Today I did something we all do sometimes, especially during reflection hours . I scrolled through old photos and the photo below of me and this beautiful women with the flags brought back memories of this day 1st October 2018, The day I started AOAfoundations which I now top on the list of nonprofits in Nigeria.
In 2018, I was a young woman filled with a passion to help young children stay in school, to empower mothers so more children will be in school but I had little money from my 9-5 job. I had zero grant or financial support but I had my salary and I used a huge part of it for the foundation. At first, I would give foodstuff to women, books, pen, pencils, mathematical sets and lots more
to children all by myself because I couldn’t even afford a staff but friends who volunteered because they believed in the vision for humanity.
after every outreach, I smile and dance the entire way home because for every outreach my vision for giving someone hope was realized.
As a child, I grew up in the midst of struggle. If you are Nigerian, you will understand what it means to be sent home from school because of late fees. It took me a lot of determination and hard work to pay myself through school. I went through things a child shouldn’t have to go through. I grew up into an adult who derived joy in creating ease for a mother and child or just anyone one in need .
But for AOAfoundations to grow, my salary alone couldn’t continue to fund it and I still had no access to grants or funding. In 2020, I launched @CaridadStudios. A photography service located in Abuja as a sustainability plan for the nonprofit with 50%of its proceeds going into charity. Gradually, we have built and grown AOAfoundations from no office location to 3 different locations. We are in Abuja, Calabar and most recently fully registered in the United States.
I am a firm believer that everything you desire is possible if you believe and put in the work. This is 2022 and so far, AOAfoundations has empowered a total of 6,000 women on skills and start up capitals for thire small scale bussiness , 109 youths, on photography trannings and some youths in the hard to reach communities funds to start small bussiness,12,000 children with educational materials and 385 children on scholarships.
mainly with funds from @caridadstudios.
You can check our IG @caridadstudios,
@aoafoundations, @letstalkcharity and our website www.aoafoundation.com
For Caridadstudios, we take one of the best portraits, family photos, birthday shots in Abuja. And the best part is we are affordable as we are a nonprofit and 50%of your proceeds goes straight Into Charity.
It’s been an amazing five years and we are still counting.
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