Annual Report 2011: The Agatha Foundation

Building on the success of 2010 during which the Foundation got its public status ratified and taking cognizance of the challenges, The Agatha Foundation set forth as its goal, the optimization of outreach to key constituents and the strategic development of partnerships.

Within the ambient of the twin pillars of education and health, the foundation had as objectives:

• Building capacities for stakeholders.
• Providing access to educational opportunities and scholarships especially for girls and women.
• Breaking the cycle of poverty among women in general and among women in the sex industry in Limbe in particular and increasing the capacities of women for income generating activities.
• Promoting human rights and the prevention of gender based violence.
• Improving the nutritional status of malnourished children.
• Increasing literacy and computer skills among rural women.

United States of America:
On the education front, the Foundation scored a major point by engaging and advocating the US Congress for the passage of the After School Program. The Foundation took part in meetings at the White House and US Capitol and marshaled resources calling and writing to key US Congressmen to consider this as urgent.

Thanks to this initiative, the bill was finally passed and received congressional approval.

Cameroon:

• The Foundation established a scholarship scheme that provided tuition and books to 20 high school students and one student in the University of Buea.
• Launched the S.T.E.M. program “ad experimentum” in Limbe and Bamenda whereby with some teachers we recruited girls interested in improving their options in STEM for an after school grooming.

Healthcare:
The Agatha Foundation secured some key partnerships with Gilead Sciences, George Washington University Cancer Awareness program, DC government department of health and Maryland department of health.

The Foundation also set up offices in Cameroon and Nigeria and established secured partnerships with Novavist hospital Nigeria, Women AIDS clinic, Family Healthcare Foundation and the orphanage.

United States of America:
Through these partnerships, the Foundation was able to organize public awareness campaigns through seminars on HIV/AIDS, diabetes, Hepatitis B. The focus group for these seminars was African immigrants within the DC metro area.
Not just for adults as the Foundation also brought together young people in the DC area for a healthcare prevention and awareness campaign.

The Foundation provided shelter to over 60 individuals within the Montgomery County and provided volunteers to the county’s social department.

Through the Washington Training Institute, the Foundation was able to do vocational training and rehabilitation that provided job opportunities for over 100 persons. Most of these jobs were in the area of healthcare. Through a credit scheme, individuals were able to complete the Home Health Aide Course and then the Institute placed them in jobs with partnering agencies. Some enrolled later on into the CAN/GNA course.

Cameroon:

• Building on prevention is better than cure maxim, the Foundation organized health awareness and disease prevention seminars in over ten cities and villages in the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon. Breast cancer and HIV/AIDS were the two main health issues tackled during these seminars.
• The Foundation recognized that a key element in disease prevention is nutrition and women are key stakeholders. Through groups like the Catholic Women’s association and the Christian Women’s Fellowship, the foundation rolled out a capacity building workshop on balanced diets and nutrition.
• Over 80 battered and abused women benefitted from counseling services and advocacy of the Foundation and its partners, the Women’s Aid Foundation and Family Healthcare Foundation, Cameroon.
• To win the war against HIV, the Foundation realized it must win the battle against prostitution especially in the strategic cities of Buea(provincial capital and university city), Limbe (petroleum city), Kumba, Tiko, Bamenda, Kumbo of the North West and South West Regions of Cameroon. The Foundation thus launched a rigorous program to get women off prostitution through a generous training and guaranteed employment scheme. Through this the Foundation recorded 50 women taken off the streets and the sex industry.
• Building on the legacy of Mrs. Agatha Happi, the Foundation continued taking care of the orphans she had been looking after. The foundation provided shelter, food, medical assistance and clothing to close to 300 orphans. As mush as possible the Foundation seeks this to be temporal for its intent is to move away from the institutionalized setting to a more familial setting. Hence adoption is a key component of the orphanage scheme and we strove to locate local and international partners to adopt some of these kids.

Nigeria:
Through its partnership with Novavist Hospital in Nigeria, The Agatha Foundation provided medical assistance to over 50 individuals in Ogun state and Lagos.

To the hospital itself, The Agatha Foundation donated medical equipment worth $5000.