A non-profit organisation, Home for the Needy Foundation, says no fewer than 4,393 orphans, widows and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have benefited from its intervention programmes and projects.
The foundation disclosed this in a report, signed by its National Coordinator, Pastor Solomon Folorunsho and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday.
NAN reports that the report titled “Record of Intervention Activities and Achievements between 2021 and 2023.
The foundation said, “we provided shelter, food and primary health care to more than 4,393 orphans, widows and IDPs from Borno, Adamawa, Yobe, Kebbi, Kaduna, Benue, Niger, Bauchi, Plateau, Taraba, Edo, Delta, Ondo and Kogi states.
“We reunited more than 3,000 IDPs with their families, as well as providing IDPs with a capital to start over in life.
“We provided psychosocial support to the IDPs to help them overcome trauma and improve their mental health.
“We empowered women who are now running their businesses successfully.”
The foundation noted that it
embarked on farming activities to cater for the more than 4,393 children and widows in our centre.
“We cultivated pineapple farm of more than 15 hectares and have been able to harvest hundreds of thousands of pineapples as a part of the children’s proper nutrition;
“Additionally, we have farms of altogether more than 70 hectares, where we have been cultivating different crops like cassava, yam, corn, plantain, and all kinds of vegetables
“We provided IDPs with farm lands to generate an income for themselves. They have been planting crops like water melon, com, cucumber, paw paw, among others. We have been rearing cows, goats, chicken and fish.”
The foundation added that it participated in World Menstrual Hygiene Day in 2022 in collaboration with WHO, Edo State Ministry of Health, Loretta Foundation based in UK and Medical Women Association of Nigeria.
“We collaborated with Simeon Pantry Group based in USA to provide hygienic food for the children. We collaborated with Jimmy Carter Foundation based in USA to provide a training on the administration of Mectizan.
“In collaboration with Kitchen That Love Children, based in UK, we provided food stuffs for the children.
“We collaborated with the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development to create awareness about the danger of open defecation.”
The foundation noted that it provided pioneer classes for more than 438 people who didn’t have the privilege of receiving education in the past.
It stated that after teaching them in the pioneer classes, they were able to meet up with primary and secondary school classes and continue their education from there, adding that many of them sat for Primary 6 and JSS 3 exams and passed with good grades;
“We provided primary school education for more than 1,525 children, resulting in 657 pupils sitting for Primary 6 exams. We provided secondary school education for more than 1,721 children, resulting in 714 students sitting for JSS 3 exams.
“We trained and prepared 456 of our children who wrote JAMB, WAEC, NECO and NABTEB, resulting in 137 of them getting admission to study Medicine & Surgery, Nursing, Anatomy and Biochemistry.
“Others are Law, Accounting, Business Administration, Public Administration Engineering, Mass Communication, Philosophy in different universities.”
The foundation said it produced 18 graduates of the following disciplines: Nursing & Midwifery, Chemical Engineering, Law, Pharmacy, Anatomy and Biochemistry.
“Others are Accounting, Public Administration, Computer Science, Health Education,
International Relations & Diplomacy, Mass Communication, Religious Studies
“We collaborated with Wells Mountain Foundation based in USA, Futura Foundation based in Germany, and Community Sport Educational Development (CSED) based in UK to provide scholarships for 21 university students studying Medicine & Surgery, Nursing, Law, Engineering, etc.
“We collaborated with AIESEC based in Canada to provide voluntary teachers for our secondary school. In collaboration with Rural Health Initiative for Improved Living (RHIFIL), we floored seven uncompleted classrooms.”
According to the foundation, we have been offering various sports such as football, volleyball, handball, basketball, netball, badminton, cricket and table tennis to contribute to the children’s physical, psychosocial and mental wellbeing;
“In collaboration with Community Sport Educational Development (CSED), based in UK, the first netball court in Nigeria was set up at our centre, a netball team was trained and coaches were raised who since then have been training others.”
It noted that handball, volleyball and badminton courts were set up, in collaboration with Community Sport Educational Development (CSED), based in UK.
“Basketball court was set up in collaboration with Access2Success based in USA.
“We also collaborated with Nigerian Cricket Federation that trained a cricket team that has been partaking in various competition. We organised sporting events between our school and other schools.”
The foundation stated that it embarked on skills training on fish farming, in collaboration with GIZ based in Germany;
“We established cosmetology, entrepreneurship programme, in collaboration with GIZ based in Germany.
“We established computer training centre, in collaboration with ABIOLA GgmbH based in Germany, as well as
providing catering services, in collaboration with Pathfinders Justice Initiative based in USA.
“We established poultry farming, tailoring shops and plumbing skills.”
Home for the Needy Foundation, which is registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, founded in 1992 to provide care for the poor, the needy, orphans and out of school children. (NAN