The Strong Will of a Father

DECEMBER 4, 2019 • SPONSORSHIP

His name is Hamissou Ibrahim. Kids affectuously call him uncle Ibrah because of his volunteering actions for the cause of children.
Married and father of four children, Ibrahim was one of the first students in his village. After six years in primary school, he failed his secondary school entrance examination.

This failure did not taint his life. Like other peasants in his village, Ibrahim makes a living by farming and herding animals.

However, the failure of the first generation of students in the village has been the main cause of parents’ neglect and lack of confidence in education.
People who have succeeded in being self-sufficient in this community are traders and those who travel abroad in neighboring countries. Parents, because of their lack of confidence in schools, encourage children to learn trading, herding and farming.

Hamissou feeding his animals.

In 2016, the sponsorship program started in his community with ambitious objectives for children. Through parents, teachers and children’s sensitization and training, and innovative projects such as literacy boost and positive discipline, reading clubs and early childhood care centers were implemented in communities with many varieties of toys and learning materials.

Having failed in his own education, Hamissou decided to devote his time to the sponsorship program.

As a community volunteer for sponsorship operations, a reading club host, and a kindergarten teacher, Hamissou has become a pillar for the sponsorship program in his community. He helps community development agents locate children and monitor their presence at school, he teaches younger children in kindergarten, and helps pupils with reading difficulties at school in reading clubs.

Hamissou reading a letter to Harira, a sponsored child in Niger.

“Parent ignorance has handicapped children’s education for decades in my village. When I was made aware of the objectives set by the sponsorship program, I decided to devote all my time for children’s welfare,” Hamissou said.

“Changes brought in communities by the sponsorship program are evidenced in every child’s behavior. Good hygiene habits, body cleanliness and the children’s high performance in secondary entrance examination (62 %) in my community.”

All these changes have allowed for parents to have a new vision of school and has created a new light of hope in every child’s life.
Children, parents and teachers do not run out of praises for Save the Children for all the efforts made in changing life at village and at school.
Hamissou concluded by saying, “the sponsorship program has succeeded liberate parents from ignorance and has fashioned our life for better. We earned something which remains a treasure forever, our behavior change”.