Ann Nneka Michael, co-founder Feed a Head Foundation tells SAM NWAOKO of their trip to some communities in Ido Local Government Area of Oyo State for charity work.
A group of young people had a perfunctory idea of doing charity work but couldn’t get the idea off the ground as a group. However, prompted by what she said came like a whiff of an idea, Ms Michael Ann Nneka and some of her friends instinctively established ‘Feed a Head Foundation’ and began their charity work. So far, the group has embarked on various humanitarian projects within its economic ability including one at the St. Kizito Clinic at Jakande in Lagos. The outing at St Kizito was a milestone because it coincided with the first anniversary of their humble interventions. The Lagos event held in December last year was tagged “Hospital Outreach” and its target was to clear the hospital bill of as many indigent patients as they could. The group was able to impact over 300 patients and, in addition to the financial support, these beneficiaries received food packs to support their yuletide celebration.
Co-founder of the group, Michael Ann Nneka, said their group had actually not settled for a name yet due to registration logistics, but that while they worked on that, their desire to give would not be dampened. Michael Ann said they still work with “Feed a Head Foundation” and explained that “we are not particular about a set or a group of people unlike some other organisations which may want to deal with specific demography – widows, children, education etc. We just want to impact life irrespective of demography, who you are or where you’re from. Once you qualify for that which we intend to give, you qualify. We want to empower life and enrich future without regard to tribe, gender or age. For example, we have carried out “Feed a Head on the Streets”; “Hospital Outreach” to clear indigent patients’ bills; “Back to School Project” and “Feed a Family” through which we celebrated the first anniversary of the organisation.”
Recently, they went to Ido Local Government and sought permission to visit some schools in the rural areas of the local government with their “Back to School” project. She noted admitted that they might have ran back to town if not for their determination and their conviction that the beneficiary school children had been waiting nearly all school day. “We went to Kusenla, Erinwusi and Ogunlesi-Alaho communities in Ido LGA of Oyo State. These communities are in Ibadan but even though they are in Ibadan and are in the same local government, they are worlds apart in terms of distance!”
Michael Ann went on: “Particularly, the trip to Alaho really tested our patience and commitment. We crossed a lot of hurdles trying to get to the school in that community. So many things happened as we navigated our way to the community but we are thankful to God for the success and to my partner, Mrs. Joan Venny and the vice principal of the school, who met us where our bus had encountered its first problem. He met us on the way, helped push the bus, took our team lead on his motorcycle as an advance delegate and ensured we got to the school eventually.”
According to her, they might have turned back on the way because it felt like they had missed their way and were lost. “The community is so very remote. Funnily, we went blindly. Because of my day job, I could not do a survey or logistic findings before we set out. A member of our volunteer team named Florence went through the process of documentation and local government and Ministry of Education approvals. I think our going there was divinely arranged because if Florence had gone to find out the location of the school, we probably wouldn’t have gone there. It’s that far and we almost didn’t meet anyone on our way. It was a very long journey. We set out from Erinwusi around noon and we didn’t get to Alaho in the same local government in Ibadan until about 4pm.
On how they arrived at the choice of the schools, Ms Michael said “my co-founder and I in agreement with our partners agreed that we wanted to go to rural areas. Since our goal is to empower lives and enrich futures, we felt that schools in the urban areas have some basic amenities. So we wanted to go to places where the gifts and the back-to-school items would truly matter and motivate the beneficiaries to strive higher.” They went to Ido Local Government secretariat and asked for two schools in rural Ibadan. “They gave us those two schools and connected us to their principals. We were, however, warned that our bus might not be able to get to Erinwusi let alone Alaho, and that we might need to hire motorcycles.” However, they could not have been able to convey their gifts on bare motorcycles because of their quantity.
Their odyssey drew a Honestly, I know that the governments at the different tiers are trying their best because I know that it is not easy. As Nigerians, we must not wait for the government to fix everything or do everything for us and that is where we come in as individuals and groups. Good-minded people who have the resources, non-government organisations and well-to-do individuals must rise to support ourselves and the society. Government cannot do everything and we must always contribute our efforts, time and resources to help lift one another.
Their experience accessing the villages and their schools prompted Michael to suggest that the government can fix the roads to those rural communities, because the road to Alaho in Ido LGA is really very bad, it would help boost agriculture and thereby help fight food inflation. The road is simply deplorable and it was a truck that eventually got us to the community. Government can see to the provision of basic amenities in these places starting with a motorable road. It will encourage farmers to go there, farm and supply the towns and cities because they can convey their produce. That’s just one of the many things I think government can do. Then the schools too can do with some basic facilities. One of the reasons we went there was to encourage the students in those schools. Seeing us come from that far to them will speak to their minds to want to do something like that when they become big in the future. They might be motivated to give back to their community and others in the future. We met NYSC corps members in the school, Community High School, Ogundele-Alaho and the principal was fantastic. The hero for us was the vice principal who came on his motorcycle to meet us at the first of the many places where we got stuck on the bad road. These people need encouragement and the children in those areas too need government encouragement. The corps members there will also make do with decent accommodation.
Motivation is one thing, funding of the passion is another. How they are funding their projects posed a question. She said: “In all honesty, it’s been god all the way. Many times, we have been surprised ourselves by what we have been able to do. Doing charity is what I have always wanted to do since a long time ago. It took a life during a youth programme of the South Deanery of the Catholic Archdiocese of Ibadan, where I happened to be the president. We decided on a project to feed people on the streets and that’s where “Feed a Head” came from. Somehow, the youths didn’t come through with the project and I just put it out there on my social media platforms and many people took interest in supporting the idea. It’s not that I have the money but whenever I put it out there that a project is coming up, I receive a lot of support and want to be a part of whatever I do. Interestingly, I’ve been surprised by the level of trust and love people have been giving me. So far, because of the registration issues, I have not been using the organisation’s bank account for the money we use, but even at that people don’t question my character or the intention and the use we have planned to put the money to. I am grateful for that. So, I will say so far money has been coming from my friends, family members and loved ones. I also have my partners/friends because Feed a Head is no longer about me but a group of people who have come together to poll resources together and pursue a common vision of putting smiles on people’s faces. I’m now a co-founder and my partners are Damilola Gbadamosi, Joan Job and Ehi Ozeigbe who is our President and my roommate back in the university. We really thank our president, Ehi Ozeigbe for the last project.”
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