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Shot2school to ‘shoot’ young girls from streets into schools

By Tobi Awodipe and Bright Azuh
20 October 2018   |   4:10 am
In a bid to tackle the issue of out-of-school children and slowly move the country from the list of countries with the highest number of children not in school...

Mariam Babatunde

In a bid to tackle the issue of out-of-school children and slowly move the country from the list of countries with the highest number of children not in school, as well as establish a strong and safe foundation for young helpless girls on the streets, Bayo Owosina, a documentary photographer, multimedia artist, Co-founder, The Hook Creative Agency, has partnered with Young African Leaders Education Support Initiative (YALES Initiative) to accomplish this.

YALES Initiative, a not-for-profit organisation established to help reduce the rate of depression amongst young people through support, care for teenagers and solve psychological problem affecting learning outcomes is doing this with an initiative they are calling Shots2school.

Shot2school aims to help young girls from poor families get into schools and access basic monetary enablement through the use of photography. This project, which came to life three months ago, started unconsciously when Owosina took a picture of five-year-old, Mariam Babatunde, who was hawking combs, brushes and cellophane bags, cotton buds and other sundries at under-bridge, Oshodi in Lagos.

Explaining further, Owosina said: “Mariam is just five and seemed too cheerful and innocent to be anywhere around the madness that is under Oshodi bridge talk less of hawking anything, and I decided to take a picture of her, hoping to use my photography to give her a better life.” The main objective of the initiative, Owosina said, is to take pictures and sell to individuals and use the income to keep her in school.

“With due permission from Mariam’s mother, we have mapped out plans to sell framed pictures of Mariam and other very limited edition street shots to kind-hearted individuals and in turn, direct funds to a secure education trust fund thereby ensuring Mariam stays in school.”

Mariam’s mother, Balqees Babatunde, who never had any formal education and cannot afford to send her daughter to school, says she can barely feed her and her little brother with the proceeds from their small business. She said she is elated that Mariam has been taken off the streets to get the formal education that she never had the opportunity to get.

YALES Initiative founder, Temitayo Owosina, said that children with uneducated parents have the least chance to make it out of poverty so through YALES, Mariam’s mother will undergo training on 21st century parenting to help her be a better mum.
Mariam is presently enrolled in a private school and is in primary one

Starting with one child, Bayo, who says he has special interest in capturing images to highlight human dignity and culture, hopes that with photography, girls like Mariam would have no reason to hawk and instead, get a formal education and get the opportunity to make something of their lives.

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