RAMADAN FEEDING PROJECT

We would like to begin this report by acknowledging all of you who had the courage and faith to support this little project during last year’s Ramadan. When we began this project the idea looked so impossible that most people just laughed at us and said it would not work. I have always wondered how people can conclusively write something off without trying. I believe in my heart that whatever you do seeking no reward for yourself other than the pleasure of Allah then you have to believe that Allah will support his own.

The Project

The aim of the project was to ease the suffering of the poor by setting up four feeding centers in two states to provide food for one hundred people to break their fast everyday for thirty days during the Holy month of Ramadan. We did some research and settled on a menu of rice and beans (for protein) cooked the traditional Hausa way seasoned with pepper and spices and flavored with fried onions. Resources permitting we would also provide a cup of hot kunu (sweetened millet porridge). We factored in the cost of raw materials, labour and transportation and came up with a rough estimate of Two Million Naira for all four Centers.

Raising the Money

Armed with this information and begging bowl in hand we began what at the time we tagged our little Project Hope. We had no NGO or established platform, all we had was a vision and a burning desire in our hearts to change people’s lives. So there we were all excited about the whole project and passionately explaining how we are going to get it done to friends and family who thought we just landed from Mars. The first few days were not encouraging at all, but slowly people began to warm to the idea (or maybe they were just fed up of being constantly followed around) and the money started to trickle in. That little trickle generated N2,752,520.00 by the end of Ramadan.

Center Logistics

Next we researched the States to determine where each Center would be located. The basic requirement was for each Center to serve the most vulnerable groups, the poor, disabled, street children and the elderly. We chose Kano and Kaduna as the demand there appeared overwhelming. We also needed trusted people to run the Centers and do it for free as our budget was very tight. So we approached friends who had their own small feeding programs and asked them if they would like to work with us to reach more people. They jumped at the idea and slowly the army of volunteers has grown throughout the life of this project. We decided very early that the best way to run so many Centers at the same time was to make the methodology the same. So in each State we had one Center manager who trained (taking them to the market etc) all the staff ahead of the opening of any new Center. But very quickly we realized that in the really rundown areas of town that needed our services the most we would have no friends living in such neighborhoods to manage the Centers operations.

Kano Center

The first Center we opened was run by Ummi in an area in Kano called Janbulo. This Center was the template we used for the other Centers. A few days into Ramadan I travelled to Kano to see how things were going. I visited the Center with an old friend of mine in Kano Dr Binta Kurfi, who was amazed by what we were doing. After going over things with Ummi, we decided to split the Center into two locations and increase the meals by 40% to handle the huge demand. On our way back I was talking to Binta about wanting to setup more Centers in Kano but not having any managers to run it and she turned around and said what about me. She has turned out to be the most efficient Center Manager we had. She single handedly setup three Centers in succession, under extremely difficult conditions in Tarauni, Na Ibawa and Ibrahim Dabo Mosque.

Kaduna Center

A week before Ramadan found us in Kaduna polishing off my research for the project. We had only one location confirmed in Ungwar Kaji to be run by our good friends Saa and Inca. We wanted to open more centers in Kaduna but we had no one to run them. While we were mulling over the problem in comes a man who changes all the dynamics. Mr. Shuaibu Idris Mikati is an old friend and colleague who is from Kaduna and happens to know the State very well. Mr. Idris, who lives in Lagos has run several programmes of his own over the years with various organizations particularly feeding programs for prisoners at Kiri Kiri maximum prison. For years he had searched for an organization in the North that he could collaborate with to run such programs and share his wealth of experience. When we told him about the project he took us round to see several really depressed areas of the city.

At the end of the tour he said make up your mind where you want to operate and for any location you choose I will get you someone who lives in the neighborhood to run the Center for you and by God he kept his word. He worked tirelessly to find very efficient and capable Managers for eleven of our seventeen Centers. Starting with our flagship Center Kano Road Mosque, in Kaduna, he not only found us an enthusiastic young Manager, Abdulrahman he also found the cooks and a safe house in the neighborhood to store and cook the food. He provided the same logistical support when we setup both Malali and Tudun Wada Centers.

Birnin Gwari Center

In Birnin Gwari Mr. Idris put us in touch with Alhaji Abdullahi Marafa. Alhaji Marafa who is a teacher turned out to be true to his training. All the Centers he ran where required to report daily and prepare a report to be submitted to the main Center at the end of Ramadan. He opened three Centers during the last ten days of Ramadan and while we were worried about him starting three Centers on the same day, he used his own initiative to open a fourth Center and did an absolutely brilliant job.

Zaria Center

Next we went to Zaria with an even more ambitious program for the last ten days, to open five Centers serving one hundred meals each. Mr. Idris got Mallam Aliyu Kari to handle this task. This was a going to be a logistical nightmare, I was confident but nervous. Mallam Aliyu turned out to be a brilliant planner. We sent Abdulrahman one of the Kaduna Center Managers to take him through the process which we had used to setup the other Centers. Once the sites for the Centers were chosen and all the details hammered out, all five Centers took off without a hitch.

Special Projects

We had two one day feeding request for Kawu Mosque in Kaduna, we sent them 300 meals and we prepared 100 meals for a center in Gwagwalada. We also tried to open a Center in the Kaduna Prisons but had some logistical difficulties. On the day of Eid we had the cooks from all the Centers in Kaduna prepare a Sallah meal for all 1,100 prisoners and wardens in the prison. We prepared the same Eid meal in the Birnin Gwarri Prison for 300, Zaria Prison for 250 and Zaria orphanage for 50.

Lessons Learned

The 2009 Ramadan served as the projects maiden voyage and we are carefully taking stock of the various lessons we have learned along the way. For instance we noticed that some donors preferred to wait until Ramadan started before sending in their money this made it very hard for us to anticipate how many centers we could afford to setup. This year however, we are hoping to get contributions before the start of Ramadan so that all the Centers we operate will be trained and equipped to start on the first day.

Ramadan 2010

This year we plan to raise Ten Million Naira (N10,000,000.00/$65,000.00) to run 25 Centers, each feeding 100 people at N400,000.00 per Center. We would like to use this opportunity to ask for your support. We intend to operate as many of the Centers we ran last year as well as accommodate as many new requests as possible. We are still in the process of registering a foundation however in the interim we would appreciate it if all donations are sent to the following account: Sutura Aisha Bello, GTBank, Acct No: 312-100241-110, TIME Line Consult Limited, Zenith Bank, Acct #: 6012005225 or contact Dr Binta Kurfi: 0803 310-5769/Sutura Bello: 0706 787-5032 – suturabello@gmail.com

New Center requests for 2010

Azare, Birnin Kebbi, Potiskum, Damaturu, Maiduguri, Fatima Center Kaduna, Jere Islamic Center, Abaji, Gwagwalada, Gwarinpa.

The 17 Centers we operated during Ramadan 2009

Kano: Janbulo 1, Janbulo 2, Umar bin Khattab Mosque, Tarauni, Na ibawa

Kaduna: Ungwar Kaji, Kano Road Mosque, Malali Mosque, Tudun Wada

Zaria: Zaria Clinic Mosque, Zaria Orphanage, Salaf Mosque - Tudun Wada, Kofar Gidan Haruna Danja Mosque, Kofar Fada Mosque

Birnin Gwari: Emirs Masjid, Prison Mosque, Main Mosque

Center Managers in 2009

Kaduna: Saa Abbas, Inca, Abdulrahman, Sadie, Siba

Kano: Dr. Binta Kurfi,

Ummi Madawaki

Zaria: Alhaji Aliyu Kari

Birnin Gwari: Alhaji Marafa

Coordinators: Sutura Bello

Shuaibu Idris Mikati

Acknowledgement

By the end of Ramadan we had raised N2,752,520.00 million opened 17 Centers feeding an average of 960 people a day, served a little over 28,000 meals and met some incredible people along the way. From the faithful donors at home and abroad who wired their funds from three countries around the world to the army of volunteers who not only helped raise money but also gave their precious time to help organize the Centers, to the incredible managers who did all the work pro bono and last but not least the poor people who honored us by accepting our charity we say thank you. Islam teaches us that:

“The one who accepts your charity has done you a favor, as your Lord will give you something better in return for your good deed”

Conclusion

We set out to change people’s lives but the lives that we really changed were ours. Our hearts were filled with compassion for the people who had so little a free meal to break their fast was such a big deal. The gratitude they showed, their shy smiles, tears and simple prayers to God to reward all who had came to their aid was a very humbling experience for all of us. Ramadan is the perfect time to change someone’s life; with the prevalence of poverty all around us the little we do will go a long way. It has been an amazing adventure and already we have started to receive requests for Centers in places as far as Maiduguri. We pray that Allah SubhanaWataala continue to make it easy for you to support us and remember if you are unable to join us, just open one in your own community. If you have a location where you believe a Center in Ramadan would greatly ease the peoples suffering please do not hesitate to contact us and resources permitting we will be there In Sha Allah this year.

May Allah make us among those whom he has permitted to participate in this year’s Ramadan and may he make it your best Ramadan.

Thank you and Ramadan Mubarak

Sutura Bello