ILAJE 300 Project: Juniour Chamber's Quest to Touch the lives of Lagos's Ilaje Community

 

Ilaje community is a slum situated in Bariga along the coast of Lagos metropolis. It borders on the continental shelf of the country and can be seen from atop the third mainland bridge. It is one of the most underdeveloped communities in Lagos state. Its population is mostly made up of the Egun tribe which is originally from Badagry.

These people are mostly uneducated and their main occupation is fishing. It is the duty of the men to catch the fish, while the women stay at home to dry and roast the fish. The children have the responsibility of selling the fish and the trade is mostly carried out by hawking. This gives the children little or no opportunity for education and so the cycle continues. However, this poor schooling situation is that way because the children are not encouraged to go to school due to the lack of basic schooling requirements like school bags, books and shoes.

 

On a visit to the community, the traditional head referred to as the “Baale” pleaded with JCI UNILAG to bring educational materials for the children between the ages of 3 and 12 years. In his words “If you bring us food, we will eat and forget. What we want are books, biros and school bags for the children.” The children of the community however requested for shoes and clothes as they walk around barefooted. A little boy said “I want shoes. I am tired of walking without shoes.”

Junior Chamber International (JCI) is a non-governmental organization with a mission to provide development opportunities for young people to create positive change around the world. Her Nigerian affiliate chapter is JCI Nigeria under whom JCI University of Lagos is registered as a collegiate chapter to bring the mission closer to students as young citizens. JCI UNILAG seeks help these children and so solicits your support to help put a smile on the faces of these children and the entire Ilaje community by supporting our project to reduce the lack of education and indirectly poverty to the barest minimum thereby creating positive change in Lagos, Nigeria and the world.  We will be taking bags, books, pens and shoes to these children in a bid to positively impact that community, fulfill the JCI mission statement and also help achieve two of the eight millennium development goals; to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger and to achieve universal primary education. We plan to cater for 300 children with these materials and your support with this project will go a long way in helping us achieve this feat.

 

The project details are as follows

Date: September 25, 2013

Time: 2pm

Venue: Baale of Ilaje’s  Compound, Ilaje, Bariga.

Materials to be donated and their cost are:

300 School bags at N1000 each

300 pairs of sands @ N500 each, and

Stationery (comprising 5notebooks, pencil/pen per child) at N500 each.

This amounts to a total of N2000 (two thousand naira) per child.

 

You can also give these items instead of cash. Your support can also be by spreading the word about the project by following @unilagjaycees on twitter and using the hash tag #Ilaje300.

To make a contribution, you can call David on 08035464299 or Nimota on 07085038068. You can also join us at the donation event on Wednesday.

It is really hoped that this project can help get the attention of those capable of doing more in this community; the government, celebrities, philanthropists and NGOs. For us at JCI University of Lagos, we really hope for such and to  see  this commnunity adopted  and to get more kids good education.