Top Stories
Exposed! N100b road contracts scam rocks Edo
From COLLINS EKE, Benin
AN alleged
monumental fraud running into billions of naira allegedly squandered on the
Benin City road network, by Governor Oserhiemen Osunbor has sparked off a
cold war in Edo State....
'Independence Day is time to bless Nigeria...
Let's
celebrate our country’
Being a keynote address by Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, President, Believers Loveworld
Inc. (a.k.a Christ Embassy) at the Grand Launch of the 2008 edition of ReachOut
Nigeria...
Presidency
starves INEC of funds
By CHUKS EHIRIM, Abuja
THE Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC), still gasping for breath, amid unending
attacks from the public, surprisingly, in recent times has been suffering
.....
Nigeria
at 48: No cause for cheers - AC leader
From CHUKS EHIRIM, Abuja
AS Nigerians take stock of the dividends of 48 years of freedom from colonial
rule, while curiously awaiting the mandatory Independence Anniversary...
MIKANO
Generators
By KELECHI DECA
MIKANO Generators
is a subsidiary of Mikano International Limited, a company with 27 years experience
in the areas of Building/Civil Engineering Construction and Steel...
ReachOut Nigeria
campaign reaches climax
By AZUKA MORDI
AT the grand launch of this year's edition of the ReachOut Nigeria with Rhapsody
of Realities campaign, President of Believers Loveworld (also known as) Christ
Embassy, Pastor Chris....
NEWS
• Shake-up imminent
in ANPP
• As Third Mainland bridge
re-opens: Lagosians heave sigh of relief
• Court orders arrest of
PDP chieftain in Kaduna
• Imo deputy governor clashes
with kinsmen
• Principal,
vice escape kidnap attack
• Village
head, four others quizzed
• Group alerts of plot to
rip-off Rivers officials
• Forum cautions Ijaws on
minister for Niger Delta
• National Identity Cards
in a fix
• Group wants WAEC probed
• Nobody can stop my judicial
commission of inquiry –Jang
• Fayose commends Oni's
unity govt plan
• Shun ostentatious living,
Moslems told
• NEMA advises stake-holders
on disaster management
• I'm
okay with JTF operations –New Defence Chief
• Monarchs endorse Akpabio
for second term
• Anambra PDP Crisis:
Ubah hails Gana's committee
• Rivers to get tourism
dev. commission
• COREN goes tough on erring
members
• 22 German students take
courses in Hausa
• Varsity don raises alarm
over materialism
• Speak your mother-tongue,
Ohakim tells Nigerians
The
next Nobel Laureate will come from the Ghetto —Helen Sosu
She
grew up in the slums where the future of an average kid is endangered by circumstances
that catch up with them long before they became teenagers but she worked hard
against all odds to surmount all the hindrances associated with the ghetto
to become a known face in one of the celebrated TV shows, The Charlie Boy
Show. Today, Helen Sosu-Richmen has gone back to the slums to start up the
Street University Project that would give young people from the streets a
chance to become what they want to be. In this chat with AHAOMA KANU, Helen
who also authored Street University, a book on poetry, talks about her project
and aspirations for the common kids on the street
THE last time I met with you was when your book on poetry, Street
University just got published, now you have organized a Street University
Project, what really informed your venturing into that?
Well the Street University Project was a way of giving back to the society
especially to the youths that are coming from the slums; I chose these particular
set of people because I have been there; I grew up from the slums and ghetto
and know how it feels growing up there. It was a kind of testimony to many
of the young people that it is not where you are coming from but where you
are going to. It took a whole lot for my mother to train us in that neighbourhood
to become what we are today in life because we have neighbours and friends
who never came out of that conditions while growing up. The slums put them
into a life without focus and plans for the future. I just saw that if we
leave our youths coming out from there to end up the way many of them do,
we would not be affecting our society.
How did you commence with this project?
The first thing we needed to do was to build that confidence in them and we
knew that many children that came from such homes are very talented and gifted
so we helped to channel these talents in the proper direction. We taught them
to remain focused and see the possibility of going back to school and becoming
what they thought was never possible.
What areas did the project focus on?
The project is actually a six-phase project which evolves around the literary
phase, workshops and at these points we target youths from the ages of 15-25
because that is actually the ages these teenagers are loose to manipulation
and are very vulnerable to be influenced. During the literature session, we
discovered that some of these children could write and may become the next
Nobel Laureates this country may produce; they can be the Wole Soyinkas, The
Chinua Achebes of tomorrow and I will want to tell you now that the next Nobel
Laureate will come from the ghetto and not where we are expecting it to happen
from. We gave them the guidelines to write about their experiences on the
streets and today they are working on a magazine that would soon be published.
During the workshop level, we motivate them with guests' speakers who have
served time on the streets and overcame their situations and circumstances;
they share their story with them. The reason we called people with similar
experiences is to make the youths realize that where you are coming from cannot
be a limitations to where you want to go. The practical session is where we
have a talent development and help them in form of trainings on those areas
they are interested in like IT, Arts and craft, music and so on. We have gotten
some partnership with some agencies to help us in training like PMAN, which
at the moment is teaching them composition and writing of music as well as
performance abilities with instruments. Another partner company is training
the participants on IT while there are courses for them in movie production
and all that accompanies it. The arts and craft workshop trains interested
participants on the art of making leather works and also in cane weaving which
we are doing with the help of the professional craft people at the Cane Village.
How were the participants chosen or was the project strictly for people
from the hoods?
The workshop was not meant for kids with privileged backgrounds but for the
street kids from the slums because they don't really have that advantage.
Some of the privileged kids came around and confess that though they come
from privileged background, they were familiar with the streets and have the
same experience as other kids from the block. For now, we are concentrating
on those that don't have the resources to be better in life though we will
not chase anybody that comes with some talent away. We first of all monitor
what they are doing and take it from there. We select participants by writing
to the Ministry o Education and let them know what we are doing and request
for their help in selecting students that fit into that category. The other
way is by working with those we have been dealing with before now; these are
kids that have finished secondary school and have nothing to do, we have them
in the project.
Does the project involve the handling of peculiar problems like unwanted
pregnancy and HIV/AIDS preventive education among the youths?
It is part of what we do because we work with some of the girls that are faced
with situations like that on a daily basis. One thing you have you have to
know is that all these issues like unwanted pregnancies and STDs are prevalent
because there is not much awareness; there might be some level of awareness
but some of these kids don't fully grasp the impact of what involving in sex
might have on them should they try to indulge so we need to tell them to look
at ways of making their future better.
If you look at the big picture, there are so many potential students of the
street university scattered all over the country, how can they benefit from
the Street University Project?
We plan to go around Nigeria because we know quiet well that the project is
not only for people in Lagos State and luckily for us we are having responses
from South Africa and United Kingdom are asking for a partnership with the
project. We are going to go round the country.
Will the project be an annual thing?
Like I said the project comes in phases and is the completion of the programme
is dependent on how fast the individual can learn. What we would do after
the completion of the trainings is to give you a passport which you can show
off to any where you want to go and try out your skills on; it is a kind of
reference we make for you.
The project is associated with an institution of learning and university education
comes at a course, at what cost does these training come?
It is free only the passport costs N100. All the training and other craft
work is free.
How do you get the funding for the project?
Finance is the major challenge we are facing as of now we don't have a sponsor
but supporters who help us with products that the kids can go home with while
some paid for the venue for us. We don't really have sponsors but we had to
go on. For our human resources, people volunteered to help but we still need
money to take the kids through the craft and arts session. We don't have the
money but we are optimistic that we will get people to partner with this vision.
Is there a possibility that there might be a Street University that
would actually be accredited as a higher learning facility order than what
it is now?
I don't know if the authorities will agree to that but we actually asked a
lawyer to look at that prospect. Right now we have 371 students in the University
and we are very hopeful.
The last time I met you I didn't see a ring on your finger and now
you are hooked, how is married life?
Funny enough I got married right in the middle of preparing for the workshop
so it wasn't easy to sort it out at home and also handle the workshop but
thank God for the kind of husband I got married to because he understands.
So what have changed about you since you got married?
The name and the fact that I now have somebody I can talk to, hold and call
mine.
