Children’s Day: Web of Support Nigeria initiative trains children on building sustainable support system
By Omolola Dede Adeyanju
The Integrative Youth Development Web of Support initiative in Nigeria as part of her activities to mark the 2024 National Children’s Day has organized a Special Training program for Children, Teenagers, Young Adults and their Anchoring Adults in the Suburb of Alapere Ketu, Lagos, yesterday.
The Program lead Facilitators Amb Paul Philip Iwok and Aniekan Paul Iwok said that the program was specifically designed to reach out to young people in the rural suburbs and slum neighborhoods in Lagos so as to teach them how to build a sustainable web of Support that enables their resilience in the course of reaching their life goals.
According to the training by Mr Paul Iwok, building a sustainable web support is possible when children recognizes the 7 Factors that can enhance a healthy developmental ecology for them. ‘Also, he continued, ‘children must recognize the significance of the “Rule of Five and the Power of More”. Which means having 5 Anchoring Adults who are there to throw Tangible (Orange) and Intangible (Yellow) Strings of Support to the Child.
The teaching metrics revealed the significance of Green (Growing Your Balloon). That is developing the Children’s talents and God-given abilities in their lives, cherishing them and nurturing them, however, in doing this, a Child must avoid Scissors Cuts (Blue) Bad attitudes that cuts into their Web of Support.
There were also some teachings on the significance of Indigo (Caring for your Carer) Which means that every child is expected to show gratitude to every little act of kindness from the Elderly persons around them, not only their parents. Several educational activities were carried out to amplify the teachings. The training ended with Social Norms (Violet), teaching the children to avoid the negative Social Norms which had been some of those long standing social rules that has made our communities unprogressive.The children were excited as Packs of Noodles were shared to all of them.
Amb Paul Iwok, while speaking to Newsdirect, explained that, the concept behind the Web of support for children, teenagers and their caring adults in Nigeria, is to teach the children how to build a web of support that enables them to be resilient in achieving their goals in life, the program has helped many young people in their thriving processes.
This program started in Alaska, the United States, and was inaugurated in Nigeria in July 2019 by an American international Educator, Kathrine Thompson-Stone. We are the commissioned Foot Soldiers. Our mandate is to reach out to vulnerable communities, slums, suburbs and use this program to better their lives, that’s why we have empowerment programs and this program in commemoration of the national children’s day, to teach and support the children, teenagers and young adults.
As regards the challenges, Mr Iwok revealed that the program which has stood the test of time for over 7years, has been faced with diverse challenges such as funding support and trying to unlock the mindset of the youthful population to understand this uncommon child development concept, embrace it, and propagate it. He stated that in one way or the other the initiative has been thriving in its mandates.
He added, ‘A lot of children in Ketu Alapere community have been positively impacted and there have been testimonies from parents who have confessed to see significant changes in the lives of their wards.’
Meanwhile, one of the children, a participant of the program, Kinsley Wisdom expressed his take home from the program, saying, ‘I learnt that my family web should not get damaged, so we avoid scissors cuts or anything that could damage the web.
‘I also learnt that parents should support and respect their children’s feelings so that they will not mingle with the wrong people.’
