The Makoko series : Giving back.

Hey guys! This is a long overdue post. Remember The Sleeves Rolled Up Initiative (SRU) from HERE.  Well SRU Initiative in conjunction with Africa Reeds, embarked on another mission to Whanyinna Nursery & Primary School, Makoko on the 17th of March.

Makoko, popularly referred to as the ‘Venice of Africa’ is a vast slum located on the water front of Ebute Meta. Whanyinna Nursery and Primary School is the only (no mistake here, i mean only) school in the area. It is divided into two sections by water. The only means of transport possible is by canoe.

It was an enlightening experience for me. It was my first time on a canoe so I was excited and scared at the same time. After about 20 minutes of paddling, the first section of Whanyinna Nursery and Primary School stood not so tall on the waterfront of Makoko. I was definitely happy to be back on somewhat dry land again.
This section had just four(4) classrooms, that is, one for each class.

We went with over a 100 textbooks in varying subjects in each level for the students and a mini library.

We spoke to them in their various classes and encouraged them to keep studying, emphasizing that knowledge is power. The students were ambitious, which impressed me. Many wanted to be lawyers, some doctors, teachers, accountants, footballers and so on. We conducted quiz competitions for them and the winners were given special gifts.

Before leaving, we met two extremely talented young boys. They wanted to be artists. The first boy showed us his drawing book, pictures from which you will see below. The second boy said he didn’t bring his drawing book but was willing to do a live sketch for us. It was breathtaking. He drew a shoe in a little over 5 minutes. These boys made me believe in Nigeria again. There is so much talent in this nation that just needs to be harnessed. Regardless of our present state, they gave me new hope for this country. Hope is definitely not lost.

We then proceeded to take pictures with the students and a few of their teachers.

I had an amazing time with the primary 1-4 pupils but it was time to go towards the second section of the school. This section is popularly known as Makoko Floating School ( yes people it is literally floating on water). This part of the school contains primary 5&6 in a single classroom facing opposite sides. The primary 5 students were writing a test so we didn’t interrupt. I spotted Steven from the post  HERE . Francis wasn’t in school that day. I finally met future lawyer Emmanuel. He was very active and answered most of our questions. We spoke to them, encouraged them also, then took pictures.

 

Steven

Emmanuel

Yimika teaching the primary 6 students.

On our way back I decided to play tourist and photographer and I got some amazing shots.

This experience taught me that first of all I need to be more grateful. Sometimes, I complain about my life and not having it all but I’m definitely having it better than some other people. God made it so and I’m grateful to him.

I also learned that you don’t have to wait till you have millions before you can help the less privileged. In whatever little capacity, you can, whenever the opportunity presents itself, make a conscious effort to help. A true millionaire is not one with a million naira but one who has touched a million lives. It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate, just look around you, there’s always someone who could use a helping hand.

It was definitely a great experience. Once again, I’m grateful to God for the opportunity to put a smile on the faces of those young children. I’m also grateful to Toritse of Sleeves Rolled Up and Ebi of Africareeds for the privilege to be a part of this beautiful cause. Can’t wait for the next phase, watch this space for more information.

In the words of Winston Churchill, “we make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

Be a part of this culture shift, follow our official instagram page @sru_initiative. You can also follow @africareeds on instagram or visit africareeds.com to buy your books at affordable prices.

P.S notice the face lift on ze blog? Wait, how could you not notice! Like it? Would love to hear your thoughts. Be sure to leave a comment below.

Love & Learn,

BASE.

The Makoko series : We all need love

Hi guys 🙋 I’m really excited about writing this post cos it’s about something very dear to my heart.

The SRU initiative, short for Sleeves Rolled Up, is an initiative born out of the need to stop the younger generation from making some of the mistakes the older generation made in ensuring that we become more sensitive to the conditions the less fortunate suffer from the society, the less fortunate suffer from some sense of neglect which encourages them to do things that hinder our development as a nation. They believe in the possibility of a knowledge based society where people put the interest of others before theirs.
In achieving this, they set out in October of this year, to Whanyinna Nursery and Primary School, Makoko to embark on the first phase of the project.
In partnership with Africa reeds, textbooks were made available by the SRU committee, to the students and every member interacted with them. An essay competition was also organized for the students in which 3 brilliant boys were picked as winners. Sounds like something you’d have loved to be part of, right? Me too! I couldn’t go because I had exams that period but you can read more about it on https://demiladeayo.wordpress.com/2015/10/24/to-be-thankful/

L-R Wale, Andrew, Toritse, Mr Tunde, Deayo, Mr Afolabi, Me, Ebi and the children

In a bid to further promote academic excellence and the reading culture among young children, the initiative organised a day to further educate and interact with this winning kids. On the 24th of December the SRU team consisting of 6 people Toritse, Ebi, Deayo, Andrew, Wale and myself went to pick the winners from Makoko alongside their chaperon, Mr Afolabi.

L-R Steven and Francis

Sorry guys, my own story is about to start 😂😂
I had heard so much about the winners and I was curious to meet Emmanuel, one of the boys who wanted to be a lawyer. Unfortunately, Emmanuel had travelled with his family for the Christmas holiday the previous day. However, I still got to meet Francis, who wants to be a teacher and Steven, who wants a medical doctor. The boys were given SRU sweatshirts to change into and for their keeps. Immediately Deayo and I started interacting with them, we found out that they had just seen their results from school. Steven came 1st, Emmanuel 2nd and Francis had come 3rd. I was so glad to see such smart boys and I was eager for them to experience something they had never done in their lives.

We headed to the National Museum, Onikan. When we got there, I was surprised as to how deserted the place was on a public holiday in contrast with city mall which is directly beside museum. I remember visiting the museum in my primary school days. It cost us 200 per adult and 100 per child to get into the museum and i wondered why more people weren’t around since it was so affordable. We had a tour guide who took all of us around the museum and carefully explained each detail of the museum to us.

The tour was divided into two parts : Nigeria, life and culture as well as Nigeria, government and past leaders. For the 1st part, we went through birth rites, fertility gods, rulers, festivals, lifestyle, among the various ethnic groups in Nigeria.
Some of the items that stood out for me were the royal chair of oba ereduwa of Benin (I had read something on him in a sociology at school), the actual ifa bead, masquerade regalia of the urhobo people, differences in hut arrangements among the 3 major tribes, one of sango’s axes and many more stuff I can’t remember at this moment. Would’ve recorded the whole process but cameras aren’t allowed into the museum (so sad ☹ ).

We had to move to another part of the museum for the second part of the tour. On our walk there, i asked Steven if he was enjoying himself even though I could tell from the bright smile on his face, he nodded “yes” in confirmation. I asked what he was going to tell his class mates when he got back to school and he said “i will tell them that all the things we use to watch on tv, i saw them real”. I couldn’t help but smile at this point. I knew the children were probably not going to remember most of what they had seen but they were also never going to forget this experience.
The children got to see all nigeria’s leaders right from the pre-colonial era till date. Toritse specifically pointed out to the them, the two pictures of Obasanjo and Buhari and explained that Obasanjo had ruled Nigeria twice and Buhari was ruling for the second time.

Deayo made them learn the names of the current president, his vice, the senate president and the speaker of the house. We all got to see the car in which the Muritala Mohammed was killed, the numerous bullet holes and shattered glasses. There were still blood stains (of course dried) on the ‘ceiling’ of the car. I was surprised to know that the car still runs and had been taken for a spin around the compound a week ago. We were also shown the original tires the car had come which were also destroyed by bullet holes. The children looked very fascinated and Mr Afolabi explained further to them who Muritala was.

When the tour was over, we gathered for pictures in front of the museum and took drinks we had bought before going in.

We were all tired but the day wasn’t over yet, we went to freedom park which is on the same road. I found out that Freedom park is the location of the old ikoyi prison. The gate fees were the same with that of the museum. I had been there sometime in August for the first time with some friends for a meeting. Everyone voted me as tour guide which was funny but it wasn’t so hard sha cos the park is pretty straight forward. We saw some places which were marked as old prison cells, some sculptures that showed some things we had actually just seen at the museum.

Mr Afolabi helped explain to the children as we walked around. We ended up at the food court where we ordered some food.

The food took forever to be ready but when it finally arrived, we were all glad. Much to our amazement, the boys took spoons and put them in one plate and were ready to eat from the same plate until they were made to understand they had separate plates of food, we all smiled and they smiled back. After eating, we were supposed to take more pictures but everyone was too tired. We got into the cars and headed back to Makoko. The kids weren’t in the car I was in so I couldn’t interact with them further. When they came down from Toritse’s car, they turned to us, with bright smiles on their faces as they waved good bye. The smiles on their faces were absolutely priceless.

I was and still am grateful to God for the opportunity to put a smile on their faces and encourage them to keep doing excellently in school. Stage two of the SRU x Makoko floating school project. Check! Can’t wait for stage 3, watch this space for more information.

Before I stop typing, permit me to quote a part of the SRU vision statement, “SRU is a vehicle for that culture shift, we are aware that it’s not great individuals that make for a great nation, it’s a great people. At the end of the day, as in the words of a great pop culture icon, we all need love”. I just want to encourage everyone to show love to the less privileged kids. It doesn’t have to be as elaborate as going to an orphanage, you could just do something fun for the kids in your neighborhood (SRU started with organising a film show for a couple of kids in my area). Spread the love! Make someone smile this season. Off to go and reflect on the year that has been. A bientôt!
Warm regards,
Besidone.