By Habeeb Lanlehin
The challenges of getting an education at the premier university are underrated. The rush to classes, puzzling assignments and group work, impromptu tests and quizzes and the sleep-depriving examination. Despite all these challenges and more, some students still take out time and energy to run, volunteer and actively participate in unprofitable non-government organizations (NGOs) would it be an exaggeration if we refer to them as unsung heroes?
According to Wikipedia, A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in humanitarianism or the social sciences; they can also include clubs and associations that provide services to their members and others. An NGO is goal focused and focuses on activities based on their scope of creation.
Speaking to Mr AyoElesho about his understanding of an NGO, he stated that he has no understanding of the profit-making part of an NGO and that all his NGO activities are unprofitable. To him, NGOs exist to help humanity and make the world a better place.
What is your driving force?
When questioned about the driving force that makes him volunteer for these activities he explained passionately how he derives fulfilment in helping other people. Mr Ayoelesho believes wealth and material belonging are not the only way to fulfilment but helping other others when you’re in a position to do so is a sure path to fulfilment. “Some people have crawled so you can walk, it is only right to pay it forward”. He has volunteered with different NGOs like the indigenous, a French-based non-profit. An organization that strives for equal representation of the “marginalized”. He has also volunteered with Mango educational foundation, an Indian-owned NGO that tries to cater for the educational needs of the less privileged and many more organizations and outreach programs.
Do you own an NGO?
During the chat, Mr Ayoelsho talks about owning an NGO that he runs, Homeless not hopeless Nigeria. An organization that aims to alleviate the suffering of homeless people on the street of Ibadan. The goal is to give hope to the homeless and advocate for their rights. To achieve this, the organization partners with government organizations, other non-government organizations, philanthropists, private individuals and donors of similar interests.
What’s your motivation/story?
“I had always known I was going to start up something that will help the society”. The story started in 2022 during covid after he read a book by John Grishan that discusses the issues of homelessness In America. And this sparked a desire in him to research how homelessness affects Nigerians. In his research, he found out that 1/8 of the population, 25million people are homeless or housed in an environment that’s unsafe for living. To him, a myriad of reasons like government neglect, substance abuse, domestic violence, illiteracy etc are causes for homelessness. But government neglect is the primary source of homelessness in Nigeria.
He created his NGO in a bid to help and make an impact Instead of sitting on the sidelines and clamouring for the government to help.
How has the journey been?
Setting up a team, requesting grants, and carrying out projects have not been easy. The silver lining is us seeing progress. Another major issue is the scarcity of local materials (books) for research to combat this and make our research more effective we have recruited twenty-two volunteers across multiple institutions but managing a team of twenty-two individuals from different walks of life has proven a bit strenuous. However, he lauded the commitment and efforts of his team members.
How do you juggle education and running an NGO?
In reply to this, Mr Ayoelesho explains how it all balls down to multi-tasking and setting priorities. He stresses the importance of having a to-do list to discern when and how to juggle education and volunteering.
Although due to the abrupt end to the ASUU strike and return to classes, the activities of the organization are a bit slowed down but the NGO is still fully running and soon more focus would be shifted to the NGO activities. It is all about finding a balance according to the situation on ground, he explained.
Do you think if needs warrants it, you
can pause your NGO related activities to
focus on your education?
Mr. Ayoelsho carefully explains why he would choose his educationon and pause his NGO activities if he had no other alternative. To drive home his point, he said his education would play the most important role in ensuring his success in the future. With his success, he stated that he can be of more use to the society and help from a position of comfort as it is very hard to help or be of use from an uncomfortable position.
