Dadamac

From Catfish Processing to Sickle Cell Read now

Wednesday's weekly online meeting between the UK and rural Nigeria came up against a familiar enemy - connectivity problems. Initially things looked bleak as we faced a long time delay with receiving and sending Skype messages. However, following a quick exchange of SMS messages the meeting was finally able to start, allowing John Dada to appear online for half an hour to bring us up to date with the latest news.

We were pleased to hear that the ESSPIN programme is now well underway and are looking forward to seeing the photos.

John also informed us that preparations for the Sickle Cell Awareness Day Celebrations had entered the final phase.

However we were especially excited to learn that over the last two months a series of training courses has been under way at Fantsuam Foundation. John said that virtually every family in their village had now attended one or more of these sessions. He has asked a member of his team to send me photos and a short summary of the training taking place.

Fish Farming Read now

Until recently my experience with fish had been limited, to say the least. In all honesty, it had consisted of watching my children win goldfish at a fair - and the occasional cod and chips supper!

However over the last 18 months the subject of fish farming has captured my attention and I have been lucky enough to have my eyes opened to the many and varied challenges involved. (Although I'll be the first to admit I still have a great deal more to learn!)

Dadamac meetings go global! Read now

Yesterday's weekly UK-Nigeria online meeting was a truly global affair, involving no fewer than three continents and nine people! John Dada was travelling in Asia, Pam and Nikki were in Europe (UK) and, of course, we were joined by our six Fantsuam participants in rural Nigeria, Africa.

Despite a minor problem accessing some links, we were able to cover in some depth topics ranging from witchcraft in rural Nigeria to the inclusion in the community of those with disabilities - and the building of links with NITEL to provide local affordable phone and internet connectivity.

Joining in with the dadamac community Read now

The idea of dadamac.net is that is should be an "online home/office/clubroom/study-space/whatever-we-need" for the growing dadamac community (which welcomes newcomers). We started off by "preparing the reception area" i.e. the home page and such like (this area needs more work - fewer words, more pictures -  but is well under way).

Sam, Fishing and more Read now

Hi Vijay. Welcome back and thanks for sharing interesting news about your trip. I feel I know you better since that letter.

You mention fishing, and that prompts me to introduce you to my friend Samwel who lives near Lake Victoria and is also concerned about declining fish stocks. Sam was at First Thursday today, and his concerns featured strongly in our chat.

Attachab Eco-village Read now

John Dada's vision for Attachab Eco-village is that it will be a model integrated farm with a high hands-on learning component, it will be the base for various SMEs (Small and Medium Entrerprises) and it will share what it learns.

The proportion of farming, health, nutrition etc will be a fluid formula depending on what resources and opportunities are available. It will ultimately be self-sustaining. It will combine new initiatives with some already developed by Fantsuam Foundation elsewhere (Fantsuam Foundation - FF - is Dadamac's sister orgnaisation). Cicely's blog is about a visit to Attachab Eco-village site, by people from Fantsuam Foundation.

Projects Read now

You can follow our projects through our blogs, through the projects drop down menu, and by using the search box (top right hand side of the screen). We are currently (August  2010) writing up individual projeccts to add to the website -but at present it is more a taster than a complete list. For more information please  email us.

Practicalities

The UK-Nigeria team meets every week online for a skype conference to discuss the projects. This ensures there is close collaboration. John leads our work in Nigeria and Pamela leads it in UK and on the Internet.