Safe Empowerment Reform Foundation has achieved much in less a year - Fenjie Tamanjong, Co-founder.

It was founded, thanks to the life story of the four Co-founders. They had their own fair share of life from living in the streets, orphanages, going days without food etc. They ended up prosperous in life, thanks to discipline, education and hard work with or without help. 

Furthermore, these ladies came together and decided that there should be a way to help the less privileged and of course men and women who have been in their shoes, because they would hate to see anyone go through what they have been through. 

Their Motto: ‘We heal the world together as one’, defines them because they may be four but together, they are one vision, one body and their anointing comes from the Most High, Jesus Christ.

Fenjie Tamanjong was interviewed by Kristian Ngah Christian. Excerpts 

Can you introduce yourself to our readers?

I am Fenjie Tamajong, Co-founder of Safe Empowerment Reform Foundation, SERF. It was founded by four of us.  

Can we have the profiles of SERF founders?

Let me begin with myself. I am Fenjie Tamajong, 29 years old. I am a nurse, entrepreneur, Co. founder and President of SERF. I am based in the United States of America. 

Melanie Olushola is 32 years old. She is a shop owner and Co. founder of SERF Chapter in Africa. She is based in USA and Nigeria. 

Bibilomo Ikuomola is 30 years old and is based in Canada. She is an entrepreneur and Co, founder of SERF Chapter. She is based in Canada.

Susan Akuma, is 29 years old. She is a dentist, entrepreneur, Co. founder, and Vice president of SERF Canada Chapter. She is based in USA And Canada.

What motivated you people to create SERF?

The four of us came from different backgrounds and various countries. Some of us are from poor backgrounds; some lived in orphanages and some of us had no means to go to school. Some of us have lived the life of the less privileged- people in shelters, kids who have nothing to go back to school with. We went through these challenges, but we still pushed through, and today, we are successful people. We thought of making an impact in the lives of the less privileged. We were like: why not sponsor kids, why not become a charity organisation and why not take this opportunity and give back to the world? That’s how the foundation came about.

For how long has SERF been existing?

We have been working on this for a year or two. But we started going to the field and carrying out projects this year. 

How are you people funded?

We have sponsors and like I said before, we had trainings for this. We do a lot of networking, we tell people about our work and they donate. Sometimes, we go into our pockets to do what we have to do when the money from donors is not enough. 

What is SERF’s balance sheet this far?

We started our project in June this year. I went to Mary’s Place Pittsburgh. It’s a shelter home for pregnant women and all these women have no place to live for various reasons. Some of them have been abandoned by the men, some were kicked out of their homes and some were raped. Many of them found themselves on the streets.

We provided for pregnant women and kids. We gave them toiletries and other stuffs for their babies. It was a very good experience. 

For our second project, it was a back-to-school project where we partnered with The Fomunyoh Foundation in Cameroon. We actually gave back to the less privileged and internally displaced kids. It was a big ceremony at The Fomunyoh Foundation in Mendong-Yaounde. 

Our third project was also back-to-school in Nigeria, where. When we left Cameroon, were like; why not go to Nigeria? The kids in Nigeria were the less privileged kids and we provided them with school items and provided school fees for some of them. We visited two institutions, Ramkky International School and Comfort Private School. We provided school items for the less privileged students and awarded those who came in top in their class; that is 1st, 2nd and 3rd, with some money and paid their school fees. It was a humbling experience, especially seeing how grateful and excited the beneficiaries were.

You know education is one of the major projects of SERF ladies. This is because it came to a point were we had no one to sponsor us in school, buy us provisions and pay our tuitions. It was just us and we had to depend on scholarships to get educated. This is a major part in our foundation. We spent about $7,000 dollars (approximately four million FCFA).

How did four of you come together before deciding to create the foundation?

We found ourselves in High School in the US. We became friends, kept in touch and planning projects together. It was just an idea we nurtured for several years until we decided to do something about it. 

What projects are next in line?

Actually, our next trip will be to Uganda. We plan to offer the same things we have been offering to the kids in Nigeria and Cameroon. The trip to Uganda is going to happen pretty soon. We have a project in November in the US and Canada. We call it the Winter Care Project. We will be providing winter items to various communities, shelters and individuals in preparation for the cold weather in various areas in the United States and Canada.

How challenging has it been getting funders or sponsors?

So far it has not been challenging. When we go out there and talk about our foundation, there are people out there who are interested in our work. We don’t force anyone to be a sponsor. If we have about five to six sponsors, that is okay for us. We love people who assist us from their inner hearts. This is something that we are doing out of our heart, this is God’s corporate mercy. We don’t want anybody to feel obligated to give or support our projects. 

Have you been in a situation where you are forced to go back to the same donor twice or trice?

Usually, we don’t have to go back to a donor two or three times because we have a list of all of them. We just tell them this is what we are doing. We just announce our projects and they have a list of our projects and those who want to give will give and those who are not ready, we will seal it up. 

Can we say that people are motivated to give because the NGO is run by four beautiful ladies? I mean no man will want to say no to a beautiful girl?

I don’t think people will want to contribute to our project because we are beautiful girls. I think people are more interested in our charity works and our results on the field. When we started our first project it was solely us. We had no donor(s) or sponsor (s). People want to see what your are doing, what you have to do before supporting your project. Looks are going to wear out. The work has to be done and hard work is just what people are looking at.

How do you select those who benefit from your largess? 

We do our research like the shelter I went to, we saw the situation and decided to do something different. I barely saw people going to the shelter to offer help to pregnant women and kids. Honestly, I barely heard of a shelter with pregnant women and babies. I was like ‘I would like to do this’. So, I did my research and called my other ladies and we discussed and that is the same for the schools in Nigeria we went to. But when we partnered with TFF, we had to depend on their research.

Basically, how do you operate? Do you have a fixed or mobile office? Do you have salaries for yourselves?...

We do have salaries for ourselves and we are getting to a point where we are going to be needing executives in the various countries. 

What projects has SERF in Canada?

We do have stuff to do in Canada but in the meantime, we are based here in America, Canada, Nigeria, Cameroon and Uganda.

What are your future plans aside just giving out help and making donations?

Well, we have a project coming up in the USA and Canada. It is called Winter Care. We will be visiting homeless people, shelters and providing winter stuffs for them like blankets and other stuff. We are going to do that in November. We also plan to sponsor some kids through some trades like sewing, becoming an artist etc. We plan on visiting jails and talking to people about their experiences. I have been invited on behalf of my foundation to speak at some conferences where I will be talking about health, making a safe space for individuals and something for children’s day. The main thing is after all these, we are going to have a global conference where people will come and we talk about all the projects and making a safe space for the world. The conference is going to take place in the USA. The date hasn’t been scheduled yet. 

You said SERF was created out of the ashes of the friendship you had back his High School. Can you share with us those memories?

When I came to the US, I realised that I was on my own. I started living by myself when I was 16. I had no family, but I had to go to school until I graduated and had to go to college. Still, no family, no funds, nothing. I realised that I had to do something to stay in school. I had to struggle for myself. I had to enrol myself in scholarship programmes.

My school was an athletic base school, so a played soccer and was captain of the then team. That had to cover my full tuition. I had to stay in school and could not let all the things or trauma frustrate me. I was that girl who had to come from school walking in the snow of five inches. I had to walk five miles from school to the house. It was a tough journey for me. When I see people going through life in spring, to me its really understandable because I was at rock bottom and had to walk myself off. 

What is your message to people who are living your past experience?

My message to them is to heal from their trauma, go to safe spaces, go to places where they talk and heal. They create safe spaces for people who have been bullied, gone through life physically and mentally. Just go to them and talk about it. Get healed and move forward. If you feel like you can do something to correct the future or prevent people from going through your experience like we are doing, then do it but you cannot live in your past. 

This story was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3245 of Monday September 30, 2024