Help a Child: Provide Access to Water in Nigeria

Dear supporters, family and friends of Serendipity,

Schools in Kano resumed today and not much can be said about how schools are handling the protocols to making our children stay safe because they do not have the required resources to ensure that all the protocols are followed through. The local government councils and State governments that are saddled with ensuring that COVID 19 relief materials are in place in our schools have done only a quarter of distribution of temperature test kit, Face masks, hand sanitizers and WASH materials.

In line with our #StaySafe campaign to ensure our children are safe as they return to school, from Gadan Tudun Fulani in our last visit to schools we went to Government Girls Secondary School, Minjibir Zone in the same Ungogo Local Governing Council in Kano.

Our findings showed that the school had nothing in place in terms of keeping the girls safe as they resumed school thus we distributed temperature test kits, WASH materials, Water points, Face Masks, hand sanitizers and the girls were also taught how to wash their hands properly and how to wear face masks properly.

Further findings revealed that the school also is lacking in toilets and classrooms for the students with a population of 2000 students and staff strength of 15. The toilets are in a bad shape and the classrooms are just four in number and the girls are cramped up in these classes leaving them exposed.

A call to action to invest in the provision of WASH points, WASH items, Hand Sanitizers, face masks and toilets for this school and other schools as it cuts across most of our schools in rural communities and with your continued support we can do much more for our communities.

Thank you for your continued trust in us to make a change in our communities and making better lives.

Best Regards,

Samirah Faruk

Links:

• Adopt a school programme to stay safe
• One of our beneficiary saying it as it is
• Adopt a school

Dear supporters, family and friends of Serendipity,

Living life in the “New Normal” can be difficult when states are not ready to curtail a second wave of the COVID 19 outbreak if it occurs. It is thus of utmost importance that measures are put in place to help protect community members. The pandemic has affected several aspects of our lives and education of our children is one of them as a break in learning has impacted heavily upon the child which has been occasioned with the pandemic. Now with the reopening of our schools, it is of utmost importance to STAY SAFE as Water and Hygiene facilities are a crucial and critical part of schools reopening.

Prior to the coming of the pandemic, one of Serendipity’s key goals is to ensure that our communities and children are not vulnerable to water borne diseases; and thus embarked upon School WASH Programmes in seven schools where we distributed WASH materials, hand washing points and taught over 200 children in primary, junior high and senior high in four local governing councils in Kano on the benefits of good hand washing practices in preventing them from falling ill, being vulnerable to water related ailments. School WASH Clubs were formed that will monitor the students adhering to what they were taught as well as exciting programmes to keep them engaged. Progress reports and feedback showed that the children have been practicing what they were taught with the percentage of absence from school dropping from 50% to 20%.

With the coming of COVID 19 we have intensified our efforts in our #StaySafe Campaign teaching school age children on good hand washing and hygiene practices, provision of WASH materials and donation of palliatives in the form of crates of eggs to boost their immunity. Our campaign took us to Hamza Primary and Secondary School in Sabowar Gadan where twenty children were taught on good hand washing practices, respiratory etiquettes (such as coughing and sneezing into the elbow or into a tissue and disposed away)  how to properly wear a mask with its usage and physical distances measures.  

A call to action to invest in the provision of WASH points, WASH items, Hand Sanitizers, face masks and palliatives such as crates of eggs to boost their immunity is needed and with your support we can do more.

Thank you for your continued trust in us to make a change in our communities and making better lives.

Best Regards,

Samirah Faruk

Links:

• Living with the new normal
• living with the new normal
• Tweet post on staying safe