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NIGER STATE - "SAVE" Campaign a huge success

posted Jun 12, 2010, 9:28 PM by Sweet Mother International   [ updated Jun 12, 2010, 10:35 PM ]


Check out the Niger State "SAVE" campaign in pictures and read detailed report below:
Picture 1 and 2 features children supporting the SAVE campaign in Minna. Picture 3, 4 and 5 are for the women session comprising of mothers, newly married and single ladies who are delighted to get involved in the SAVE project. Picture 6 is a picture featuring the "SAVE" coordinators in Niger State. Picture 7 is a picture taken at  the Maternity Ward of General Hospital Minna and features some of the nurses, patients and women who are due for labour.

The Niger State SAVE team are continuing with the post-rally programs, according to Idris Usman, one of the SAVE coordinators in Niger State, "the Chief Medical Director of General Hospital in Minna & the Director Psychiatry Unit of Wuse General Hospital in Abuja are solidly behind us and wanna pressurize the Commissioner of Health in Minna to convince the Governor of Niger State to partner with  SMI in implementing the SAVE projects in the State."

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CAMPAIGN REPORT BY NIGER STATE COORDINATORS

DAY 1(14TH MAY, 2010.)

 

The Friday prayer session for the campaign was held at various mosques across the state. Among those are the TUDUN-FULANI, U.K BELLO and Federal University of Technology (F.U.T) Minna central mosques. The imam of the mosques offered prayers for the success of the campaign and hoped for immediate take-off of the SMI projects. The Imam of F.U.T mosque stressed on the importance of interventions by various bodies on the fight against maternal mortality and morbidity. The imams urge the congregation to support us in all aspect because the menace is increasing mainly due to lack of awareness and poverty. We were allowed access to the Muslim women at various Islamic schools to create the awareness and notify the on the aims and objectives of SMI.  We were overwhelmed  by  the joy expressed by the women. They all hoped the project will commence immediately.  They believe that a pregnant woman is 50% close to death, due to lack of adequate interventions by various bodies.        

 

 

DAY 2(16TH MAY, 2010)

 

The Sunday prayer session took place at living faith Baptist church, Minna chapter. The level of awareness at the church was much because some senior members are SMI coordinators. We had the opportunities to snap pictures with several sessions of the church

Attached, Picture 1 and 2 are mainly for the children session. Picture 3, 4 and 5are for the women session comprising of mothers, newly married and single ladies along with the pastor of the church.Picture 6 is the picture involving the coordinators and the pastor of the church. We also had a  video interview between the coordinators and a senior pastor of the church. We used the interview to brief the pastor on the aims and objectives of SMI and seek for future collaboration with his church. We made him aware on the role of the church towards achieving our goals. His remarks were positive and promise to give his support in areas within his capacity.

 

DAY 3(17TH MAY, 2010)

 

Today being the final day for the rally, we achieved success in creating awareness at various health care centres across the state. Most importantly is the maternity ward of general hospital minna. We had the opportunity to speak with the chief nursing officer and nurses about SMI and her project. Picture 7 is a picture involving some of the nurses and patients, some of which are due for labour. The chief nursing officer hoped SMI will assist to provide equipments and training her staffs so as to improve on service delivery. We informed her that such project is one of the major priorities of SMI.

 

We had the opportunities to speak with the chairmen of Chanchaga and Bosso local government on SMI projects. We stressed on the necessities of collaborations between SMI and the government. We made them aware that SMI being an N.G.O rely on donations from various bodies inclusive of the government to carry her projects. The chairmen briefed us on their efforts to improve on health care delivery across their wards and are willing to partner with SMI to share her burden.

 

Conclusively, the campaign was a success despite the limited numbers of coordinators and resources to achieve a wider coverage.





Check Out the "SAVE" Rally in Kwara State

posted Oct 12, 2009, 5:35 PM by Sweet Mother International   [ updated Jul 31, 2017, 9:03 PM ]


In Kwara State, from the 14-17 May 2010,  the "SAVE" team held a very successful rally, which includes prayer sessions and processions.
 
The procession train moved through major streets at Ilorin to demonstrate the concerns of the Kwara citizens over the  increasing deaths of women from treatable pregnancy complications in Africa. The state coordinator of the "SAVE" campaign delivered a speech in which he called on the Kwara State government to take an immediate action to eradicate maternal deaths in the state. Click here to read the full text of the speech

According to the then state coordinator, "indeed today marked one of my happiest days in life. Words are infact not enough to explain how much success we have achieved today. We took off from College of Nursing  - to Emir's Palace  - to two different Markets  - to Maternity Wing of University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital - to Kwara State Government House to our major sponsor (7Up bottling Company) and back to our temporary office (Cardillac Place, 13 Stadium Road, Ilorin). Today I am glad to say that, in Kwara State we have created tremendous awareness of the aim and objective of Sweet Mother International. In fact, right from when we were still going round, we received a number of phone calls inquiring more about the project. We are indeed very delighted that God has done it in Kwara and by His grace, He will continue to do it for us."

In addition to the procession, prayers were also held in churches and mosques to plead for God's mercies upon women in Africa; particularly, to pray for safe delivery of pregnant women and to ask for God's divine intervention in eradicating avoidable maternal deaths in Africa.

The procession and prayer sessions were extremely successful and received massive community support - pictures below:
Procession






















Prayers in Church



Prayers in Mosque


Group Photo with State Coordinator at 2nd f2f Meeting





The Ilorin, Kwara State branch of 7 Up Plc provided full sponsorship for the rally. Indeed, Sweet Mother International is grateful to the Management of 7Up for their genuine corporate social responsibility and may God reward them for their kind donations.

"SAVE" rally in Lagos State

posted Oct 12, 2009, 5:34 PM by Sweet Mother International   [ updated Dec 17, 2010, 8:54 PM ]



Goal one and two of the Sweet Mother  International "SAVE" campaign are:

1. To organize rallies, media campaigns, TV Talk Shows in order to highlight the plight of women in Africa, particularly, the avoidable deaths of women from treatable pregnancy complications.


2. To call on governments and stakeholders to intervene in reducing maternal mortality rates in Africa; particularly, to call on African governments to provide free obstetrics care for women.

To achieve this objectives, with the full entourage of the Nigerian Police, Area F, the "SAVE" team in Lagos lead a procession from Ikeja Local Government office, parading all through Ikeja market to the  Governor and the Commissioner for Women Affairs Offices.

The procession receive an overwhelming public and media support; particularly, the Lagos State Television Channel 8 provided  media interviews and aired the campaign on prime time.

According to Ateboh Abiola, the "SAVE" campaign Chairperson in Lagos, "we were full supported by the public and all vehicles were being subjected to only one lane by the police, people really appreciate the logo (SWEET MOTHER INTERNATIONAL), and we witnessed a lot of heads nodding and appreciative facial expressions, some collected our contacts numbers and thanked the organizers of the "SAVE" campaign. From Alade market, we went to LTV 8, Alausa Ikeja, where they were so eager to televise the programme and the rally. From there, we went to the government offices , where we met with government representatives and told them of  our mission. They showed much interest in the "SAVE" campaign  and have scheduled meetings with us for further discussions.  We really thank the Almighty Father for allowing this rally to come to reality  and we are confident that an immediate action will be taken by the government to eradicate maternal deaths in Lagos State".

Thanks  to the Nigerian Police, the media,  women and men of Lagos State , and all supporters and coordinators who devoted their time and energy in  making  this rally a reality in Lagos state, Nigeria.



"SAVE" Rally - Oyo State

posted Oct 12, 2009, 4:33 PM by Sweet Mother International   [ updated May 22, 2010, 8:19 AM ]

SAVE RALLY REPORT FOR OYO-STATE:


The “SAVE” rally held in Oyo State on the 17 May 2010, was a tremendous success and received support from the community and the government including the Legislators, Oyo State First lady and the Commissioner for Health. The aim of the rally was to raise awareness of the increasing maternal deaths in Africa and to call on the government to take immediate action to eradicate maternal deaths in the State.

Among participants of the rally were sister NGOs including the Christian Care for Widows, Aged and Orphans; and Widows Concern & Orphans Rights Advocacy, who showed maximum support in the planning and implementation of the rally.

According to the “SAVE” State Coordinator, Barbara Ayodeji Okoruwa, “the procession commenced from the Association of Family & Reproductive Health premises near Ikolaba Grammar School, Ibadan from where a procession was led to the Her Excellency's office, the wife of the Oyo-State governor,  Chief Mrs. Oluwakemi Alao-Akala ,  where we were told she was attending the function of the International Day of the Family at the Premier Hotel Ibadan. We then headed off to meet with her – at the Premier Hotel, we had series of interviews with the press which provided a media platform to broadcast the  objectives  and mission of the “SAVE” campaign.”

“We also had the opportunity of meeting with the speaker of the Oyo-State House of Assembly, Mr. Maroof Akintola and the Legislators.”



“The legislators were pleased with the objectives of the “SAVE” campaign and indeed, affirmed that the Oyo state government is taking proactive measures to eradicate maternal deaths in the state. In fact, the legislators were delighted to inform the “SAVE” entourage that a bill has been passed by the House to eradicate maternal mortality in the state.”






“After meeting with the legislators, the rally train proceeded to the Ministry of Health, where we met with the Hon. Commissioner For Health,  Babalola Owolabi, and the 33 Local Government health inspectors. They highly received us and commended the “SAVE” Campaign initiative, and encouraged us to keep up the good work done for humanity.”

We are delighted with the success of the “SAVE” Campaign in Oyo State. We wish to thank all organizations and individuals who contributed time and resources in  making the “SAVE” rally a brilliant success.



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