Covid-19 Relief Fund

Iranwo Foundation in collaboration with The Butterfly Project

Location: Nigeria (Lagos)

I was was inspired to start the #COVID19 project because of my interactions with people who live in Mushin- a slum in Lagos state, Nigeria. Prior to the lockdown, I tried to hold a sensitization in the community on ways to reduce the transmission of the disease. During the sensitization, I found out that it was almost impossible for people in the community to be socially distant because of the high level of poverty among families. Shortly after this, with the daily marginal increase in new cases in Nigeria, the Federal Government ordered a lockdown in Lagos State, Ogun State, and Abuja to curtail the spread of the pandemic in these epicenters. This meant that all schools had to close, all markets had to close and everyone had to stay put in their houses (or in whatever place they had, to lay their heads). While this had good intentions, sadly, it also dealt a fatal blow on the income and survival chances of many women and indigent families in slums and underserved communities in Nigeria; who have to go out to “hustle” every day, in order to provide the most basic necessities for their families. This propelled me to lead the Iranwo Foundation in collaboration with The Butterfly Project to raise funds in order to provide support for these families in low-income communities.

Apart from feeding the families however, we also collaborated with SI4DEV to print posters and banners in the local Yoruba, Egun and Pidgin English languages, to educate these communities on prevention tips for COVID-19. We hope that with these efforts, the people in these communities will take enough preventive measures during this pandemic, as best as they can.

In the middle of all the fear and panic that came with the lockdown, and while governments on all levels were still planning to set up palliative measures for those most affected by the effects of the lockdown, through my organization (Iranwo Foundation) I partnered with Tawakalit Kareem of The Butterfly Project to raise funds for these low-income families. At present, we have done cash transfers of amounts between ₦5000 and ₦20,000(depending on the size of the family) to 154 families in slums and underserved communities in Nigeria especially Makoko, Mushin and Oke-ira.

Bunmi (not her real name) teaches in a private school in her neighborhood and her basic salary is ₦12,000 (~$32) monthly. Sadly, she has a child with cerebral palsy and she spends about ₦5000 (~$13) weekly on his healthcare. Senayon (not her real name also) is a cleaner whose basic salary is ₦5000 (~$13) monthly. She has five children and her husband is dead. Adenike (also a pseudonym) is 26 and she has five children. She sells pito (a locally produced juice) to willing patrons in her community and sales are irregular and unpredictable. Misturat (not her real name either) is a laundrywoman who knocks on doors asking people if they have clothes for her to wash. She has six children and she cannot feed them without knocking on doors daily.

Bunmi, whose school had dismissed teachers indefinitely and sent them home without pay, was able to stock her home with food and pay for her son’s healthcare with the COVID-19 relief fund we provided. Senayon was also able to buy food that would last her and her family for the 14 days during which the lockdown is expected to last. Despite the lockdown, Adenike still kept on making pito and hoped to sell to her customers. However, she could not, as speaking in Yoruba over the phone with me a few minutes after she got the relief fund; she said, “People are saving their money and no longer buying pito from me”. Gladly, she too was also able to buy food that would last her family for the period of the lockdown and does not need to make anymore pito for now. Misturat also does not need to go knocking on doors, asking for dirty clothes to wash, just so she could feed her six children. With the money she was given, she was able to buy enough food to last her this period and does not have to go out, risking being infected, just to get her daily sustenance.

Support Needed

Funds needed: We hope to continue to raise funds to support identified families in these communities so we partnered with fliqpay (a cryptocurrency organization) to raise ₦10,000,000 ($26,018.63 USD) https://fliqpay.com/covid/ and ensure that,as many low-income families as we can identify, are able to thrive during the #COVID-19 pandemic.

We hope to support a minimum of 1000 low income families during the lockdown and we have partnered with Fliqpay to raise funds https://fliqpay.com/covid/. Donors can donate to our cause through this link. 500,000 Naira. 

Other support: Volunteers

See more: 

Twitter/ Instagram- Onioluwafunmi 

Facebook/ Linkedin- Oluwafunmilayo

For more information contact covid19@unmgcy.org