By Onyiyechi Roseline Agwu
Hello, welcome here.
Today, I will be sharing an interview made for featuring an NGO doing good things in Sudan with their main base in Khartoum.
The person I will be interviewing is no stranger and before I share our conversation, I will tell you a little of our history.
We met at school about 3 years ago. She was so cool and nice to converse with, we established a cordial relationship from that day. A year later, she informed me of her organization and what it was about. I was super excited and told her I wanted to participate. She readily welcomed and gave me some documents to create power points for the organisation, of which I did. We arranged to have more meetings of which I attended one. Unfortunately, Covid-19 and the quarantine happened and I was unable to participate in some of the other programs. I love what this organization is about and in today’s interview, you will get to know more and in what ways you can also participate as well.
Without further delay, let us get into it.
O. R. A: Please can you introduce yourself?
Tsabih: I am Tsabih ImadEldin Hakim, I study medicine at Ibn university and work for R.O.H NGO (side note: at the time of interview, she was the vice president but she gave up the position in order to allow others have the experience of volunteering. However, she is still part of the organisation but with less responsibilities)
O. R. A: What are your favourite things to do?
Tsabih: I like to coach, play boxing, teaching children and dance
O. R. A: Interesting. Now to your organization. What is is the meaning of the name? And what was the inspiration for it?
Tsabih: It means soul, it was inspired by the good people who put endless efforts for complete strangers. We wanted people to see homeless men and women as people like them too who feel fear, pain and loneliness besides being alcoholic and not look down on them because no one chooses such life and we need to support them as if they were our family members.
O. R. A: Wow…beautiful. So does this include the purpose behind the organization as well?
Tsabih: Yes indeed. R.O.H is Rouh organisation for homeless healthcare and rehabilitation.
O. R. A: When was it started?
Tsabih: On the 3rd of November 2019 with our first homeless man I met on the street when I went for a jog. He used to sit there everyday, so we took him to hospital and united him with his family.
O. R. A: Approximately, how many people are actively part of your organization?
Tsabih: The main people are 30 but they are so many others who come and help for each project.
O. R. A: Great. Can you share your achievements so far?
Tsabih:
1-We were able to open the first ward for homeless patients and rehabilitation for 3 months until the pandemic and have returned most of patient to their families
2- We made the spirit of peace and love campaign for Elgenina in Darfur victims we brought letters from children in Khartoum and educated them about the importance of peace, we took love letters, clothes, medications and medical volunteers to Darfur. They spent a week there doing different activities: education, clinic, and sports for children.
3- We made a free teaching program for kids who can’t afford school and provided free meals and books that lasted for a month then closed because of CoVID19 second wave.
4- A medical research on the ward.
O. R. A: Amazing. What are your challenges?
Tsabih: Thank you. We had financial issues because we had no sponsor. We also lacked volunteers for the hospital because we needed co patients at least 12 hours per day.
O. R. A: Are there plans to handle these challenges?
Tsabih: Yes, with the new year we want to focus more in the management process and build up a good team before we start any new project.
O. R. A: What organizations would you like R.O.H organization to collaborate in the future with?
Tsabih: IOM and UNCHER and any organization work on the same cause and wants to collaborate.
O. R. A: What regions outside Sudan do you hope R O.H can impact?
Tsabih: Chad and Eritrea and rest of the world by raising awareness on the causes.
O. R. A: Great. Can you share more on the troubles of homelessness and its causes?
Tsabih: They are many. The causes of homelessness are a combination of structural and individual factors. Poverty, lack of housing, and unemployment are the major contributing factors causing homelessness. Some of the troubles of homelessness are exposure to infectious diseases, HIV, trauma causing disability and organ failures due to bad hygiene and nutrition.
O. R. A: These are worthy of concern. So what would you like those reading to take home as an advice on how they can participate in their community?
Tsabih: To notice the homeless people more and see them with compassion instead of judging. Any act of kindness have a great impact in them, even a small friendly talk because they have higher suicidal rate than the normal population and finally I hope everyone can give part of their time once in a while to volunteer, teach, and communicate with people no one looks at and live a life full of joy by helping each other.
O. R. A: This is so beautiful. Please share your social media handles and email.
Tsabih: Facebook: Tsabih hakim. Instagram:kimzo16
Email: hymnshakim22@gmail.com
O. R. A: And that of your organization as well.
Tsabih: Email: rouhorganization@gmail.com
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/Rouh-Organization-for-Rehabilitation-of-the-homeless-109999370528624/
O. R. A: Thank you so much…
Tsabih: No, thank you for raising our voices! Best of luck dear.
Kindly follow the social media handles displayed to connect and contribute as well. If you are concerned about issues of homelessness, you can start in your vicinity as well. Hopefully, we will get more organizations like R.O.H who will cause more healthy impact in the society.
Your comments are warmly welcomed.
