Task 1

WHO AM I

I am Ojajuni Oluwasijibomi Paul, a young social entrepreneur from the south western part of Nigeria, a place where the people are accommodating, culture is rich and the land flows with milk and honey. I am a resourceful and energetic social entrepreneur with a strong passion to affect lives positively by creating opportunities to reposition lives and reconstructing minds through inspiriting information.

This poem I wrote reflects who I am

ECHOES OF FATE

As doubtful thoughts began to sweep through my mind,

About life, future and alliances that must bind,

Concerning fulfillment, love and people we find,

Convincingly I looked within and said to myself,

I was born to love, give, rule, and conquer.

My name and life radiates providence,

Day by day I gain wisdom and grow in confidence,

I am much more planned, not a coincidence,

At this point I paused and said to myself,

With all this what will the future offer.

I see a future filled with grace, favour and prosperity,

With joy, I shall live and love life without worldliness,

I picture a loving family built on God the rock,

I smiled and whispered to myself,

“May his loving kindness and blessing be abundant upon me”.

Now I can share life and make friend without doubt,

Knowing fully well that my future is secured by faith,

I feel so optimistic, enthusiastic and spirited,

To create change, and help secure the future today,

‘Cos I am OLUWASIJIBOMI PAUL OJAJUNI.

I am a graduate of Human Physiology from the University of Ilorin with interest in Social entrepreneurship, project management,public health,monitoring and evaluation, HIV/AIDS, Youth reproductive health and right, Maternal health.

HOW DO I FEEL

I feel I am an agent of change who sees hope in the present and future of my generation and others to come in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.

I feel it is time for every youth to take action in addressing pressing global issues by being part of the process of change by creating long lasting solutions through sustainable initiatives.

PROFESSIONAL QUESTION

How can I successfully plan, initiate and run a youth friendly center I intend to establish and why is there little support/acknowledgement for youth led development initiatives/projects.

MY DREAMS

My dream is to establish a youth friendly centers where youths can meet, interact, share ideas and receive counseling and also in the near future establish an orphanage for children most especially those who lost their parent to HIV/AIDS.

I also dream an HIV/AIDS free society where no child will be orphaned and become vulnerable, I dream a world where youth reproductive right will be highly upheld, I dream a world where young people play pivotal role in addressing global issues and are supported to create solutions by initiating development projects, I dream a world where every youth becomes an agent of change anywhere they may be irrespective of race, gender, and religion.

MY CHALLENGES

Little support for youth led initiatives from the government and bad government policies towards such initiatives.

Encouraging youths to initiate development projects has also been a major challenge and most are unwilling to sacrifice time and energy in being an agent of change.

MY PURPOSE

WHY I WANT TO TAKE PART IN WARRIORS WITHOUT WEAPONS 2011

To gain more knowledge and skill in social entrepreneurship - how to initiate a project, sustain it and effectively monitor and evaluate the project which will make me a better social entrepreneur. Meet and share ideas with other gifted youths from around the world who are passionate about creating change. I also intend to be part of the warrior without weapon program to learn from success stories from other youths and possibly discover how to overcome my challenges which is part of the motives why the program was created.

MY ACTION

I have over the past 4 years been involved in peer education training for youths in my community, in secondary and tertiary institutions in my state, creating focus groups among them for better interaction, creating awareness on HIV/AIDS, youth reproductive health and right, help in setting up HIV/AIDS counselling and testing centers.

Cross section of myself and secondary school students I trained

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  Helping to take away orphaned and vulnerable children of the street and placing them in orphanages.

   

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  Empowering uneducated women in villages to live healthier lives by teaching them simple healthy lifestyles and also making them more relevant and productive in the society by teaching them how to set up small and medium scale enterprise.

These projects are majorly financed by donations from people and organizations that are socially responsible and from selling donated used items such as cloth, shoes, furniture, and food items.

ABDUL’S STORY

                            Picture of myself and Abdul (picture taken six months ago)

Abdul is a seven year old boy orphaned eight months ago by HIV/AIDS, Abdul’s father was a farmer who died from complications of HIV/AIDS two years ago, since then Abdul has been living with his mother. Unfortunately Abdul’s mother also died eight months ago from complications of HIV/AIDS. I have been working with some other young people to take children like Abdul of the street which they have made their own. Abdul is the fifth of six children in the family and the others are still on the street. Abdul is currently in an orphanage where we help place him in. There are still so many children who have similar case such as Abduls’ on the street who have nobody to call their own but live on the edge and can only hope for a better tomorrow.

MY COMMITMENT

MY PLANS, THINGS I WILL DO WHEN I RETURN

I will definitely apply knowledge and social entrepreneur skills gained from the warriors without weapons program  in planning and setting up a youth friendly centers where youths can meet, interact, share ideas and receive counseling on issues such as HIV/AIDS, relationship reproductive health, value clarification, self esteem.

I will also teach youths about becoming agents of change by being social entrepreneurs which I will include in my curriculum while I train them hereby making a social entrepreneur out of them.