Nissi Peter has the vision to make a difference with the Salted Peoples Campaign

The Not All Heroes Wear Capes Series will this month be telling the stories of young people who did seemingly small things to impact lives this past Christmas period. The first of such young people is Nissi Peter. Nissi mobilized an army of young people who engaged in the Salted Peoples Campaign and put smiles on the faces of many people.

Sarauta Magazines Nenkinan Deshi had a chat with Nissi. Enjoy the Read.

Hello, Nissi. Please briefly tell us about yourself?

My name is Nissi Peter I am 23 years old from plateau state. I’m a graduate with a B.sc in Economics and I served my country in the city Abuja in 2017.

What led to the Salted People’s Campaign? What was the root idea and how did it grow to become the awesome campaign it was?

Sometime in June last year, I was able to empower a group of ladies to make wigs and to earn a living for both themselves and their families. Two months later, I did a follow up on what I taught each of them only to find out that they were not using the skills they had acquired to make a living because “there was no money.“  In a bid to make each of them realize the value of their skills I decided we would offer the children in our community free hair care services and hoped that it would leave them with the right impression.

Growing up I suffered from low self-esteem, peer pressure and the sorts, and so for the children, we would be taking care of, I didn’t want to just beautify them. I wanted to go deeper and touch them in the places that have been neglected in their lives. I prayed about the idea and decided not to make it just about the youths but also the children, so we did our findings and decided we would take advantage of the Christmas season and we would care for them emotionally, psychologically, mentally, physically and then the idea became bigger than I had anticipated.

How was the journey? How did you assemble your army of volunteers? And what challenges did you face in mobilization?

The journey so far has been thrilling, in the few months I’ve prepared for this outreach, I can say I’ve experienced what Peter experienced… I walked on water. To just wake up and begin something that that massive and then to realize that my vision and faith was all God needed to inspire and also be a blessing to many.

I shared my vision with my friends and they, in turn, shared the vision with others. They created fliers and in no time we had a group chat on WhatsApp because of the calls I kept getting from volunteers. I also created awareness of the outreach in my church and other churches in the community; people saw my heart and began to support me with prayers, encouragement and assurance that they would avail themselves.

Most if not all of the youths that ended up coming were Christ-centred youths and so I cannot say I encountered any challenge while mobilizing my volunteers. In fact, they were eager to do the work of God. They saw it as a privilege to invest in the lives of the little ones.

Was there any fundraising? If so how was it? What was the response of people?

No there was no fundraising, only sponsors that I shared the vision with and they were also very eager to give. People gave what they considered was little but it went a long way to change the lives of these young people.

From your experience, how well do you think the Federal government have arrested the Internal Displaced person’s problem?

The Federal Government is doing well but I feel more can be done. I think if the Federal Government can run an investment program to help them recover from the traumatic experience, train them in various areas that the government is in need of and in the long run they invest back into the government system.

I saw some photos of your volunteers braiding and barbing hairs of children in the locations you visited. How is the harmattan and lack of proper care affecting the hairs of the children

Harmattan is the dry season and so naturally the hair breaks easily during this season, but hopefully, because we took care of their hair it would be better off.

What is your vision for the Salted Peoples Campaign? How soon will you be having another outreach?

“I believe people will never forget how you made them feel�? I want the salted peoples to inspire people to make a difference with what little they have. I believe the salted Peoples in a few years from now will change the trajectory of this nation in the right direction because we were bold enough to make a difference by sowing seeds in the lives of the future generation.

By God’s grace, we’ll be doing another outreach next year!

What advice would you give young Nigerians out there?

To all the youths I say the power to change your situation lies in your hands, in other to conquer the world you have to be the SOLUTION to whatever PROBLEM /CHALLENGE you’re faced with “we are the salt of the earth…�? There’s always going to be a challenge somehow BUT it’s your decision to whine about or find a solution to that problem. Excuses never made anyone great “you can do ALL THINGS through Christ�? not SOME THINGS or only the normal things but both difficult and easy. My advice to you is to begin proffering a solution to a problem around you today.

How can someone make a contribution to the Salted Peoples Campaign?

R. NAME: NISSI PETER

PHONE NUMBER: 08032079431

GMAIL ADDRESS: dekhaip@gmail.com

Well thank God for people like Nissi and the Salted People.

Thank You for reading you can check out previous stories here.