Raquel Kasham Daniel: Impact through Social Entrepreneurship

Raquel Kasham Daniel is a social entrepreneur and educator working in poor and remote communities in Nigeria focusing on education for children and sexual and reproductive health for adolescent girls through Beyond the Classroom Foundation. She is the creator of Nzuriaiki, an online platform designed to showcase volunteer opportunities in Nigeria, as well as the author of Flow: a girl’s guide to menstruation, There Is a New Virus in Town: a coronavirus awareness book for children; The Alphabet Book on COVID-19; Squeaky Clean; a personal hygiene book for girls and most recently launched a set of colouring and tracing books for children. In this interview with MARY NNAH, she talks on how she has been using her platform, Nzuriaiki to prepare youths for job opportunities; how she through her book addresses the major concerns every young girl goes through during puberty and more

How would you describe your journey so far as a social entrepreneur? Would you say you are fulfilled?

I started out as more of a “charity worker”. After about five years of struggling to sustain our projects, I knew it was time to move from the charity model to the social entrepreneurship model. My team and I had to carefully look at our projects to find ways we can make them all sustainable. So instead of simply raising funds to purchase and distribute free sanitary pads to girls who cannot afford them, we start looking at the ideas of designing our own affordable reusable pads and teaching the girls how to design their own pads. Instead of buying the colouring and tracing books for the pre-schoolers in our programme, I designed colouring, tracing and comprehension worksheets that parents and schools can buy, this then allows us use the profit to print more books for our beneficiaries. We also introduced a business mentoring and small seed grant programme for the mothers of our beneficiaries at the IDP camp. This will allow them to earn a living and within a year or two, they are able to start paying the fees of their children, giving us the opportunity to enrol more children.

Moving from the charity model has been very tough and I am not where near fulfilled with my work but I am fulfilled with my life. I believe there is still so much that can be done.

What influenced your passion for working with children and girls?

My passion for education and sexual & reproductive health for adolescent girls is influenced largely by my background and experiences growing up. After my late father told me no one in my family had gone past secondary school, it completely shocked me. I instantly understood why he is so passionate about having us go to school. He was practically obsessed with it. So when he passed while I was a teenager, I made it my own dream to ensure I go beyond secondary school and I did. And now that I have a degree, I’ve seen how important it is which is why I am so passionate about getting children whose parents cannot afford to put them in school, back to school.

For menstrual hygiene, my dad taught me all I knew at age 9. He was an amazing father. Like I mentioned earlier, he passed. After his passing, I ended up living on the street, because I ran away from home from fear of being married and never actualising my dream of going to school. While on the street, I had to use tissue paper from a restroom toilet to manage my period. I’d walk into the eatery, head straight to their restroom, change and run off. Using tissue gave me lots of blisters on my thigh and made it so uncomfortable for me to walk. Somewhere along the line, I started using cloth pads to save cost and that, just like the tissue hurt me and completely hurt my self-esteem. I was always afraid my pad would fall off and it scared me. When I finally had the means, I started to provide free sanitary pads for other girls because I know exactly what it means not to have one.

You are a social entrepreneur and educator with focus on poor and remote communities, what does this entail?

I discovered that there is a gap in how people find volunteer opportunities and how non-profits find volunteers, so I designed a platform that advances community action by volunteering. As a social entrepreneur, I have through Nzuriaiki, made it easy for anyone to find volunteers for their organisation’s needs and for individuals to find volunteering opportunities. It often takes a lot of time, energy and perseverance to find volunteer opportunities online for an organisation you are passionate about.

Nzuriaiki simply offers a better way for volunteers to discover the right opportunities quickly and efficiently.

As an educator, I work with children and girls through Project Red Robots of Beyond the Classroom Foundation. We educate girls on menstruation; bust the myths and taboos around it while providing free/affordable reusable pads to girls in secondary schools in poor communities in Nigeria.

We recently created the “Flow with Pride Kit’, for girls. It contains 12 reusable sanitary pads, 5 underwear, one FLOW menstruation book, and 5 bars of Soap. This kit comes at a cost and can be purchased for the girls we work with or any teenage girl. When you purchase a kit, you enable us to sustain our project through the proceeds.

What gap is the Nzuriaiki platform filling?

Nzuriaiki.com is an online platform that showcases volunteer opportunities in Africa and connects organisations with volunteers. I decided to launch it because volunteering helped me gain skills when I had no skills to get a good job. I was orphaned as a teenager and was left to cater to my three younger brothers. Needing a job but having no work experience, I decided to volunteer for free to build up my capacity, which is something my mom always emphasised anyway. Through volunteering, I developed professional, technical and soft skills such as leadership and critical thinking, but most importantly, it boosted my self-confidence.

Prior to getting into University, I used those skills to apply for jobs, which I got easily. The skills I learned during my time volunteering gave me the opportunity to find flexible part-time jobs allowing me to earn and continue to take care of my siblings while paying my way through school. I decided to launch this platform, to fill the gap of unemployment and access to opportunities for the youths. Knowing a lot of organisations want certain skills and work experience, which a lot of graduates don’t have, this platform will give them the work experiences they need. Volunteering worked for me; I believe it is a solution that can tackle the problem of unemployment in Nigeria. By serving and giving your time, it can turn up to learning or earning opportunities.

Share with us challenges you have faced carrying out your work?

My journey in this sector is not different for many. The major challenge we face is the issue of funding. When I first started over 10 years ago, it was really tough. It was like starting any business; I had to face the challenges of getting the right team, innovation and plans for sustainability. Looking back now I see the wisdom in getting a mentor early and connecting with a community of people in the same sector. That was also a big challenge. I believe collaborating with others would have eased my load, as it was a new terrain I was navigating. I also made a lot of mistakes, running too many projects at once and trying to solve every problem that we encountered.

In 2013, I got some training at the Enterprise Development Centre of Pan Atlantic University and two sponsored Social Sector training, one in South Africa another in Nigeria by the US Embassy in Lagos. It was after I gained clarity and became focused on our mission that the work became easier. Right now, even though we’re still a small team, the work isn’t as tough anymore and we’re making more impact than when we started years ago.

You wrote books on menstruation and personal hygiene, what informed them?

The two books on menstrual and personal hygiene were inspired by my past experiences. My late father inspired the menstrual hygiene book and my late mom inspired the personal hygiene book. In the course of my work, we visited so many schools to educate girls on menstrual hygiene and personal hygiene and also distribute free sanitary pads. I realised that, I always end up talking about my parents. That’s because there’s no way I can tell my menstruation and puberty story without mentioning them, they taught me all that I know.

When I decided to write my first book, “Flow; a girl’s guide to menstruation”, I knew it was also time for the world to hear a positive story about fathers. It is a book that every girl can relate to. It serves as a guide to help them navigate through the world of puberty. In the book, I spoke about how my late father taught me about menstruation, I also shared my personal experiences, gave practical advice and information on managing menstruation. My goal is for these books to address the major concerns every young girl goes through during puberty.

How is your book fighting period poverty?

Period poverty is when women and girls cannot afford proper sanitary products or do not have the information and facilities to manage their period properly. This can put their health, education, and well-being at risk. My book FLOW, is fighting period poverty in the area of menstrual education.

Periods are something women and girls have been having for thousands of years. It’s the reason you and I are even here. And yet around the world, there’s still an element of shame associated with a woman’s monthly cycle. If you’ll be honest, you’ll agree that menstruation is associated with impurity and disgust, which is probably why many women say they feel uncomfortable talking about their periods.

This has over the years led to women suffering in silence when it comes to their periods and thus they provide little or no information to growing girls in their homes.

In my work with Beyond the Classroom, I have seen that few girls especially in rural communities have access to the necessary information they need to prepare themselves for menstruation and manage their periods when it arrives. For this to change, parents and our schools must provide resources and information that girls can access. This book will help girls understand rather than feel scared about what is happening to their bodies during puberty.

What key message do you have for young people who are trying to make a meaning of their lives?

It is good to always remember that everyone you meet is fighting a battle you might not know about. So whatever it is you are going through, keep your spine straight, be honest in all you do and don’t be lured into becoming somebody you are not. It’s also important to have guts, show up always, have courage and be yourself in the face of all these uncertainties. As you try to make a meaning of your life, learn to build strong networks and collaborate with others in your field. It helps you to not only grow but also to keep hope in times of difficulty. You also need to learn to deal with disappointments sometimes. Then stand up again, straighten up your shoulders and then move. Eventually, things will get better but some things take time.