Help a Child: Provide Access to Water in Nigeria

Dear Supporters, friends and Family of Serendipity Healthcare Foundation,

In tribute to our campaign for this years World Water Day theme; Human Right to Water and ensuring that our State government fulfills its promise; we embarked on a training for the women of Amarzaya, Gadan Tudun Fulani where even our elderly mothers were not left out on the training on water management and informing them of their right to secure clean drinking water from their local government council and also a discussion with the chairman on how far they had gone in keeping to their promise.

Hajia Dije a widow told us in our feedback report and I quote verbatim in the local Hausa language; "Ai ni ban taba tsamani cewa ruwa tsaftacewa dole karamar hukuma ce za su ba mu ba, amma yanzu na sani". (Transalation - I never knew that providing water for us in our community is our right but now I know).

Water Jugs were then distributed to the women where they were taught on keeping these jugs clean at all times; how to filter their drinking water using water guard and general hygiene practices 

We then proceeded to the local government council where we had a discuss on the promise they made with our organisation a year ago on fulfilling the basic human right to water in rural communities.

However, we need your support to do more trainings, give water filtration (water guard), water containers to these women as survey we carried out shows that out of 15 households only 5 households have separate drinking jugs from the ones they use for other purposes and thus calling upon you especially on the 13th of May (bonus day) to donate to our cause as GlobalGiving will match any funds up to $1,000 that is you can donate any funds between $25 up to $1000 and get it matched guaranteed just click on our project and support our work on 13th of May.

For more information your can like our facebook/serenhealthcare, follow us on twitter serendipityHea1 or visit our website on www.serendipityhealthcare.org

Ever Yours,

Samirah Faruk

Project Leader

Links:

• Training Day

Dear supporters, friends and family of Serendipity,

Like we said in our previous report on how Taiba's life has changed so also we would talk about what the women of Gadan are doing to change their lives and stop poverty. We have excerpts of stories of what four women are doing to change their lives and the lives of other women in the community.

Hafsat is a mother of five children who with Maimuna, Ayeshetu and Hauwa took it upon themselves to form an association where all four of them are training women on water filtration using moringa seeds since being trained, collecting 100naira contribution from community members to purchase wash materials to give to widows, orphans and vulnerable children in their community. Because of transparency and accountability, they called upon us to help them in the distribution of the wash materials in order to show fairness at the local health centre. Hafsat coordinates the activities of the association they have formed while Maimuna and Ayeshetu run the trainings and Hauwa keeps the finances. 

Hauwau on her own part is learning how to write so she can put down the names of the contributors; a task she says and quotes in Hausa Language translated; "Today, see me keeping monies from people and learning how to write, I never would have dreamed of doing this and I thank Almighty Allah for making this possible".

As a follow up to this laudable feat that these women have done; we took a survey of how the women have responded so far to all the trainings conducted if there was a positive behaiviour change to which we are pleased to say that though the change is gradual but there is a very good improvement to their hygiene practices. 

However, we will continue with our line of trainings as well as provision of water kegs, water purifers and we request you to bring us up in your conversations, tell your family and friends about us, help us in anyway you can to improve our work and make our organisation grow.

Please free free to connect with us at LinkedIn/serendipityhealthcare; like our facebook page facebook/serenhealthcare, follow us @serendipityHea1

Warm Regards,

Samirah Faruk

Project Leader

Links:

• Helping communities

• M&E on Gadan women thus far (PDF)