The economic impact of the CoronaVirus pandemic on many communities in Nigeria was very horrific. Most households survived on petty businesses and farming, but these activities were crippled by the total stay-at-home rule introduced by the government to mitigate the spread of the virus. Unfortunately, this resulted in the immediate spike in the number of out-of-school children in many vulnerable communities as household income was severely affected. In a space of 2 months, more than 10% children who were in school were withdrawn in Sharada Ja’en community in Kano.

The Swap Project was our reaction to this reality. We launched a fundraising campaign for the project and received incredible outcomes. We were able to immediately intervene in the Sharada Ja’en community of Kano State and Ipaja community of Lagos State where cases of extreme vulnerabilities have been reported. The main goal of the project was to restore children who dropped out of school due to the impact of the pandemic as well as support them and other children with new learning materials for the new academic session. With these objectives in mind, we visited communities and schools across Ipaja and Sharada Ja’en where over 371 children were impacted.

Our gratitude goes to Airfunding, Street2school Initiative, and all our donors and volunteers for helping us shine the light of love even in the deepest darkness.