In South Nigeria, in the state of Rivers, is located the village of Eeken which belongs to the city of Bori. This is the second largest city of the state of Rivers after Port Harcourt, as well as being the traditional land of the people of Ogoni.

However, it is important to know that its inhabitants are from all Nigerian ethnic groups ; Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo. This multiculturalism can be explained by the fact that students come to “Ken Saro Wiwa Polytechnic” for the end of their studies. The cohabitation of many ethnic groups is usually harmonious, despite of the occasional city crisis.

Children of Eeken

Bori is famous for its large market where corn, taro, palm oil, vegetables, meat and fish can be purchased in large quantities to be sold locally or exported. Eeken is a rural community of 6,000 inhabitants, most of them are Ogonis, a native people of South Nigeria. This is where we, Daughters of Charity, live and work.

Some of the beneficiaries

Project stakeholders 

The future fish farm will be located in Eeken. Some ten surrounding villages, the inhabitants of Bori included, will benefit from this project as fish will be sold on the famous weekly market.

Two persons will be working at the farm:

• Gara Sira, grew up in Eeken. This thirty-year-old is married and mother of two children.
• James Barineme is a 30-year old single young man. He is strongly involved in pastoral care as a catechist.
  

I have met with both of them at various group meetings ahead of the project, as well as at a support group for which we needed voluntaries to help us carry out awareness and HIV prevention activities. They allow us to maintain the link between us, Daughters of Charity and the Ogoni community.

 
Gara Sira and James Barineme

At the moment, they lack education in pisciculture, but we will remedy that by offering them a training by a specialist in fish breeding to acquire general knowledge of fishing. This will be available to other young people interested in starting pisciculture as well.

Some will help bring the fish to the market and sell it. The young aged 20 to 35 involved in this project will have completed their secondary studies.

Les jeunes intéressés pour suivre la formation en pisciculture

With this project, we hope to offer job opportunities to the native people of Eeken, fight malnutrition affecting the less fortunate such as orphans and vulnerable children, train young people to make them independent, generate revenue to improve the quality of life as well as reduce the morbidity and the mortality rate in relation to poor diet and poverty.

Fish breeding

Catfish fingerlings will be introduced to the three ponds.

An important part of the budget will be dedicated to feeding the fingerlings. Indeed, they eat a lot at the beginning of their life, and this determines their proper development.

We plan on building three 7 meter long and 3.5 meter wide ponds in three different locations. Each of the basins will welcome 1,000 fingerlings, because young catfishes need a lot of space to survive the heat.

The place where will be built the 3 ponds used for raising fish

In a three-year time, we hope to be able to contribute to the improvement of the nutrition quality of four thousand people!

We really need your support to build this project on a strong foundation.

The children are already very grateful for your love and generosity which will greatly contribute to improve their health. We assure you of our heartfelt prayers.