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.