Pretty Hajiya Rabi Salisu’s name rings bell in Kaduna State
courtesy her NGO called Arrida Relief Foundation of Nigeria (ARFON).
Rabi, a typical African mother has been involved in philanthropic
activities for over six years now and her humanitarian gesture went
beyond borders as many less privileged ones across some states in the Northern part of Nigeria benefitted from her NGO. She
spoke to ABUBAKAR ABBA on her challenges, achievements and why she established her NGO.
Read On….
What are the aims and objectives of your NGO?
Well, it is a non-governmental organization and was
introduced in 2012. It was officially registered with the Corporate
Affairs Commission of Nigeria (CAC) in 2014. It has membership network
across 36 states of the federation, including the FCT.
We want to cater for the less privileged in the society by providing humanitarian services and helping the needy. We have massively brought humanitarian
interventions, charity works, social works, conflict management
initiatives to thousands of communities. Our values are transparency,
accountability, commitment, integrity, gender equity and teamwork.
Also, our mission is to ensure that the dignity, education and
security of our Nigerian women, youth, and children are achieved
through mental and psychological counseling, education, scholarship and
entrepreneurial skills development which will foster and boost
creative thinking leading to challenges among our target group.
Tell us more about your NGO
We have been working on a number of programmes and initiatives aimed at
empowering women and youths through our skills acquisition and
training for the jobless with the view to reducing unemployment in the
society. We have visited hospitals, prisons and the motherless babies’
homes to provide succour and material reliefs to the needy.
In the wake of the deadly insurgency that gripped and ravaged the
North East, we responded through making awareness for peaceful
coexistence and understanding especially among the people of the zones in particular and Nigerians as a whole.
We donated relief and food items to IDPs living in camps within and
outside Kaduna State in order to cushion their hardship.
We trained and empowered about 500 women and youth in various skills acquisition in Kaduna and other states. The skills are soap making, tailoring, paint production, shoe and bags making, carpentry and hand craft knitting. After their training, we financially empowered them to start up their own business.
What inspired you to embark on this philanthropic work?
Actually, it all started after the sudden death of my mother. I cherished her so much that, I felt that I should
immortalize her. I also established a Quranic recitation school in
her name called Hajiya Inna Memorial School but people around
me advised that, we should incorporate western education in the
school which we did. It has a population of 74 pupils now. 47 orphans
and 40 less privileged children, the tuition fee is free and we give our
pupils free uniforms, educational materials and we pay all the teachers
from our purse. It is mainly for the less privileged and the orphans.
What are your challenges?
Certainly, our major constraint is funding. Since the establishment of
the NGO about six years ago,
I have tried to overcome the problem as an international
business woman that makes fortunes in my business deals. Besides, my
loving husband is very supportive with his hard earned money at all
times. Together, we finance our activities.
Have you been getting financial support from governments, corporate bodies and individuals?
It was only Governor Ahmed Nasiru El-Rufai that assisted us
with food items during his
electioneering campaign and we are very grateful to him.
Share with us your NGO’s achievements
In the area of health, we provide
free medical assistance and health service to the sick through settling of medicals bills. We also embark on health enlightenment
campaigns on communicable and preventable diseases such as HIV, TB,
water borne diseases etc. especially in the rural areas. We train
traditional birth attendants (TBA) in partnership with medical
centers so as to reduce death rate at birth both in rural and urban
areas.
Again, we sanitize youths on the dangers of drug
abuse, creating awareness on HIV/AIDS and the importance of girl
education in the rural and urban community especially in the northern
part of the country and the nation in general.
We counsel couples who had disagreement between themselves that can lead to separation or divorce. In that regard, we have been able to
save over 60 marriages from collapsing in two years. In addition,
we have sponsored 15 marriages of the venerable children (girls) and
donated household items to them.
We rebuilt collapsed drainages and culverts including a fence round a central cemetery in Maraban-Jos Igabi Local Government Area, Kaduna. We take part in the evacuating
of refuse dump and spraying of insecticide on grass and gutters so as
to reduce cases of malaria and other diseases. In 2014, we donated educational books, computers, printers and internet facilities, mattresses, drugs, and food items to HIMS School
for the orphan at Katabu village, Kaduna State.
We organized a workshop on the importance of child education where
participants were invited across the local government, among the
participants are academia, local government chairmen,
traditional rulers, members of the communities, youth leaders,
non-governmental organizations and members of the civil societies. The
workshop was a huge success; we were able to impact positively on the
needs for the child education.
In April 2014, we organized a successful youth empowerment scheme in
Kaduna State. Over 500 youths were trained and empowered on
different fields; we successfully trained youths on carpentry, painting,
welding and auto mechanics. At the end of their entrepreneur ship
training, we issued start-up funds to the beneficiaries to set up their
own businesses
