St Nicholas Church

Our sponsored child project

The children and young people at St. Nicholas have taken on the responsibility for sponsoring a little girl in Niger, West Africa.

Her name is Amina Halidou. Born 13th December 1997 Amina is now in school, and she enjoys good health.

TERA Area Development Programme, Niger

Amina's Country
The West African country of Niger is one of the hottest places on earth. The encroaching Sahara desert makes life a continual struggle for the vast majority of the population who rely on agriculture for a living. One out of every four children will die before reaching the age of five. In the United Nations' Human Development Index, Niger consistently comes bottom - the least developed country in the world.

It is here that your sponsorship donations are making a huge difference to the lives of the very poorest families. Access to healthcare for the first time; educational opportunities for children and adults alike; help with farming techniques and improved seed varieties; clean, safe water to drink - all the result of a partnership between sponsors, villagers and World Vision staff which will ensure that the next generation will be healthier, better educated and have choices undreamed of by previous ones.

Before the sponsorship programme began in 1998, World Vision had already been working in the Tera area for two years with a Child Survival Project aimed at reducing infant and maternal mortality, containing the incidence of malaria, respiratory infections, diarrhoea and vaccine-preventable diseases, while at the same time strengthening the area's links with the Government's local health resources. The sponsorship programme compliments this work in 37 villages, with additional funding for schools and agricultural activities. It also guarantees the future of the health programme following the phasing out of the Child Survival Project in 2000. Our staff are known and trusted in the area, and communities are keen to be involved in the work that will eventually be 'owned' and run by the villagers themselves.

Education.
In the cool air of early morning, when the only sounds to be heard in these remote villages are the braying of an occasional donkey and the hollow rhythm of women pounding millet with heavy poles in deep wooden pots, eight-year-old Hama Boureima makes his way to the water pump. "Getting water is hard work," he says, "especially when it's hot." Many parents choose to keep their children, especially girls, at home all day to do just such chores. But Hama knows he is luckier than most and already has an ambition. He has been going to school for a year now, in a hut made from dried, woven millet stems, where he and his classmates sit on mats on the floor to learn. "I like counting best," he says. "When I grow up I want to be a teacher."

Children usually start school at the age of seven in Niger, and even a primary education - in a country where the adult literacy rate is only 14 per cent - can be a huge advantage. Although pupils do not have to pay tuition fees, there are other costs such as notebooks, pencils, slates and chalk, which few parents can afford. Sponsorship funding has also enabled World Vision to provide school children with a uniform and a pair of shoes each. Traditional attitudes to education often hamper efforts to raise literacy rates in Niger, as few families understand the difference it can make. In this conservative Islamic culture, many are reluctant to send girls out of the home environment, believing that too much education and freedom will make them disobedient. World Vision staff discuss these matters with the families of sponsored children, explaining that even a basic education can be the key to a better future.

There are 17 schools in the project area and many buildings are in bad condition. Books are always in short supply, as government funding is inadequate. World Vision is supporting school committees, discussing needs with villagers and asking them to think of ways in which they themselves could contribute to making the necessary improvements, thus promoting active participation and self-reliance. World Vision has, in the meantime, refurbished two remote village schools and provided materials for teaching and learning.

Adult literacy is another important focus of the project. When a local woman recently asked World Vision for a loan, it was an opportunity to talk to her about the importance of being able to read and write. A World Vision worker asked her, "How can we give you a loan when you can't read, write or count? How can you make sure you won't be cheated?" The woman began to realise the importance of being literate. She told others and more people began to attend the project's literacy classes - a change that is making a real difference to the lives of villagers. A total of 77 local villagers passed the exam at the end of the first course, and are now literate. Around a third of these are women.

Healthcare
Seven-year-old Fati Hamidou is sponsored. This means that unlike most other children in Niger, she is not only going to school, but she is also vaccinated against all the major childhood diseases. Because of the close correlation between literacy and health standards, Aichatou - Fad's mother -knows that this will mean a healthier future for Fati and eventually for Fati's children. "Education is important for the children," she says. "And their health is important to me too." As she talks, Aichatou is rocking her other child, two-year-old Zeinabu on her lap to comfort her. The child has just been vaccinated by World Vision-trained health workers, and it still hurts a little. "Now all four of my children have been vaccinated. It gives me a calm spirit," she says. "I'm glad my children are sponsored - it's a real help."

It is World Vision's aim to provide enough training, support and advice to local people to enable them eventually to respond to their own health needs without outside intervention. In 1996, the Tera Child Survival Project set in place a comprehensive training programme for local people who had been selected as project health staff. Each village has a health committee which oversees activities. Professional midwives train traditional birth attendants and the village health workers are trained and supervised by the project staff. In addition, two villages now have specially constructed and equipped Health Huts, from where health education campaigns are run alongside the provision of primary health care services.

Agriculture
Scorching heat and creeping sand dunes make farming in this part of the Sahel (the area of West Africa south of the Sahara Desert) all but impossible. Most families live at subsistence level and many go hungry for several months of the year. World Vision is trying to help the families of sponsored children by providing improved seed varieties, implementing crop protection schemes and encouraging diversification into other income generating activities such as cold-season vegetable gardening.