By Victoria Umahi | Lead, Research and Development
INTRODUCTION
This is a report of Tabitha Home projects for the first half of the year 2023. The achievements are as a result of your input as a donor, advocate and partner of Tabitha Home.
Tabitha Home works in three major strategic priorities of Child Development, Social Integration and sustainable entrepreneurship. Our approaches are group and individual therapies, Art and Craft Training, project and programmes, in-house projects and 6+ supports (Nutrition, Shelter, Education, medical, psychosocial and rehabilitation).
GENERAL UPDATE
8 Tabitha Home teenagers in the month of May 2023, wrote the 2023 Joint Admission Matriculation Board Examination (JAMB) which is a university entrance examination in Nigeria. The teenagers who are all in year 3 of their Senior Secondary School (science, commercial and art classes) came out with aggregative of 301, 255, 242, 242, 238, 210 and 197 respectively.
Furthermore, since January 2023, the children have active engagement in their education; this includes school activities, extracurricular activities as well as in house prep and tutorials. Tabitha Home has 6 of its children in the University, 18 in Senior Secondary School, 10 in Junior Secondary School, 16 in primary and nursery school. All the children are on the promotion term, hoping to go onto the next class.
In commemoration of International day of Zero Tolerance of Female Genital Mutilation, Tabitha Home team visited IMG Grammar School, Oke Ado, Ibadan to educate the students on the dangers of FGM and how to advocate against it. The theme for this year FGM is Partnering with Men and Boys to stop Female genital mutilation.
Tabitha Home partnered with Help Initiative and International Girls Right and Health Development (IGRHD) in a school advocacy for A Pad A Girl Project which was inspired by the FGM advocacy to support healthy menstruation cycle, personal hygiene and sexual reproductive health of girls in school. The project focused on junior secondary school girls of St Anne’s School and Queens School Ibadan. The project which reached out to 1189 female students was designed with the intent of participatory approach; engaging the girls on role play, discussion group session and Q&A session. The schools were presented with sanitary towels.
The Day of The African Child
In commemoration of the day of the African Child, Tabitha Home children were shared in groups of Spoken Word poetry, Drama Skit with the theme of Cultural Presentation. Also, for African Art Presentation, they were in the 3 groups respresenting Right to Education, Right to Digital Access and Right to Online Safety respectively.
April 2023 marked the first year the home moved to her permanent building. It was a Day of celebration as the residents and staff members were grateful for the contribution of all partners, donors and advocates who made it possible. We appreciate you all!
7 of our beneficiaries participated in the debate competition organised by Outpour of Fragrance. The first and 3rd position was taken by Tabitha Home children. However, all other participants were also sponsored for 2023 Joint Admission Matriculation Board Examination (JAMB).
In commemoration of the Nigerian Children’s Day celebration, the home had an in house party to celebrate the children’s day. It was also an opportunity to further foster a sense of excitement and friendly competition as the children engaged actively in several games and competitions. They were also treated to party packs which were in courtesy of a partner.
Also, JD Frank Studio’s team organised an individual and family photo shoot session for the children. The goal of the photo shoot session was to help the children keep beautiful memories of the moment.
Furthermore, the children got free tickets to the Vintage FM children’s day party and were treated to a day of fun with exciting activities, party packs and games.
The home is currently fundraising for the purchase of a Bus. This bus will help facilitate easy and convenient transportation to school, medical care and social integration activities. The fundraising target is N10,000,000.00(ten million naira) and the total sum of N1,800,000.00 (one million, eight hundred thousand naira) has been raised so far.
IN HOUSE PROJECTS
The In House projects which are designed for residential aims to hone the social, critical thinking, communication, creativity and leadership skills. These in house projects are Pep Talk, Kids Club, Reading Culture and Pass It On. For each of these activities, the children come up with presentations on how best they understand the assigned topics.
For the first half of the year, the children focused on the book “Leadership Gold” by Norman Vincent Peale. This weekly book club session is being run by the children and supervised by the team. The club is designed to engage the children in drama, poem, songs and debate as an engaging way to express the information gotten from the book read.
With focus on the themes of the month, the children engage in kids club which is a social and educational activity where they are given different fun tasks independently and as a team to express their understanding of the topics.
This leadership and peer learning programme takes place as a daily living activity in the home. This has enabled the children to mentor themselves and teach each other in sustaining art and culture and educationasl support as well.
In the course of the midterm holidays, a volunteer came in to take the piano and singing classes for the children. The children showed so much enthusiasm in the training and presently, most of time can play beginner’s level piano. As the summer holiday resumes next week, this form of activity is expected.
UPCOMING EVENT
Tabitha Home is excited to announce that Girls Tech project 1.3 would take place this summer, August, 2023. The project which is a participatory intervention towards Digital Gender Divide started in 2021 with the intent of taking 24 girls within the ages of 10 to 22 from 3 selected care homes on an ICT RoadMap. This year, the girls would be commencing the intermediate level.
CONCLUSION
Tabitha Home continues to stay committed to providing underprivileged children with tools and opportunities for a desirable life and a sustainable future. In this regard, we appreciate our donors, advocates and partnership who are always ready to ensure that the vision comes alive.
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