INTERVIEW WITH BUBA JANNEH, COORDINATOR OF ABUBAKARR SIDDIQUE FOUNDATION FOR ORPHANS AND NEEDY WELFARE (AFNOW)

With Rohey Jadama In this week’s edition of Children’s Corner, we will bring the interview we had with the coordinator of Abubakarr Siddique Foundation for the Orphans and Needy Welfare (AFNOW) Mr. Buba Janneh. Foroyaa: Introduce your self to our readers? Mr. Janneh: My name is Buba Janneh, the coordinator of Abubakarr Siddique Foundation for the Needy and Orphans Welfare based in Gunjur, Kombo South District of West Coast Region. Foroyaa: What is the aim, mission and vision of your organization? Mr. Janneh: AFNOW is a community based organization which was founded in 2003, but became a legally registered organization in 2006. The aim of AFNOW is to assist the orphans, the needy and widows by promoting academic excellence to them, provide life and livelihood skills for orphans, the needy and widows. Its mission is to improve the prospects of the orphans, the needy and widows in the Gambia in order for them to attain their fullest potentials and contribute to the socio-economic development of the society they live in. AFNOW will raise awareness of the plight of the orphans, the needy and the widows living in the Gambia and offer opportunities for education and self improvement. Foroyaa: What are your activities and what strategies do you use to implement them? Mr. Janneh: our activities are providing sponsorship to the orphans, distribution of second hand clothing, learning materials; engage in micro finance and advocacy. We visit homes and conduct interviews to identify widows with a view to identifying their constraints. We also do mini census in order to know the statistics of the widows in the Gambia and this helps us in our planning and budgeting. We equally visit schools to know the progress of the sponsored orphans. We provided trainings for the widows on Tie and Dye and the production of Neem-Cream (a mosquito coil). We give them soft loans without interest to help them established their businesses, we also do guiding and counseling on child protection and we are members of Child Protection Alliance (CPA), We also have a radio program where we sensitize people on the issues affecting orphans and widows and we also organize annual summer camp for the orphans and the needy. Foroyaa: How does your organization gets its funding? Mr. Janneh: we have members in the organization who contribute a monthly fee of D25 and an annual fee of D100 because we believe local mobilization of resources is the most sustainable venture. We also present project proposals to philanthropists. Foroyaa: Does you partner with other Organizations? Mr. Janneh: We partner with Nova-scotia Gambia Association, JIKI Foundation from Netherlands, Wake up Call(WEKROEP) Foundation from Belgium and Food step Eco lodge. Foroyaa: What are your achievements since inception? Mr. Janneh: Basically 140 students benefited from our sponsorship package and today one of the students we sponsored is studying nursing and another one is employed by the Gambia Armed Forces and others have enrolled at various tertiary institutions. The widows were trained on live skills and now they can do tie and dye, produce soap for bathing and domestic use and can also produce body cream which can cure skin disease. Annually we celebrate World Orphans Day in Second Week of November which falls on 10^th of November, but we will be celebrating it on the 15^th November this year. We also do” iftaar” and distribute sugar to Arabic schools every year. Foroyaa: Do you have any constraints, if so what are they? Mr. Janneh: Financial and human resources are our problem. Foroyaa: Any last word? Mr. Janneh: AFNOW is a community based organization with volunteers who have the expertise, zeal, and understanding and are ready to serve humanity; therefore we are seeking for cooperation with Government and other organizations      ]]>