At the twentieth anniversary ceremony of CAVSI, the non governmental organisation reeled out its achievements since inception, urged influential and well meaning Nigerians to stop complaining but to rather contribute their quota to the development of the country.
Newsconnect reports that the acronym CAVSI stands for Children Academic, Vocational Support Initiatives.
The Founder of CAVSI Humanitarian Hakeem Babatunde Ariori in an interview with Newsconnect correspondence at the event took us back to memory lane, shared how the intervention started since he moved to Sango Otta twenty years ago.
In his words, said;
“It started as a family project, we moved into Sango exactly 20 years ago. We noticed some students were going to school without footwears and without bags, so we said we have excess, why not share it among these children.
Founder Hakeem Babatunde Ariori
“Since we can’t just be calling students randomly to come and take, we started by organising songs and play to get them involved, at the end they get school materials that is how it started.
“Over the years, people saw what we are doing and they are also supporting us with different materials.
“What we are celebrating today is joy and a lot of achievements. We live in a local environment, and the little we do has transformed the lives of these different children into who they are today.
“We call some of them our ambassadors, we are training them to takeover from us in the future. We are training them as volunteers that there is need for them to give back, there is need to identify who don’t have and share from what you have with them.
“We are celebrating selflessness today that is, is not enough if we have and others don’t have, we are telling the world to identify the needy and share from what they have with them”.
“We are grateful for the students that had been consistent with us since the last ten years. If they are not gaining anything, they won’t be coming. We are grateful that over the years, the number of students participating are increasing, we are also changing our strategies by being practical with what we do.
“We are very informal with what we do and that has open a lot of students to learn different things about life. It is not just about the school life.
“One of the things we are emphasizing is that let not the classroom be your world, let the world be your classroom. We are encouraging them to learn wherever they found themselves.
“Whether they are playing games, wherever they found themselves, there is something to learn. We are grateful today that we have turned out a lot of students from over fifty schools.
“Some of them are here today, some of them are being rewarded today and we hope to continue because it is a call to serve.
“We are very grateful for those who have stood by us over the years especially my immediate family, my wife and my children, if not for their support, there will be no way this might have been done.
“We are doing everything in my house, lots of noise and so many things but they never complained.
“We hope to reach out to more underserved communities. We hope to reach out through schools. Since not all students can come to our programs but through schools, we can get more students”. Ariori said.
A social worker, Humanitarian Adeboye Olagunju who is also a volunteer at CAVSI shared the strategy he adopted towards moulding the children at CAVSI as leaders.
In an interview with Newsconnect, Adeboye said:
“I delegate leadership positions to these children, this is a strategy we adopt in influencing them. We then guide and monitor them.
“Children are happy when their guardians are happy and Vice versa. I ensure am happy when impacting this children and with that, I get the best of them and their attention.
“The only time children are not happy is when they are not interested with what is going on around them, even at home.
“Some don’t want to go home because they are not happy at home. The moment you can get what interest them, make them happy, then you can control them.
“You don’t need to use Cain to punish them, simply punish them with what you know that they like. At the time of sharing souvenirs to these children, rather than cain the noise makers amongst them, we ensure nobody who makes noise get nothing. I don’t believe in using cain most of the time on children “. He said.
Emmanuel Olamide
CAVSI Ambassador and volunteer Emmanuel Olamide who had been a consistent winner at CAVSI’s activities shared the reasons behind her winnings and how she emerged as an ambassador.
In an Interview with our correspondence at the event said;
“I use to participate in CAVSI Long Vacation Daily Activities (LVDA), I had been a consistent winner. 2 years ago, there was a
Jamb competition in which whoever wins becomes CAVSI ambassador, I won and I have since emerged as an ambassador.
‘I can attribute the reasons I have been winning to the school I went to, and my mom being a teacher.
“She always ensure I learn everything about something and something about everything. I would say that is one of the things that has boosted my ability to win”. She said.
A lecturer at a private University in Ago-Iwoye
Oluwafemi Adeniyi Ogunsiji who has been a contributor to all the programs of CAVSI gave kudos to the founder Ariori for not relinquishing his dream despite the fact that there is no much financial gains rendering such gesture.
“If you don’t have passion for a selfless intervention that has little or no financial gains, the idea wont fly.
“Kudos to Hakeem Ariori for doing this and not relinquishing his dream as a result of challenges and obstacles. Life is a continuum, Hakeem should build people that would survive him, so that his intervention can be lifelong activities”.
He urged the participants to go home and think about what they saw here, so they can also affect lives in their own little way. He said participants should identify an area where they can contribute to the society.
He said with that we can make the society better than we have it now.
“We should not just be complaining and expecting something good, we should learn from Mr Ariori, in a little form, try and make an impact”. Ogunsiji asserts.
Babaranti Titilayomi, a nutritionist, educator and trainer who was newly appointed as one of the advisory board of CAVSI told our medium what emerged her in the new role.
She said;
“Over the years I have worked with different NGOs, and I have always contributed my quota towards the development of humanity, I think that is what led to me being appointed. I feel good with the appointment, it is a charge to keep intervening in humanitarian gestures”. She said.