Adeola Adeyemo
In a rural community in Kano state, Amina Danyaro, 27, and other members of Help The North charity organization distribute clothing and food items to the less privileged people. Loaded with supplies they have gathered from donations to their charity organization based in the UK, their actions quickly attract many people in the community who throng the distribution venue.
As the crowds soar, it begins to turn unruly as elderly people are being pushed and some people begin to fight each other for supplies.
“We encountered a few greedy people out there,” Amina says about the day’s distribution exercise. “Maybe I shouldn’t blame them, but they returned several times to collect almost triple the number of supplies others were getting. We had to stop distribution and leave immediately. It was not a very pretty sight and as much as I’d like to, it’s sad that there is nothing much I can do to address the issue of greed in the future.”
In a society where insecurity, poverty, and lack is the order of the day, Amina and her team are bringing hope and succor through the charity organization.
Help The North is an organization solely focused on raising funds and awareness to support the poor and underprivileged families in several parts of Northern Nigeria. Although born in Kano, Amina moved to the UK with her family as a young girl and has lived most of her life there. She was inspired to establish the organization after visiting home and seeing the significant difference in living standards.
Initially, she intended to only start a clothing charity based in the UK, she says. This is because she saw an opportunity to send back items of clothing and other possessions no longer need as well as raise funds to cargo these items back. But the scope of the organization has since moved from a clothing charity to a social and wellbeing charity after successful campaigns and fundraising events. The organization quickly gained interest from the small community of Northerners in the UK as well as charitable people looking to help from other communities. “We organize picnics, games days, Iftars (breaking of fasting during Ramadan), we sell t-shirts, calendars, mugs, pens and so on,” Amina says about raising funds for the organization. “We get involved in fairs and other events that allow us to campaign for the charity, as well as word-of-mouth. These funds have been used to buy food supplies which are being distributed to those who need them.”
Like many others, Amina has faced some challenges in running the organization but so far, she says the journey has been good. “There have been a few ups and downs that never really stopped me,” she says. “I have learned so many things that have opened my eyes. I cherish the experience and there is nothing I will do differently.”
One of the greatest successes of the organization was when it received an informal sponsorship from a company called TMX Atrium which is part of a Market Exchange. They have supported Help The North so far in every way possible ever since they came on board. “The first time I organized a fundraiser sponsored by TMX Atrium, I got an amazing response from the people who attended the event,” she recalls. “They were very generous and supportive. Also, not a single one of them was from Nigeria.”
Help The North also got nominated this year for the Abuja Young Entrepreneurs Awards, an initiative which aims to encourage ingenuity, while promoting self-reliance and independence in young individuals.
Violence linked to the Boko Haram insurgency which has resulted in an estimated 10,000 deaths between 2001 and 2013 has posed a major challenge for residents of northern Nigeria. As an organization, she hopes Help The North would be able to help those affected by this tragedy in the long run.
“It is unfortunate that we are facing the issue of security in the North,” she says. “One of the most important needs I see is first of all security.”
Other issues being faced by less privileged people in the north she says include unsanitary living conditions, education, shelter, food, clothing, and lack of a steady income to support a family. “I think it’s important for the less privilege to put a cap on the number of wives and children they have, this is where education is very important,” she advises.
As a Nigerian living in the UK, Amina sees these security issues and other negative conditions being portrayed more by the media while the positive things and achievements of the country are often relegated to the background. This, she intends to address through Help The North.
“The British media has often written about Northern Nigeria in a negative way,” she says. “We hear about the bad things, the security issues, the greed, the corruption. Sadly these things do exist and that is how many British people see the country because this is what they read. Of course, there are so many good things and good people living in poor conditions and this is not mentioned enough. I hope I can bring this to people’s attention through the charity organization.”
This article was first published by TelegraphNG
