One Friday morning about a year ago, Asma’u Umar Yahaya, a single mother in Kano state went to a nearby shop and bought a kilo of rice, cooking seasonings, oil, vegetable and other ingredients.
She set up a fire and started cooking the rice, which she later shared to orphans and almajiris in the neighborhood in order to put happiness in them.
The next day, dozens of children thronged Ms Yahaya’s family house at Hotoro quarters in the Kano metropolis to collect another round of meal.
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Out of compassion, Ms Yahaya told them that she did not cook food for them that day, asking them to come back on Friday to collect meal.
Few days later, Ms Yahaya felt that she could not afford the mass feeding alone as she does not have the money to do so, but decided to seek support from family and friends in order to sustain the initiative .
Swiftly
, the philanthrophist therefore developed an idea to open a WhatsApp group as an easy way to raise money for the feeding programme.
Named “Al infaq fi sabilillah”, which literally means, feeding (the needy) for the sake of Allah, the WhatsApp group was created and presently has 107 members, mostly family and friends where she pinned her account details for the donation.
This gesture has become routine to Ms Yahaya and a practice she said she enjoys doing in order to get reward from Allah and contribute her quota towards alleviating the suffering of the people as a result of economic hardship occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy in the country.
BizPoint visited Ms Yahaya at her house where she gave us insight on how she is feeding the needy, especially orphans and almajiris.
“I first of all look at the situation now, where people are suffering as a result of economic hardship. My concerns are these orphans and almajiris. I pity them and always think about how they are coping in this difficult situation and feel that i should help them.
The beneficiaries displaying their tags
“One day, an idea just came to me that i should start a project of raising money to continue feeding these children.
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“I then opened a WhatsApp group and named it “Al infaq fi sabilillah”, members of the group, which is still functioning, are my family and friends. They are the ones contributing money using my account details for the weekly feeding programme.
“The members donate whatever amount they could afford; from N1,000 up to N10,000. That is how i manage to cook whatever is available, just to feed these vulnerable children,” she said.
Some of the beneficiaries eating the food right at the cooking point
She told BizPoint that she decided to choose Friday for the feeding programme as the most blessed day in a week in which good deeds receive more reads than other days.
According to her, she had chosen to cook food that is common affordable and easier to prepare, like rice, spaghetti and rice and beans.
She explained that initially, she targeted almajiris as beneficiaries of the feeding initiative but later realized that the orphans and even children whose parents are alive, have outnumbered the almajiris.
“I initially introduced the feeding initiative for almajiris who always gather in front of our house after Friday mosque to okay and sleep there. I believe they need food, that is why majority of them fall sleep.
“So, when the feeding started, i realized that those orphans in our area, and even the children that their fathers and mothers are alive, have outnumbered the almajiris. This made me feel that i have to continue this project o matter what,”
As the number of the needy increase, Ms Yahaya said she introduced a tagging system where she distributes tags, bearing numbers from 1 to 100 to the beneficiaries that come early.
Each beneficiary, according to her, would enter the house’s premises, identify his bowl and call his tag number before he was allowed to collect the food.
This is the reason why Ms Yahaya appealed to individuals and groups to support her initiative to grow in order to be able to feed more needy as she sometimes skip the cooking due to lack of money to buy the foodstuff.
Some of the beneficiaries waiting anxiously to collect the food.
“If the numbers are exhausted, whoever come after, will not get the food and i feel so bad. This is why i appeal to people, individuals and groups to support this initiative in order to feed more needy.
“This project is highly rewarding to Allah. I therefore appeal to people to invest in this project which only Allah knows the manifold of reward one will get from this project.
” I want to feed more and more needy. I enjoy feeding them like my own children. But sometimes i have to skip a week due to lack of money to buy the foodstuff to cook,” she said.
Somee of the beneficiaries who spoke with BizPoint expressed delight and gratitude to the woman for the initiative, which according to them, is helping them greatly.
