatjeopardize their abilities to continue theireducation. He suggested an emergencyfund that local FON people wouldadminister that could be called upon bystudents when they face these emergencies.In response, FON President MikeGoodkind appointed a committeeconsisting of Murray Frank (an alumnusof the Heller School), Akintade Aboaba,Barbara Bush, Steve Clapp, Jim Garafolo,and Greg Jones and asked them tomeet and discuss available options. Asubset of the committee subsequentlymet with nine of the Nigerian studentscurrently attending the Heller School tosolicit their opinions on FON’s involvement.The committee discovered thatthese students were an incredibly bright,articulate group of young people deservingof FON’s attention.As a result of these meetings, a subsetof the committee was charged withdeveloping a set of procedures and animplementation plan that was subsequentlyapproved by the committee as awhole. The key components of the planare as follows:1. Define an emergency as an eventor problem which, if not solved,would prevent students from continuingin school.2. Establish $500 as the maximumsupport for any emergency with allawards being non-interest bearingloans while the recipients arestudents with repayment expectedmade when recipients began receivingincome.3. Name Murray Frank as the FONpoint person to be notified of anemergency. (Greg Jones will get acopy of the notice as a “back-up” ifMurray is not available.)4. Establish that requests for funds bepresented to the committee, thateach committee be notified viaemail and that decisions on suchrequests be provided in 24 hourswith a check will be drawn anddelivered, hopefully in person.5. Name Barbara Bush to act astreasurer and coordinate with PeterHansen to establish a 501c3 bankaccount for this project.6. Establish that FON general fundsshould not support this projectbeyond the initial $2000 and thatadditional funds be sought fromthe Boston area FON communityand from Nigerians in the diaspora.The FON Board voted to supportthe recommendation of its FON-Hellercommittee and has appropriated $2000to start the Fund’s operations with theunderstanding that the Fund will bereplenished by fund-raising.The committee’s intention is to buildrelationships with Nigerian students atThe Heller School. There is a programfor hosting students during vacations andholidays that we will publicize to Bostonarea FON members. Ideally, these studentsmay become valuable contacts forFON when they return home to Nigeria.A small review panel (appointed by theFON President) will establish proceduresand criteria for timely responses. Theactivities of the Fund will be reported periodicallyto the FON board of directors.COCIN Community Development Project-Panyam ReforestationBy Silvester Odundo (VSO Internationalvolunteer)From healthcare to environmentaleducation, Friends of Nigeria (FON)through its small grants program continuesits involvement in improving thelives of Nigerians.In July 2012, FON’s grants committeeunder the direction of chair AndyPhilpot agreed to fund a project submittedby VSO international volunteerSilvester Odundo that would lead to thereforestation of areas in and around Panyamin Nigeria’s Plateau state. Panyamis located some 40 miles southwest of Josand has a population of almost 11,000.The Church of Christ in Nigeria (CO-CIN) Community Development Project(CCDP) was awarded $1,200 to assistin the development of a forestry initiativethat would promote environmental(Continued on next page)6 FON Newsletter Spring 2013
Projectsawareness and assist in the startup of treenursery that would be used to replenishlost hardwoods.The project got underway in June2012 after funds were approved andwired to Nigeria. According to Odundo,churches and schools in the area havesince been actively engaged in the projectassisting in the establishment of nurseriesthat currently contain nearly 6,000young tree seedlings. Odundo has alsotrained nearly forty coordinators whoare already visiting schools and churcheslecturing on climate change and sustainablemanagement. A technical guide onmanagement of the moringa oleiferatree has been compiled and is ready fordistribution.According to Odundo, despite somechallenges, the project team is lookingforward to an eventful and prosperous2013. “January” he stated “has beenfurnace hot with exceptional harmattanwinds, but weekly watering of treeseedlings went on undisrupted, thanks toconstant generator power”. He also reportsthat liquid fertilizer was made frompoultry droppings to nourish the soil inthe pots that since the inception of theproject they have an 85% survival rate oftree seedlings. Three environmental clubshave been started in local schools andeach club contains over 50 members.Despite these successes, Odundoreports that they have some setbacks. Hepoints to a lack of funding to involvemore schools, school strikes, difficultyin meeting with local leaders and a lowrate of survival for the eucalyptus treeseedlings. He reports, however, that theyare still very enthusiastic and are lookingforward to more meetings with localleaders, setting up an environmental dayin the area, giving more climate changelectures in schools and developing additionaltraining sessions for local farmers.News from the Fantsuam FoundationBy Greg Jones (22) 66-68 and John DadaThe leadership of The FantsuamFoundation has been busy with a socialprotection issue. “A young man in oneof their host communities got stung todeath by bees, and his uncle was accusedof having sent the bees by witchcraft tosting the young man. The elderly andthe young children are always at risk ofaccusation of witchcraft in some of ourcommunities, and we tried to step intothis case to affect a rescue and reconciliation.We have done this successfully ina few cases in the past, but in this casewe were a day too late. The elderly manwas mysteriously found dead in his roombefore we could relocate him.”FON used to help to pay for bandwidthwith Fantsuam’s US-based internetprovider and was done so to avoid theexpense of transferring money to Nigeriathat would only have to be re-transferredback to the US to pay the internet bill.Since the escalation of satellite-basedinternet costs, Fantsuam has been exploringlocal alternatives, but their rural locationcontinues to be a challenge due totheir distance from the fiber optic cablethat has been laid across state capitalsin Nigeria. Most Nigerians live in rurallocations, not in state capitals. Fantsuamis now leading a consortium of charitableinstitutions and faith-based organizationsin the Kafanchan area to negotiatebulk bandwidth purchase so that internetaccess can become more affordable.Fantsuam is talking to two of the mainbandwidth providers and arguing thatthey should make provision for ruralcommunities and especially for educationalinstitutions in these locations. Thiswill be a major achievement if Fantsuamcan pull it off this year.As a result of FON’s holiday fundraising appeal, $2025 was collected forThe Fantsuam Foundation. John Dadaexplains how they intend to use the FONmoney: “as I indicated in our last request,our grain silos are now empty after wehave used it to support the children andadults on our books during the hungermonths. If FON approves, we would liketo use this new donation to restock thesilos (these are the silos that were paid forby FON in 2012). January and Februaryare the months of grains purchase, sothe FON donation has come at the righttime to make this possible.”The types of grains and their relativecosts can be seen in the original siloarticle in the spring, 2012 FON Newsletter.As of February, 2013VSO Project (Since 2004)Total raised: $44,550.00Number of donations: 851Number of donors: 377Keep The Lorry Rolling!Fantsuam Foundation (Since 2008)Total raised: $21,836.00Number of donations: 343Number of donors: 214Results of November 2012 Solicitation:FantsuamFoundation donations: $1,535.00VSO donations: $1,120.00Unrestricted donations: $4,607.00Emily Bullock (UK) 2010-VSO Blogshttp://www.emily-in-nigeria.blogspot.com/Spring 2013FON Newsletter 7
Page 1 and 2: Friends of Nigeria Newsletterwww.fr
Page 3 and 4: FON NewsWinners of First FON/PCNAF
Page 5: Letters to the Editorgreater gift.D
Page 9 and 10: Book Reviewsmurderous conflict and
Page 11 and 12: Recollectionsing him around the cor
Page 13 and 14: In MemorianBy Jim Clark (12) 64-66H
Page 15 and 16: Nigeria NewsEdited by Virginia DeLa
Page 17 and 18: Nigeria Newsment is creating jobs a
Page 19 and 20: Nigeria Newsdevelopment projects, a

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