Meet Oluwafunmilayo Oni, a social entrepreneur focused on ending poverty among women and girls living in urban slums and disadvantaged communities. She is the Executive Director of Iranwo Foundation and the Programs Coordinator at Kindle Africa. This is her #COVIDPositiveStory;
I was inspired to start the #COVID19 project because of my interactions with people who live in Mushin- a slum in Lagos state, Nigeria. Prior to the lockdown, I tried to hold a sensitization in the community on ways to reduce the transmission of the virus. During the sensitization, I found out that it was almost impossible for people in the community to be socially distant because of the high level of poverty among families. Shortly after this, with the daily marginal increase in new cases in Nigeria, the Federal Government ordered a lockdown in Lagos, Ogun and Abuja to curtail the spread of the pandemic in these epicenters.
While this had good intentions, sadly, it also dealt a fatal blow on the income and survival chances of many women and indigent families in slums and underserved communities in Nigeria; who have to go out to “hustle” every day, in order to provide the most basic necessities for their families.
Read Brian Gabriel’s #COVIDPositiveStory
In the middle of all the fear and panic that came with the lockdown, and while governments on all levels were still planning to set up palliative measures for those most affected by the effects of the lockdown, through my organization (Iranwo Foundation) I partnered with Tawakalit Kareem of The Butterfly Project to raise funds for these low income families.
At present, we have done cash transfers of amounts between ₦5000 (~$13) and ₦20,000 (~$52) [depending on the size of the family] to 154 families in slums and underserved communities in Nigeria especially Makoko, Mushin and Oke-ira. These are some of the stories of our beneficiaries;
Bunmi (not her real name) teaches in a private school in her neighbourhood and her basic salary is ₦12,000 (~$32) monthly. Sadly, she has a child with cerebral palsy and she spends about ₦5000 (~$13) weekly on his healthcare. Senayon (not her real name also) is a cleaner whose basic salary is ₦5000 (~$13) monthly. She has five children and her husband is dead. Adenike (also a pseudonym) is 26 and she has five children. She sells pito (a locally produced juice) to willing patrons in her community and sales are irregular and unpredictable. Misturat (not her real name either) is a laundry woman who knocks on doors asking people if they have clothes for her to wash. She has six children and she cannot feed them without knocking on doors daily.
Read Amrah Aliyu’s #COVIDPositiveStory
With the Relief Fund we gave them, they were to buy enough food to last their household through this lockdown period and do not have to go out, risking being infected, just to get daily sustenance. We hope to continue to raise funds to support identified families in these communities and ensure that, as many low-income families as we can identify, are able to thrive during the #COVID-19 pandemic.
Apart from feeding the families however, we also collaborated with SI4DEV to print posters and banners in the local Yoruba, Egun and Pidgin English languages, to educate these communities on prevention tips for COVID-19. We hope that with these efforts, the people in these communities will take enough preventive measures during this pandemic, as best as they can.
This lockdown exposed the alarming level of poverty in Nigeria, and how unsustainable our current social systems are. When this pandemic is over, the Nigerian government needs to put in place economic measures that will strategically reduce the level of poverty faced by Nigerians and boost the economy from the grassroots.
This Project has also got me inspired by the kindness of people. Even in these long days and with a very high probability of the 14 days lockdown being extended, people are eager and willing to provide support for low-income families through income redistribution. I also see many young people volunteering at hospitals, for food drive, to sensitize communities and this has contributed to my strength.
Since the beginning of the lockdown, I have called for support from my bedroom using my phone and we have been able to raise over #1millon naira in 11 days. This shows that we can provide support and join the fight against #COVID-19 even if we are not health workers. I hope that young people reading this will be encouraged to join the fight against #COVID-19 by using the tools at their disposal.
