‘Children need education, not food alone’
Jodie Frank is the president of Jacco’s Charity International, a non-governmental organisation founded to serve humanity and reduce poverty. In this interview she speaks on the need to educate children as a means to empower them for the challenges ahead r
When did Jacco’s Charity International come into existence and what does it do?
We have been in existence since the 3rd of March 2012. What we specialise in is community services, helping children within the local communities get back on their feet. We also give relief materials, mosquito nets and blankets, when the need arises, especially during medical outreach programmes. One of our pivotal projects is the back to school programmes, which is close to our mandate.
With the spate of insurgencies in parts of the country, we decided to move our focus to the northeast, and so we are trying to partner with the office of the chief of staff to help children in the north-east, and introduce the back to school programmes there.
With the rate of devastation in the north-east, we know that there are a lot of underprivileged children who are not in school, and we are hoping that through that medium they will get the opportunity to go to school. It is said that knowledge is power, and we want to empower them the only way we can.
One of our mandates is to reduce the level of poverty in the country, which is rather on the high side especially in the northern region. I want to use this medium to call on well-meaning Nigerians to come out in their numbers and support these kids in this region, because a lot of children are really suffering down here.
Some children in the region are without clothes; some have no shoes. They have no food to eat not to talk of when their next meal will come.
Basically I wanted to celebrate my birthday with the children in the local communities, I wanted to identify with the orphans, and show them some love, and support them in any way I can, in whatever capacity I could. I just want to give out. I thank God for adding another year to my life, and am grateful.
Tell us foundation?
The centre
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in Africa, to help African children and give them support. We have an office in Abuja, at Supreme Plaza in Garki and also a branch in the USA. We have touched about 100,000 children across Africa, and we have touched the lives of over 1500 children in Nigeria, and we are still hoping to make an impact with our work.
What areas of humanitarian work do you focus on?
We have worked in Lungu community, a suburb in the FCT, and in Mpape, Karisana 1&2, and Kadokuchi community. We are now doing a project for Rivers State, which is an economic empowerment programme for women and youths. We have gotten in touch with the River’s State government and right now we are making plans to go there. We are hoping that a lot of women and children would benefit from this project.
How do you fund your activities?
We have international donors and agencies, and also have sponsors who have been giving us some support. Once we come up with a project and they believe in it they come out and support it. Though the 1500 children we have touched is quite a small number when you are looking at the entire population of Nigeria, we are doing the best. We are calling on other humanitarian agencies like ours to come out and keep up the good work.
Tell us about the back to school project you are working on?
We are sponsoring about 280 children at the moment in the FCT; we have their biodata - names, ages everything to help the kids.
In the course of your work, have you encountered any challenges frustrating the survival and development of children?
The main problem of the Nigerian child is lack of care and support, because most of them are orphans and so don’t have anyone to take care of them. Most of them end up on the streets, and 65% of these children are females and you can imagine what they go through, such as molestation, rape, assault and others.
I have visited the IGP, Idris Ibrahim, and we talked about partnering with the police force to secure the children in the local regions, especially the girl- child, women and children.
Any challenges that are threatening to deter you?
Though we have been in existence since 2012, I have been single-handedly helping out these children before we started getting donors and sponsors. But now I have realized that the work is enormous and need to call on international organisations to come and help, because we cannot do it alone. We need help, we have written to other agencies, ministries and hopefully they will partner with us.
Any strategy, plan yet to be executed?
We are targeting about another 1500 children to benefit from the project in the FCT, and we have another project with the Kogi State government.
We intend to educate them, teach them to fish instead of giving them fish, and education is the best option, which can empower them to take care of themselves, and become better citizens of this country. It has not been easy, sometimes I am just want to give up, but my passion and desire to help these women, youths and children keeps me going on.
Sometimes you get depressed, when you don’t get those resources to carry on the work, and we start running helter skelter to reach our targets.