The Nation Newspaper

Tag: builds

  • Corps member builds, donates clinic

    National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, Dr. Esther Akpan, has built and donated a clinic to Adiadia community in Uruan Local Government of Akwa Ibom State.

    Akpan, who is serving at the Nigeria Medical Association Clinic, also donated desks and sick bays to four schools in Uruan, as part of her community development service.

    She told reporters in Uyo yesterday that she was motivated to make the donations because of dearth of health posts in schools in the local government.

    The corps member lamented that pupils sit on the floor to receive lessons.

    She said she had executed other life-impacting programmes, including de-worming of pupils of Government Primary School, Ibiaku, Issiet, liaising with the government for the provision of desks to primary schools, setting up sick bays at Adiaha Obong Secondary School, Ekpene Ukim and Methodist Secondary School, Ibiaku Issiet, conducting free treatment for adults and children at Adadia, donation of drugs to schools, among others.

    Akpan said she was moved to take the steps because when she visited schools in Uruan Local Government, she realised none had a sick bay or First Aid Box.

    The corps member, a graduate of Zaporozhye State Medical University, Ukraine, said her humanitarian gesture followed the favour she received while growing up.

    Head of Adadia village Chief William Udobot, represented by Chief Essien Asuquo, thanked Dr. Akpan for initiating the project and bringing it to the community.

    NYSC Coordinator Mr. Julius Amusan described Akpan as one of the outstanding corps members.

    He said her achievements were a pride not only to her, but also to the corps.

    Amusan said the inauguration of the projects coincided with the 45th anniversary of NYSC.

  • Olanipekun builds ultra-modern church in hometown

    Eminent lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun, has laid the foundation stone of a new St. Peter’s Anglican Church in his native Ikere-Ekiti in Ekiti State.

    The new church building, when completed, has a capacity for 1,600 worshippers at a time with state-of-the-art facilities.

    The entire project from start to finish will be solely financed by Olanipekun and is expected to be completed and opened for public use in two years.

    Apparently excited by the gesture, the Bishop of the Diocese of Ekiti, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), the Rt. Rev. Christopher Omotunde, hailed Olanipekun for building a new church in his community.

    Omotunde urged privileged Nigerians to emulate the gesture of the Senior Advocate by using their wealth to promote assist the church and the less privileged.

    Olanipekun said the desire to build the new church grew last December when he requested for the land to carry out the project.

    According to him, the church is not his personal property but a project dedicated to God and for the use of worshippers.

    He said: “This place is historic. Our parents built the first church here about 100 years ago.

    “This is St. Peter’s Church. It does not belong to Olanipekun. Nobody can take God’s church from here. It is not anybody’s doing and this will not be an abandoned project.

    “Every material to be used like iron, cement, granite and so on are available. By the grace of God, our Bishop and the Primate will be here to commission it when completed.

    “I am a third generation member of this church, my uncle served as the church secretary for 23 years while my father served as secretary for 17 years without receiving any salary and he used to cut the grass of the church vicinity free.

    “We were born into it, wherever we go, we should not be ashamed of our place of birth.

    “Residents of this area, we are not grabbing your land. Please cooperate with us as we build this new church.”

  • JSS3 dropout builds aerodynamic car

    JSS3 dropout builds aerodynamic car

    Jude Onah, 24, may not be a university graduate or an auto engineer. But one Sunday, he drove to church in a locally-assembled three-wheel aerodynamic car, which he designed, writes Udemma Chukwuma.

    It was difficult for those present to believe that Jude Onah is a junior secondary school dropout when he drove his 2017 locally-assembled three-wheel aerodynamic car to Good Shepherd Catholic Church, Grace Land, Kaduna, where he worships, a few Sundays ago.

    A crowd, including children, who could not hide their surprise, gathered around the red car in admiration after the service. They cheered Onah and the children ran after the car as he drove home.

    Describing how he felt, Onah said it was a dream come through. “I was overwhelmed with joy. I never expected the number of people I saw that day. I feel excited and fulfilled,” he said.

    It all started last year when Onah told his friends and neighbours that he was going to construct a three-wheel aerodynamic car. A self-imposed project sounded crazy and laughable to them, because they knew Onah as a school dropout.

    The 24-year-old from Enugu State said he was neither discouraged by this nor by his educational background from pursuing his passion. He bought wrought irons, tool box, welding machine and other tools that would make up a mechanic workshop, including a blueprint of what he wanted to design as well as the construction of a wooden version of the aerodynamic car.

    Where did Onah learn to build an aerodynamic car? “It’s an inborn talent,” he claimed, “I discovered this gift in my early age. I was seven years when I started constructing things,” he said.

    Building the aerodynamic car, he explained, involves a  long process. “I had to do the drawing first, using plywood to construct the prototype, which I started two years ago and ever since then I studied it day and night.”

    Onah turned the compound where he lives into his workshop. “I bought welding machine, and other tools. I sourced for other materials such as engine, pan, rods, 2×1, 1×1 square pipe, flat bars and tires. I began to fix the parts together whenever there was light.

    “I was building the aerodynamic car at home during weekends, that was why it took me eleven months and some weeks to finish the project. Electricity instability also contributed to the delay.”

    He revealed that he learnt welding for about three weeks at the back of his shop. That was after his master, whom he served for years settled him last year.

    “After I have finished welding the aerodynamic car, I decided to learn the wiring aspect of it, for which I reached an agreement with the rewire (sic) and I paid him five thousand naira for three weeks. But something happened along the line. Igbos were asked to leave the North and there was tension everywhere so I decided to rush the work, and because of this I stopped learning.

    “As I tried doing the wiring with the little knowledge I have acquired, I fixed the head lamps, signals, radio, ignition and anything fixable and what was left was just to connect wires, which I started but was not able to finish it. I then decided to go back and learn more, but there was still tension in the country so this time I decided to call the rewire(sic) to come and finish it up which took him some hours to complete.”

    Onah’s aerodynamic car is powered with a motorcycle engine. “It was not the engine I planned to use, but I could not afford the engine I had in mind,” he said.

    What made Onah drop out of school with his level of talent?

    He said: “In 2008, his uncle,who was responsible for his education ‘suddenly decided not to pay for my education but to join him in his building material business.’

    He recalled that his uncle picked him from the village to Zaria, Kaduna State at 12, “with the intention to sponsor me to school after he saw the creativity in me. He sent me to school, but after JSS3, he stopped me to join him in the business.

    “I did all I could to convince him, but he insisted that I should stop because he knew I could take care of his business too. So, we had a lot of misunderstanding because of that. I never  wanted to do business, but there was no option left for me than to obey because I have nobody to train me in school.”

    After serving his master  for years, Onah was settled last year with a building materials shop. It was the money Onah saved from his new shop, he used to buy materials to pursue his dream. “There is nothing like doing what you know how to do best; it’s not all about money, it’s all about what gives you joy, that is what matters to me. I never wanted to be a business man since I discovered this God-given talent but life’s events have driven me into a different direction.”

    Onah said he desires to return to school, but he cannot afford it as his shop is almost empty due to family responsibilities and he still goes to his former master’s shop, which is close to his to take goods on credit and pay him after he sells.

    “I have an older brother. We both served the same person. He owns a shop but he’s not that rich because of too much load on his shoulder.

    “I want to go back to school. Business is secondary to me. I’m using this opportunity to seek help from well-meaning Nigerians and the Governor of my state. All I want is scholarship, I don’t need money from anybody but scholarship to pursue my dream.

    “I wrote WASC last year and I made my papers. My dream is to be an aeronautical/automobile engineer; that was my childhood dream. I have passion for creativity, innovation, invention and construction. Nothing else gives me joy than this and also to acquire more knowledge.”

    He has ability to put pieces of metals  into a whole regardless of his lack of formal training “and so many discouragements from most of my friends and those around me,” he said, adding: “It’s by God’s grace. I refused to let them kill my dreams.”

  • Girl, 14, builds $10,000 house

    Building a house from scratch, even a tiny one, is not for the faint at heart, but 14-year-old Sicily Kolbeck has proven she has what it takes to see her passion project through against overwhelming odds. Kolbeck, from Marietta, Georgia, started work on her diminutive dwelling, lovingly dubbed La Petite Maison, when she was 12.

    At the time, the girl was searching for an outside-the-box idea for a school project when she stumbled upon a sizable online community of DIY builders specialising in downsized homes.

    Sicily had no construction experience beyond re-purposing a large TV box as a playhouse for herself, but her father, Dane, volunteered to help, CNN reported.

    Her mother, Suzannah Kolbeck, who was also her teacher and the founder of her school, signed up as Sicily’s project manager, but the girl was to act as the chief architect, builder and fundraiser on the project.

    Sicily got the project off the ground by launching an online fundraising campaign in January 2013. Within less than a month, she exceeded – her $1,500 goal.

    ‘My decision to build a tiny house was partly economic,and partly out of the desire to be free,’ Sicily Kolbeck wrote in the description.

    ‘Building a house would give me the life skills that really matter, such as using tools for construction. Building the house I can know what efforts go into a home and truly appreciate what I am living in.’

    Around the same time, Sicily launched the blog La Petite Maison to offer updates on her progress.

    The 12-year-old and her father, a sailor and woodworking enthusiast, got down to work, drawing blueprints for her future dwelling and erecting a birdhouse and scale models for practice.

    After some initial growing pains, the father-and-team team got the hang of working together, with Dane Kolbeck learning how to restrain himself and allow his daughter to do it her way.

    On her part, the plucky 12-year-old quickly picked up the construction jargon from her dad and learned how to safely use his power tools.

    Then on February 16, everything ground to a halt: Sicily’s father was killed in a car accident.

    As her mother wrote on her daughter’s blog two months later, Dane’s untimely passing caused Sicily to lose interest in the project. Not before long, Sicily and her mother were overwhelmed with support from loved ones and neighbors who would stop by the house to lend a hand with the myriad of tasks that go into building a house.

     

     

    But Dane Kolbeck’s passing left a profound mark on Sicily: she was sullen and distracted in school, no longer as engaged in softball as before and lacking zest for life.

    To get away from it all, Suzannah and Sicily went on a five-week road trip, staying with friends in the mid-Atlantic region and enjoying long drives, just the two of them.

    When they returned home in time for the start of a new school semester, Sicily made up her mind to finish what she and her dad had started.

    This time, however, the now-13-year-old aspiring builder appealed to the boarder community, from other tiny-home aficionados on Facebook to experts and friends eager to pitch in.

    Many people volunteered their time, among them a roofer who put a top on Sicily’s humble abode free of charge; a retiree who instructed her in the art of wiring the house, and other homebuilders who showed Sicily how to plumb her kitchen and bathroom.

    What started as a school project over time blossomed into a 128-square-foot labor of love, as well as a tribute to Sicily’s father.

    Despite her tender age, Sicily Kolbeck showed everyone that she was dedicated to the project and determined to see it to completion, putting in long hours, navigating challenges and problem-solving on the fly like a seasoned pro.

    ‘It wasn’t until later … probably these past couple months that I realized why I’m doing this,’ Sicily said. ‘I’m doing it to show him that I can do stuff, to show him that I am capable and he doesn’t need to yell at me when I can’t use the drill.’

    Last December, Sicily traveled to New Orleans to give a speech at a TEDYouth conference, talking to other teens about the joys and challenges of tiny-home construction – and healing.

    Around the same time, she was asked to pen a first-person account about her experiences for the Huffington Post.

    ‘Sometimes when people get a hard knock, they stay down. I didn’t. That’s my claim to fame,’ she wrote. ‘I also wanted to show that when I was handed lemons, I not only made lemonade. I made a lemon cake. And I ate it. And it was delicious.’

    Last month, Sicily announced on her blog that her wooden masterpiece boasting a bedroom, fully functioning kitchen and bathroom, a closet and storage cubbyholes, was finally finished.

    From start to finish, it took Sicily and her many helpers a year-and-a-half of labor and $10,000 to get the job done.

    The charming little bungalow painted royal blue with a white trim for now sits in the Kolbecks’ backyard in Marietta.

    The girl, now 14 years old, is already thinking of her next makeover project: rebuilding a rickety, old Volkswagen Beetle.

    …culled from MailOnline

     

  • Corps member builds ICT centre for host community

    Corps member builds ICT centre for host community

    A Corps member serving in Gadabuke area in Nasarawa State, Tom Samuel, has built an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) centre in Government Secondary School located in the remote village of Kullo. Tom said the project, which was part of his Community Development Service (CDS) task, was carried out to leave his host community a better place.

    The computer centre offers all ICT services to the populace with modern facilities such as digital computer laboratory, digital computer almanacs, design cottons, window nets, generator, flash drive and computer parts.

    While speaking during the commissioning of the centre, the state co-ordinator of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Mr Stephen Alabi, who was represented by the NYSC Local Inspector in Gadabuke area, Mr Moses Adamolekun, praised the Corps member for the project.

    He said: “When Tom discussed the project with me, I thought it was something that will not be possible, but through the determination and zeal, Tom has fulfilled his dream for his host community.” He, however, challenged other Corps members who are yet to take up any CDS project to do so and affect their places of primary assignment positively.

    Tom said: “When I resumed at Government Secondary School, Kullo in Gadabuke Development Area, I discovered that there was no computer education in the school curriculum. This prompted me to ensure that the students from JSS One to SSS Three learn the rudiments of computer. So, I took them through the practical aspect of computer through my personal laptop. So far, no fewer than 252 students have been trained in computer application such as Microsoft excel, power point, Corel Draw, Internet browsing among others.”

    On what the school and the community would benefit from the centre, the Principal of the Government Secondary School, Mr Abubakar Adamu, said: “With the computer resource centre in place, the school needs not to waste money for typing or printing examination questions or any official documents. Also, online registration can also be done here, which will save money and time.”

    While praising the initiator of the project for a job well done, the Administrator of Gadabuke Development Area Council, Alhaji Salihu Ibrahim, said: “It takes courage for a Corps member to come up with a brilliant idea like this, not even minding that he is serving in a village. The computer resource centre will help build leadership ability in our students and enhance their intellect.”