PROJECT_INSPIRE: Can we meet you?
Christine:My name is Christine Vihishima. I am a Nigerian from Benue State. I am 26-years-old and currently a final year law student at the American University of Nigeria, Yola. I am deeply committed to community service, youth coaching/mentoring, quality and equitable access to education and entrepreneurship.
PROJECT_INSPIRE: Tell us about your childhood?
Christine :I am an only child but grew up in the company of many other children due to my parents’ love for others. Both of my parents raised me to be assertive, independent, hardworking and ever ready to serve others and this has shaped my life as an adult. My parents also raised me in the Christian way and so my faith is a huge part of everything that I do.
PROJECT_INSPIRE: What is your educational background like?
Christine :My mother is an educator and so this gave me the opportunity to learn under her. I was privileged to attend her school for my entire primary school days. I attended a few other schools in my high school days but I was homeschooled during the latter part of my secondary school education. I had my primary school education at Little Lambs School Jos before proceeding to Shekinah Glory International Christian Academy and later Faith Christian Academy. I was homes schooled from 10th grade(SS1) till 12th grade(SS3). I got access to the best education which was wholistic in nature and gave me a balance in all areas of my life. I learned not just how to make a living, but how to live. I am currently rounding off my law degree at the university.
PROJECT_INSPIRE: What contribution are you giving to make Nigeria a better place?
Christine :I am the Executive Director of Thinking Cap Literacy Initiative and the founder of For Community By Community;both non-profit organizations that are committed to community development. I started the former in the year 2012, when I was about to graduate from secondary school and I started it because I wanted to play an active role in solving the problem of illiteracy among Nigerian children especially in the northern part of the country. The latter organization was founded in 2021, with an aim to engage in meaningful community service activities for our community, whilst building a community of community leaders, problem solvers and change makers in the process. On my university Campus, I have been heavily involved with the Community Service Office on campus and have been involved in teaching the local Hausa women in Yola how to read and write English under the platform the community service office provides. I have done this for over 6 semesters now. I currently work at the office now and this has increased my involvement in its activities on and off campus. I have sponsored for two years the education of 5 orphan girls in the Government Girls Secondary School in Yola. In 2019, I teamed up with three friends in September, and the number has moved to 55.
PROJECT_INSPIRE: What have your achievements been?
Christine:The goal of Thinking Cap Literacy Initiative is to roll back illiteracy using creative methods such as spelling bees, reading clinics, mobile libraries, writing workshops, chess and scrabble programs, scholarship schemes and working with Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) as well. We have presence in four states in Nigeria (Plateau, Kaduna, Bauchi and Adamawa) and have reached an estimated number of about 2,000 children since we began activities in 2012. To further tackle illiteracy and encourage healthy reading habits, we pioneered our Portable Library Project in December, 2019 at an IDP camp in Daudu, Benue state where we provided a moveable library with wheels, stocked with 190+ books and learning resources for the children at the IDP Camp. It is under the supervision of a teacher on the camp who is also an IDP.
In order to tackle the issue of poor menstrual hygiene management among underprivileged Nigerian girls who have little or no access to sanitary pads and other materials, I pioneered the PERIOD CARE PACK FOR SCHOOL GIRLS CAMPAIGN in Yola, which is aimed at equipping underprivileged school girls with menstrual hygiene management knowledge and also menstrual materials as well. The sole purpose of this is to keep them in school because many of them miss out on school for days every month because of poor access to sanitary pads during their period. We reached 680 girls between May and December, 2019 alone.
The FEET FOR SCHOOL campaign was launched in December 2018, after I saw that a lot of the children at the school where I tutor the Hausa women came to school either bare foot or on slippers. Most of them trekked to school and back home to top it off. This pushed me to do something and led to fundraising and donation of 95 pairs of sandals to the children. The campaign continues and will now provide handcrafted, leather shoes and sneakers to underprivileged children in public schools, rural areas and Internally Displaced People’s Camps.
In April, 2020, at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, I kicked off the #COVID19FoodDriveJos intervention which was a food drive aimed at providing needy families in Jos, Plateau State with food packages during the lockdown period of the pandemic. We raised funds using social media and fed a total of about 650 families during the first 8 weeks of the intervention which where the most crucial periods of the lockdown. The intervention continued and by December, 2020, we had fed over 950 families. Each family had an average number of four members. Our beneficiaries were widows, single parents, teenage mothers, students and corps members who were stranded and away from their families, people living with disabilities and those whose livelihoods were negatively affected by the pandemic. I was a recipient of the
“COVID 19 RESPONSE HERO” Award at the Plateau Man of the Year Awards in February, 2021 as a result of this intervention.
In January 2021, with support from partners, a follow up visit was done to 15 widows who had benefitted from the food drive in 2020. They were each gifted with wrapper bundles and a cash support to kick start the new year.
On March 13, 2021, For Community By Community in collaboration with Thinking Cap Literacy Initiative and ECWA Seminary Church Youth Ministry, undertook a community clean up exercise of the Jos Zaria Road Cemetry which had been in a dilapidated state for years. The project is a continuous one and this is just the first phase.
PROJECT_INSPIRE: What is the motivation behind what you are doing?
Christine :I was and still remain motivated by a deep sense of responsibility to my community. When I see a problem, my first instinct is to think of a solution. I do not waste time looking for who to blame; rather, I think of how I can be solution and I act on it. I may not be able to solve the entire problem, but I can at least do something to make it better. Imagine if we all took responsibility for our small corners; Nigeria would be better than it is currently.
PROJECT_INSPIRE: What has been your major challenge since you began your nonprofit organizations?
Christine :Two main challenges that I have faced especially in the community work I do is the challenge of getting people to believe in the vision of community service and the second one is funding. Because community service is heavily dependent on volunteering, it is not often easy to find people who are willing to make such great sacrifices, for free. Many times, the workload on me could be enormous, but I am glad to see that many young people are beginning to grasp the idea of service to community and are showing up to serve. Secondly, because the work that I do is non-profit, funding is often a challenge and I have had to fund projects several times with my personal money. However, the work that I do is also a “walk of faith” and God has always made provision available for His work.
PROJECT_INSPIRE: Many young people have great ideas but the finances are always a stumbling block ,what will your advice be in this regard?
Christine :My advice would be to diversify your streams of income. Relying on one source of income is a risky way to live for starters. Your dream will not fund itself and so it is important that you engage in meaningful work so that you can finance your dreams. Many young people just sit down and dream; they do not take action. For example, a lot of my community work is funded by some part of the profit from my small businesses. This is the sacrifice that I am willing to make so my dreams do not die. You must believe so much in your idea that you are willing to toil in order to fund it. Secondly, another way to raise finance is to ask others; family, friends, donors etc. In order to be successful at this, you must be able to pitch your idea in such a way that it captures the attention of your potential donor and moves them to give towards your idea.
PROJECT_INSPIRE: How has the reaction of people especially fellow young people been like when they see you doing what you do and how have you always responded to them?
Christine :The initial reaction I get from other young people who hear about the work I do is shock. So many of them are shocked that at my age especially, I have been able to accomplish so much. Another reaction I get is that of great admiration and awe because of how inspiring they consider me to be. For me, whether shock, admiration or awe, it always just very humbling to be held in such high esteem by others and my response is gratitude, after which I proceed to challenge them to make a difference as well because the world needs many of my kind.
PROJECT_INSPIRE: How have you been able to raise money for your projects?
Christine :I have been able to leverage social media for fundraising. Social innovators should not neglect social media. It is important to be able to pitch your idea in such a way that it captures the attention of others and drives them to take action and give to your idea. Each time I need to raise money for projects, I make sure that there is a story to tell, because stories are a powerful tool in fundraising.
PROJECT_INSPIRE:
What do you think has been the major cause of unemployment among youths today and how can we get of this?
Christine :Yes, the government has its own role to play in the matter of the alarming rates of unemployment among the youth today, however, the youth need to stop blaming the government and create a system for themselves. Entrepreneurship is one great way to solve the problem of unemployment and young people can leverage on this because entrepreneurship is about solving problems and there will always be a problem to solve if we look around us keenly. The solution lies in our hands!
PROJECT_INSPIRE:What would you say is the major role of youths in our national development process?
Christine :The youth have a very important role to play in our national development process. Our role is to take action. We have the physical strength and the mental capacity to bring about phenomenal change to our nation. Rather than sitting down and grumbling about a failed system, how about we challenge the status quo and champion the cause for change? We have the gift of an opportunity to etch our names in the sands of time forever.
PROJECT_INSPIRE: What are your prospects for the next 5- 10?
Christine :In the next 5-10 years, I desire to raise more community leaders like myself who are sold out to community service and credible leadership. Mentorship is very important to achieve this and I hope to mentor as many young people as I can who will rise up and take the center stage in bringing about change in their communities and the country at large.
I also desire to implement more sustainable community service projects in my local community and beyond. I may consider running for public office within this period.
PROJECT_INSPIRE:Final words to the Nigerian youth.
Christine :Enough of playing the blame game. You too can do something to fix the problems around you. From your small corner, you can make a big difference!
PROJECT_INSPIRE: Thank you for sharing your story with us and we do pray that many will be inspired as they read.
Christine : Thank you for the opportunity.
If you are a changemaker and you would love us to tell your story, kindly reach/follo Busaosowo Foundation on:
+2347047429329
This is really interesting 💯💯👏👏👏
ReplyDeleteFantastic! I picked this "From your small corner, you can make a difference"
ReplyDelete