Rewarding Hardwork and Excellence Amongst School Children Through Steem Powered Notebooks And Writing Materials: 3rd Phase of POHI Project

Yesterday was a turning point for pupils and staff of Government primary school, Ikot Ese, Southern Nigeria, as myself and @samuelwealth took out time admist all challenges to reward pupils who emerged 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions in their respective classes as they close for the term.

Even if I do not have enough, I am doing what I need to do. I want to know what I can do for someone. -@sochul

The Project

This is the third phase of the project I started with @lordjames in the Northern part of Nigeria named, "PRODUTS OF HELP INITIATIVE" (POHI), a steem powered project that focuses on providing educational support to school children and students in the rural and forgotten corners of Nigeria.

So far

So far we have successfully extended this project to the Southern part of Nigeria after my long journey back to the South. You can read about the first phase here where Ishaq, a 12 year old boy who lost his dad was taken off the street to be sponsored and trained as a tailor. And the second phase here where over 30 notebooks were distributed to school children. With continuous support from the Steemit platform, I hope to extend this project to other parts of the country.

A cross section of pupils across all the classes who came Top of their class and their teachers

Emotions welled up in my heart yesterday, as myself and @samuelwealth presented gifts to kids between the ages of 2-12 who came top of their classes from primary 1 to 6 and the preparatory class inclusive. I awarded them with exercise books while @samuelwealth presented writing materials to them.

@samuelwealth and myself giving off a steem smile

Before visiting the school yesterday, I faced many challenges that naturally would have been enough for me to give up but I weathered through it all. From the challenge with the fall of SBD and Steem, to that of transportation from town to the village, to that of a clement weather, the rain threatened our movement. But touching children's lives was a greater cause.

We arrived admist the bad weather

I'm glad we overcame all of these, putting smiles on the faces of these children was paramount, it became my internal drive.

Where Inspiration Came From

I've been in tears since yesterday, tears of joy. You know why? I'll tell you.....

This is it; there was a time I wanted doing something like this but could not, because of lack of funds. I was frustrated, and all efforts to source for funds ended in futility.

It was during my National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) days, that's about one year ago at a remote village in Delta State, Southern Nigeria. I had a personal CDS (Community Development Service) project I wanted to execute but could not, because I had no financial support. All efforts to get one or two proved abortive. Some days, I would wake up and start crying because nobody cared about the kids, the school children there were suffering, they're still suffering, they lack access to many educational facilities and materials that would enhance their learning process as well as make their educational experience an enjoyable one.
Being able to do something similar now through steem and from my little earnings on Steemit, gives me joy, nothing but joy!

You have no idea how happy I've been from being able to touch the lives of young children. This feeling is ethereal. All thanks to you and steemit, yes, you reading this post.

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The school headmaster told me yesterday that this was the first time ever the pupils were receiving gift prizes on their closing day and that he was particularly impressed that it wasn't coming from a government official or a politician but from a young person.
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I'm Equally Sad

Why am I sad?
I also felt sad because of what I saw yesterday. Some of these children do not have footwears, they walk long distance covering some kilometers to and fro school bare footed. After school closure in the afternoon, they trek back home from school, getting their feet almost burnt from the scorching heat that emanates from the tarred road.

I was left emotionally shattered when she told me that she had to borrow this uniform to wear

Also, many of them do not have school uniforms, they wear rags and something else to school. One of them told me that the uniform she wore yesterday was a borrowed one and that the owner would get it back from her (how heartbreaking). Some are putting on extremely worn-out uniforms with holes and patches. While interacting with them and their teachers, I found out that many of them don't have parents, some are orphans.

I am sad because there's nothing beautiful in seeing little children suffer.

I am sad because I want to do more as soon as possible but do not have sufficient resources.

you may think they're not students of the same school, they are! But they're wearing something else as school uniforms

I was able to select just four kids yesterday to sponsor the sewing of new school uniforms for them at the cost of N1500 each in Nigerian naira, making it a total of N6000 which is equivalent to 12 SBDS at the current market value.

I am sad because I wish I could afford 20 pairs of new school sandals to 20 pupils who are desperately in need of it to save their feet from torture and pain. A pair of new school sandals is N2000 X 20 = N40,000 which is equivalent to 80 SBDS.

Intelligent Kids, Victims of Circumstance

After addressing the entire school, I found out that these kids are intelligent and very sound. I encouraged them to keep on working hard and to take their studies seriously. As for those who didn't perform well, I told them to work harder to improve by next term.

These kids have dreams just like us, nothing is wrong with them, they are only victims of circumstance, some of them have gone through unprintable things that can never be imagined. I spent one week planning on how I'll visit this particular school to meet with the pupils, I had spoke with the head teacher about the school and the enormous challenges the pupils are facing. I had move from one school to another in rural communities making enquiries about their challenges, there's so much to be done!

Beautiful one

These children are future Steemians, who would mount the steem blockchain someday and create value like us. These are future doctors, lawyers, fashion designers, teachers, bankers, programmers, developers, pastors, CEOs etc.

They're in the formative stage of their lives and they deserve the best.

future Steemians

Promoting Steemit

introducing steemit to the teachers and pupils

While asked by the headmaster to address the school, I seized the opportunity to tell them, both the pupils and teachers about Steemit. Though the kids didn't really get it but the teachers did and one of them indicated deep interest in joining, that he followed us up to ensure that he got further details on it.

with the teacher who showed keen interest in joining Steemit

a steemit conscious teacher will not leave you an inch

There was a time I was ashamed of myself, that I could not do any of these, steemit came and changed everything. I will not give up, there's more to be done.

chatting the way forward

Little by little, we will get there. We don't have to wait for the government any longer. But I cannot do all of these alone, I need energy, I need your support. I need your support in whatever means that it can be offered, for the children. The children needs you to become their energy!

More Photos

discusing the cost of sewing uniform for a pupil with one of the teachers

He's intelligent but has no shoes

@samuelwealth with the kids

while getting their report cards for the term while others are playing

emerging giants of their class

Appreciation speech from the headmaster to us

Appreciation

I wouldn't have been able to push this project this far without the support I got from some persons and without the inspiration I drew from others directly or indirectly. These people made me to keep on holding on until all that was left was just to hold on.

They have become my energy, in no particular order!

@lordjames, the very first person I discussed this project with and he abandoned everything just to give me a ladder to climb on

@mitneb, a woman who commits her life and time on Steemit towards supporting and promoting non-native speakers and writers of English language. She personally promised to send half of the prize of a contest she won to support this project. She has been resteeming and featuring all the posts about this project in her curation trail weekly reports, and her prayers has always been that this project finds favor. Thank you

@jerrybanfield and @gmichelbkk, for the surprise 12 Steem they sent me, this came at a time I needed it most, at a time I had bandwidth issues and needed to power up to keep up with this project updates. Thank you

@futurethinker and the promo-mentors for their selfless contributions to this platform. You give time, attention and support. Thank you

@snrm for his constant support, check ups and ideas on discord on how to take this project to the next level. Thank you

@ackza for your support and beautiful ideas through your previous comments on this project, it was noted and we hope to get there someday soonest.

@cryptolick for resteeming the post about this project for greater visibility, thank you

@surfyogi your works keep inspiring nations, myself inclusive. Your givings and philanthropic nature inspires me. Thank you

@emekasegun the token you sent went a long way, thank you

@sndbox-alpha and @sndbox, each time I submitted posts about this project for curation you showed love and support. Thank you for all your works towards discovering undervalued contents

@khaleelkazi and @damarth, thank you for your undeserved love and support. And for teaching me how to be a ground soldier

@Surpassinggoogle you made me to understand that there's a whale also inside of me, you've inspired me in so many ways through your several innovations on the steem blockchain

@ejemai thank you for shining the light in Nigeria through Stach, you unconsciously gave me the permission to do same

@samstickkz, I discovered Steemit on your facebook timeline, thank you for being a pathfinder

@stephenkendal for all the beautiful works you do towards promoting steemit, I say thank you. I still remember how I felt the first day you resteemed my post, thank you

@samuelwealth, this project wouldn't have been more successful without your participation and support. Thank you also for your ideas and time

@joyce-okpobo for always buying chilled Kunu for me and @lordjames to survive heat while running this project at Northern Nigeria, thank you, you're amazing

@sochul thank you for your love and support. Sometimes, I sleep and wake up with your words. You're inspiring

@tarazkp I saw what you did to people's lives on Steemit through your SP delegation giveaway, even though I wasn't one of the beneficiaries but I learnt through you how to give and touch lives on a different dimension, thank you. You're great

@sircork and @kofpato, thank you so much for all the great and beautiful works you've been doing alongside with your team to help school children. You inspired me too. Indeed, dreams do come true

Thank you @ned and @dan, without giving us a platform as beautiful as steemit, all these wouldn't have come to limelight. Thank you!