1. I am glad to announce The Mary Babatola Bifarin (MBB) microgrant awardees (and projects) for the second cohort.
Teaching Literacy to IDPs, Solar Cookers, and Sickle Cell Warriors. A🧵
2. The UN states concerning the state of Internally Displace People (IDPs) in Nigeria [i] that Boko Haram, non-state actors have pushed some 3million Nigerians out of their homes, especially in parts of Northern Nigeria.
[i] [unhcr.org/ng/idps]
3. For many, going to school in their communities was no easy task [ii]. Becoming an IDP wouldn’t make such task any easier.
Patricia Uma's 'Read a Book Nigeria Initiative' @RABNIEducation works to provide literacy education to kids in IDPs
[ii] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chibok_schoolgirls_kidnapping
4. MBB microgrant will fund Patricia’s effort to digitize their iLearn Literacy Toolkits, which will help to scale their work within the IDPs, allowing them to reach more children.
Here is a scene from one their pilot projects.
[youtu.be/-Ick5WwSNOM]
5. Almost 70% of Nigerian households still cook with solid biomass [iii]. As such, while sad, it isn’t surprising that an estimated annual death of 95,300 is linked to harmful smoke from firewood in the country [iv].
[iii] ng.boell.org/en/clean-cooking-energy
[iv] leadership.ng/world-environment-day-harmful-smoke-from-firewood-remains-risk-to-nigerian-women/
6. So, Solar cookers must be a welcome development.
Bamidele Idowu and Ademola Agunbiade @ayanfendaraare, Materials Science & Engineering students in Nigeria proposed building a solar cooker.
MBB grant is supporting them with funds to design and fabricate a prototype.
7. Sickle cell disease [v] is a hereditary group of blood disorders that causes it's victim pain, anemia, bout of infection, et cetera.
The prevalence in Nigeria is estimated in this paper [vi] from @TheLancetHaem
[v] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sickle_cell_disease
[vi] thelancet.com/article/S2352-3026(21)00216-7/fulltext
8. Ayeni Idowu and Olatunbosun Mobolaji, via @AISC_foundation serve the underserved communities in Ekiti State with health education on SCD, free testing, and some care.
The grant is supporting their efforts for free genotype testing in more underserved communities.
9. To read more about these stories see here
[bifarinthefifth.substack.com/p/mbb-grantees-cohort-2]
10. Finally I will like to thank, @RichSoltar and @DoubleEph for supporting the funds for awardees / Reviewers: @Bifarin @ObioraOke @RichSoltar @kunmiie / @Alayonimiii for web updates [mbbgrant.com/]