MY PERSONAL NYSC COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT SERVICE PROJECT || LAGOS CORPER

Todays blog post is different from the usual fashion post but it’s going to be me sharing and talking about a personal project really dear to my heart. 

So, some of y’all know I’m currently serving my Fatherland Nigeria and I talked about NYSC in this post HERE please check it out so you can really understand and by the grace of God, will be passing out of NYSC next week.

I’ve always had it in mind to do something in my community before passing out of NYSC because I really believe in helping people, touching lives and making impact wherever we find ourselves. NYSC encourages corpers to render services that’ll develop or be beneficial to the community they find themselves in and also carry out projects. The Idea of the project came last year but I wasn’t ready to stress myself and had no idea on how to go about it until this year like three months ago when I talked to one of my friends Dr Oyidia who pushed me and made me know I could do it. Sometimes in life, we just need that little push. I’m really glad we had the conversation.

The next step was to make up my mind on what I really wanted to do, do the paper work ( project proposal, Nysc application letter, sponsorship letters, school approval letters, etc). This really scared me because I have never written a proposal before but to the glory of God, he sent me help. One of my friends Precious randomly called me one night and i told him about the project and how the proposal was bothering me and then he said don’t worry about it, I’ll help you out I write proposals. This was really shocking because imagine if I had kept it to myself would have probably missed the opportunity.

We started working and funny enough, while working on the proposal, I wrote out what I wanted after all it was my project, I knew the goal, the problems and solution so it was only right I was active in it. My friend was really impressed and was like I didn’t even need him because my writeup was impressive. The truth is I sometimes doubt myself on the things I can do and sometimes need that little push.

The project was going to be a three project campaign for selected public secondary schools in Ikeja1, LGA. The project includes:

•  Give A Girl Child A pad
•  Health Talk on Sex Education
•  Donation of First aid boxes to these schools.

The thing is, I am actually really passionate about the girl child and educating Nigerian Children. The girl child is powerful and possesses unique traits and characteristics that makes her not only a woman but a force to be reckoned with.

Sanitary pads are an unaffordable luxury for countless girls and this has resulted in them using unsafe and unsanitary measures to meet their needs. 
Some of these measures includes; improvising from old clothes, using handkerchiefs, tissues, retrieving and recycling used disposable pads.As a result of these, some of them are unable to concentrate in school or engage in school activities because of the fear of soiling their their uniforms and being talked about in school. The goal of this project were as follows;

• Project GIVE A GIRL A PAD, will support underprivileged girls in selected school within Ikeja LGA, with sanitary pads as this is a necessity but has become unaffordable due to inflation in price of the commodity and probably the standard of living.
• This project will give underprivileged girls an equal chance to compete and lead a fulfilled life.
• Teach them how to use sanitary pads which improves a girl child education
• To create a sense of girl/women empowerment to the young girl generation.
• Help build up confidence and high self esteem which will reduce shame about puberty and their bodies.
• Educate both male and female students on sex, the importance of abstinence and the risks involved in having sex.
• The first aid boxes donated were to ensure the safety of students and staff members.

Moving on, I submitted all the letters to my Local Government Inspector and schools but only one school responded of the three schools I reached out to but didn’t let that discourage me and that was another stressful part of the project as I had to go get approval from the Education district. My project was approved and I had to get to work as soon as possible. Throughout the cause of this project, I did all the running around myself so you can imagine the stress involved, also considering the fact that anything Nysc or Nigeria is usually stressful. I’m happy I did all myself because it really showed me how much strength I had, how much I could push myself and what I could achieve.

The most scary part to me was how to raise funds for this project. To be honest, I wasn’t really sure how people were going to take it and you know people will always talk. I finally summoned up the courage to share on all my social media platforms and to my greatest surprise, people showed up for me wow! like it was a joke and I was able to raise about N250,000 naira for this project. I’m actually really glad I was able to use my social media platforms Instagram and twitter especially for this. Was really good to know people were also interested in not only the fashion aspect of my life but something like this. My parents were also my major sponsors and I’m really grateful for supportive parents. I actually reached out to some organizations but no response.

The next step was to go buy all the sanitary pads and other materials. I’m really grateful to my mother. We went to Lagos Island market together and bought everything also with the help of my sister. It was really stressful and rained heavily that day but I felt fulfilled and happy doing it.

The D day came and I got to the school. I had mixed feelings and really wanted the day to go well. To the glory of God, it went well.

My Friend Dr. Oyidia talked to the girls about menstruation, menstrual hygiene management while I demonstrated to the girls how to use sanitary pads. My colleague Dr Owoyale talked to the girls and boys on sex education and it was really amazing as it was also very interactive.
I’m grateful to everyone that came to support me that day my sister, photographers and friends. I’m really glad I was determined and pushed myself to get this done despite all the challenges and by God’s grace, even after NYSC, I’ll do more.

After the project, I also left some packs of sanitary pads at the sickbay for the girls.
The funds left from the one raised will be used to support organizations trying to raise funds to buy sanitary pads for the girls and women. About a week ago, I had the opportunity to speak to prison inmates at Kirikiri Female Prison Lagos on menstrual hygiene management and also support the organization that invited me with a token from the funds raised for my project. Trust me guys, I was nervous as hell but I’m glad it went well.

To God be the glory and thanks to every single person that supported either by donating, sharing or encouraging me. I’m really grateful and happy.
Thanks for visiting and see y’all in my next post. Cheers!!
Photography SEANSHOTIT and PHALOREY_STUDIOS.