HUG Foundation

Interview: November Volunteer of the Month

2021-11-30T00:00:00+00:00

I feel honored to be the volunteer of the month. This is a motivation for me to do better in the things I do.

At HUG, we know that the passion and drive of our volunteers to make society better for all is intrinsically motivated. However, it’s also important to recognize volunteers who have stood out each month.

Zainab Bodude, who has been with us for more than 20 months, is our Volunteer of the Month for November 2021. In the month under review, Zainab demonstrated a willingness to get the work done, a key component of the selection criteria.

In this interview she shares her aspirations and experiences with the organization.

Tell us about yourself. I am Zainab Bodude, a 500-level student at the University of Ibadan, Department of Agronomy. I am passionate about learning.

How long have you been volunteering with HUG Foundation? I have been a volunteer at HUG Foundation for 2 years.

What made you volunteer, and why are you still volunteering? I started volunteering because I realized there are different ways to go about helping others. Volunteering should be continuous; there’s so much to learn, and it can be done within a short time.

Commitment to volunteering has been a wonderful experience. I have been able to work with the team lead and other members on impactful projects, like the Inclusion Project, where children are educated on different aspects of life that help with their growth and development.

What’s your favourite HUG Foundation project? I’ll have to pick two: the Inclusion Project and Awakening Raw Talent.

Who do you enjoy volunteering with? Oladoyin, Tumininu, Waliyah, Seyi and others.

What do you do when you’re not volunteering? Sew sometimes, watch movies, read online, tweet.

You are the volunteer of the month! How does this make you feel? I feel honored to be the volunteer of the month. This is a motivation for me to do better in the things I do.

Congratulations, Zainab.

Interview: Volunteer of the Month

2021-10-31T00:00:00+00:00

At HUG Foundation, we believe it’s important to recognize and applaud consistent and unrelenting dedication.

Laura has been killing it! Laura joined HUG Foundation in 2018 and she has been amazing. After much deliberation based on certain criteria, Laura has been declared volunteer of the month. In this interview, Laura shares her experience as a volunteer at HUG Foundation.

Tell us about yourself. My name is Laura Iyaogeh, a 500-level law student at the University of Ibadan. I am a young and purpose-driven young lady who is determined to make a difference, one step at a time.

How long have you been volunteering with HUG Foundation? I have been a volunteer at HUG Foundation for 3 years.

What made you volunteer, and why are you still volunteering? I have always been passionate about helping people in whatever way I can, but HUG Foundation gave me the right platform to channel this passion.

What drives you to be this outstanding, and have you been able to use your influence positively through HUG? Give us an example. I would not exactly call myself outstanding yet 😅 because I still have a long way to go, but the drive to make a difference is what keeps me going. So far, I believe I have been able to use my role as Team Lead of the HUG Dialogue division, with the help of my amazing team leader, to create a platform where not only volunteers but other young people too can learn and discuss pressing issues in our society today.

Also, as an active member of the Inclusion Project, being able to work with the children has not just helped the kids, it has helped me grow too, in a short time.

What’s your favourite HUG Foundation project? Definitely the Inclusion Project.

Who do you enjoy volunteering with? The wonderful Tumininu, the efficient Waliyah, and my wonderful team members Teni and Ise.

What has been the most challenging aspect of volunteering with HUG Foundation? I would say funding. Most amazing projects don’t reach their full potential due to a lack of adequate funding, and there are so many great project ideas that have not seen the light of day for that reason.

What do you do when you’re not volunteering? When I’m not volunteering I’m focusing on my school work, family, friends, running my business, and most importantly, on myself.

You are the volunteer of the month! How does this make you feel? I am grateful and honoured to have been named volunteer of the month, even though I wasn’t expecting it. As for my commitment to HUG, I intend to keep giving my 100 and 1 percent to every project I’m assigned to.

Congratulations, Laura.

Child Labour: An Introduction

2021-06-16T00:00:00+00:00

If you see evil and you can stop it, but you decide not to, you have become a part of that evil.

Yusuf Akinyemi

Tayo was one of the most brilliant girls at secondary school. On each of her report cards, every teacher would always have something remarkable to say about her. She was an only child, and she made her parents’ life easier by showing them support. But before she could reach adulthood, her parents left the world. Her uncle from the North offered to be her guardian and take care of her.

Her uncle figured he couldn’t cater for her and his six children at the same time. He couldn’t even feed her or send her to school.

His long-time friend had been trying to marry her, but her uncle didn’t give in, at first. Uncle Gideon took a week to think about it and finally gave her hand in marriage to his friend. She was 17, an age where she could have been laying the foundation for the great things she might have achieved in her future.

Over the next several years, she gave birth to four children. She lived her life from hand to mouth. All her dreams were gone. She couldn’t afford to take care of her kids, exposing them in turn to the harsh realities of child labour.

Child labour, according to the International Labour Organization, is work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to their physical and mental development.

Unfortunately, the decision to put a child into labour is usually a “last resort,” made because the guardians feel they don’t have a choice.

According to the story above, one cogent cause was poverty. Statistics have shown that about half of the Nigerian population live under the poverty threshold of $1 a day. There have been efforts to alleviate poverty, but the numbers keep increasing.

The second cause is early marriage, which is what Tayo experienced. And that brings us to the next point: illiteracy. Her uncle could only think to use her as a child labourer or marry her away, since his own lack of education wouldn’t let him see beyond that, to the skills she could have learned instead, just as a boy her age could have.

Low expectations and the death of parents can also play a role. When a child ends up with a guardian or relative rather than a parent, it often doesn’t end well.

What are the consequences?

First, it damages a child’s self-esteem. Tayo’s kids couldn’t afford to go to school while they watched other children wear uniforms and run in at the sound of the school bell.

They’re denied their fundamental human rights (the law states that putting a child through labour is a crime) and are left exposed to manipulation on the street, and vulnerable to social vices such as kidnapping, rape and trafficking.

Health issues follow too: infections and diseases take hold when children can’t take care of themselves.

And the cycle of illiteracy repeats: without a change, they pass the same path on to their own children, who never get to hear anything about education or school.

On the 12th of June, 2021, HUG Foundation hosted a panel discussion to commemorate World Day Against Child Labour. Some of the points established were:

The effects of child labour on psychological health can be long lasting and devastating to a child’s future.
Because the enforcers of Child Rights Law often need to be called on to do their jobs, it falls to individuals and non-governmental organisations to draw the world’s attention when we encounter these cases. If you see evil and you can stop it, but decide not to, you become a part of that evil.
Sensitization about child rights should happen not just for parents and teachers, but for children too.
Most importantly, only by understanding what actually drives child labour in a particular community can we find sustainable solutions.

HUG Foundation joins the rest of the world to stand against child labour.

Odetayo Tomiwa

Dear Parent

2021-04-21T00:00:00+00:00

The period of Early Childhood care and Education is the most essential part of nurturing a child into full adulthood. This crucial period is pertinent to achieving Education for All, a goal that has often been treated as an adult-literacy issue alone. To make education accessible to all, we must start at the early stage, and that involves largely the input of parents, who are the primary caregivers.

UNESCO curated a parenting handbook that covers community parenting, health and nutrition of the child, and even care for the child during pregnancy. The handbook may not be universal because of local laws and cultural differences, but the application of its recommendations is universal, because a child is a child everywhere.

Parenting is the process of raising and educating a child from birth to adulthood. Some rules make that experience more successful:

Don’t clip your child’s wings. Children should be given the opportunity to explore and go beyond extreme monitoring. They should be groomed to be independent, from putting away toys themselves to making first attempts at assignments.
Remember that discipline is not punishment. Discipline means teaching kids how to behave and helping them become competent and in control, not depriving them of their basic needs.
Play with your children. Playing games or having fun with your children makes them feel loved and accepted, and builds a bond with them.
Tell them the truth. You want your kids to be trustworthy and truthful; model that for them.

Show love to your spouse in their presence. When you express love to their mum or dad in front of them, extending it to their own relationships won’t feel strange.
Be positive in words and affirmations. Regular compliments and words of appreciation are very instrumental in motivating children.
Say ‘no’ when necessary. Not every request is right at the time it’s made. Learn to say no when needed, and explain why.
Give yourself a break. It’s not a bad idea to take time off from the stressful duty of parenting. You need to be in the right state of mind to give the best nurturing experience to your children.

This list is non-exhaustive, because every child and every family is different, so choose the ones you can relate to and be a better parent.

Dada Precious Tolulope

Grading in Schools: Instrumental or Detrimental?

2021-04-07T00:00:00+00:00

“Mummy, I’m no more going to Adeayo Model School o!”, Angela complained to her mum as she got up from bed. “Why is that?”, her mum asked. Angela began to relay all the unfair treatment she felt she faced at school. She saw the ‘A, B, C and D’ in front of all her classmates’ names on the notice board as partiality and discrimination. Ever since her best friend, Toyin, stopped associating with her because she always had Grade C, Angela disliked the idea of grading.

Angela is an example of so many students who are unknowingly intimidated by grading and performance levelling in various academic settings. A study looks at the dangers of grading in education and defines it as applying standardized measurements of varying levels of achievement in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters, as a range, as a percentage, or as a number out of a possible total. As good as this system is, it has its unhealthy side, which is very relatable to Angela.

A certain conclusion cannot be easily reached because it has both sides of the coin. Part of its advantage is that it allows for a competitive spirit. Students taking a particular course will feel challenged to do better so as to meet up with other top-flyers. No diligent student wants to be left out of the winning team.

Grading also reduces score pressure. Students know that they are sure of getting an ‘A’ if they score between 90% and 100%. They do not have to worry about getting a particular exact score to earn an ‘A’. This fact alone can be a morale booster for each student.

However, the grading system has its unpleasant effects on students. This is, more often than not, psychological. It de-motivates students who are affected. Angela might have tried her personal best to meet the highest grade and that might not have worked for her, leaving her unwilling to return to school. It could even lead to low self-esteem, making her withdrawn. The fact that her intellect is reduced to a letter indicating hierarchy in grade could be demeaning.

Under-utilization of knowledge and intellectual skill is common among students as a result of the grading system. When a student knows 90% is the start of an ‘A’ grade and has the ability to surpass that score, the urge to try harder disappears because there is no clear distinction of exact scores beyond the threshold. This could also account for complacency in how hard a student pushes themselves.

The idea I propose is the creation of a parents’ portal where qualitative feedback is given to guardians about their wards’ overall performance in school, so comprehensive reports let parents know how to work with their children, rather than reducing everything to a letter.

Dada Precious T.

Covid-19 and Nigeria's Almajiri System

2020-10-01T00:00:00+00:00

Photo: Muhammad Idris Tetengi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

In the age of Covid-19, it is now more important than ever that the children involved are protected at all costs. This is why state governments in Northern Nigeria have banned the Almajiri system, as one of the ways to limit the spread of the virus.

As a non-governmental organisation focused on the needs and well-being of underprivileged children, we call for a permanent ban on the Almajiri system across the whole country, and we will do our best to highlight child abuse and neglect wherever we encounter it.

A recent article talks about how children adjust to life outside the Almajiri system, and how a United Nations agency is helping those children live normal lives after years spent inside it.

Read the full article here.