By Marire Adebanjo
It is that time of the month again. My mum has already collected the donations from each person in our street. My mum and our next-door neighbor had gone to the market a day before to get food items, clothing, and other things to give back to the community. This usually made me happy.
“Mrs. Philips, are you ready?”, Mrs. Ugwu, our next-door neighbor, asked from the sitting room.
“Just a moment, please.” My mother responded.
I always accompanied them when it was time. My mother teaches me that it is never too early to start helping others. I am eight years old and proud to accompany my mother on these trips with the Women of Sunny Street: pioneered by my mother and Mrs Ugwu. It pleases me that the men in the street support every one of our outreaches and projects.
We go to at least two orphanage homes in the city every month to give them basic items. Their smiles when we do this make me want to help more people.
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The Women of Sunny Street have come a long way: from preparing food and distributing it to the people in remote areas and the homeless to building a shelter where they can call their home while receiving support to find their footing. Now, a lot more people and organizations support this cause to gradually eradicate poverty and unemployment.
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On getting to the second orphanage home, we encountered another charity organization. My mother had already stepped towards them before I even noticed them. Mrs. Ugwu followed almost immediately.
‘Good afternoon. My name is Mrs.Philips. This is my comrade, Mrs. Ugwu.’ My mother began.
‘Good afternoon.’ Mrs. Ugwu contributed.
‘Oh. Hi!’ One of them responded. ‘It is a pleasure to meet you both. We are One World Initiative. My name is Destiny.’
It is good to meet like-minded people who take actions like this in addressing challenges faced by our people, especially in this present economy, I thought to myself.
They proceeded to talk about what their organizations focus on. My mother was quite happy to find out that they are quite similar and didn’t hesitate to request a partnership on their next project.
You see, the Women of Sunny Street, in their recent meetings, have decided to hold an empowerment program for women and girls. This included skill acquisition, training, and mentorship. They aim to help equip women and young girls with skills to help them earn a living and impact the community.
After a brief yet detailed conversation, the other organization expressed interest in partnering with us. They agreed to hold a meeting the next week to begin preparations for the program.
It is up to us to contribute in the little way we can. It could be volunteering, partnership, sponsorship, advocacy, or whatever way we choose to support movements and programs that improve the status of our community. Life is unfair: that is indisputable. However, as humans, we should help one another. The ones who have more should support those who do not.
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At Shades of Us, we believe that organizations working on similar goals can work together to improve the lives of Africans and people of African descent. Partnership and collaboration are key to our collective growth and development, and moving the needle towards a better world for all of us. Let us seek active collaborations and partnerships, for we are stronger when we unite than we try to reinvent the wheel.
