When I started The Male Gender in 2015, I reached out to over 250 boy children and hosted over 6 men-help seminars that provided support to over 80 men within the first year.
It was so impactful that I began to receive private messages from older men about their struggles and personal challenges that they do not feel safe sharing with their partners or people close to them.
I started this initiative after visiting Kano Nigeria for the first time in February 2015 for a work trip. I was overwhelmed by the amount of vulnerable boy children I saw on the street as I visited different parts of the city. My heart was heavy and I knew right there that I had to do something.
On returning to my base in Lagos on a Wednesday, I booked another ticket immediately and planned a private trip for the weekend in Kano. I had to do that because I truly wanted to help but I needed to have a better understanding of why things were the way they were. I travelled on a Friday and returned on Sunday Afternoon.
I then began to put the plan together. I reached out to senior colleagues, friends and family members. The support was unbelievable. After the first outreach (with a focus on Education), I began to receive calls from other parts of the country and noticed that this problem is not just unique to the northern part of Nigeria.
In less than two years, it became clear to me that men also need help as much as the boy children. I immediately started a talk show to help men who find it hard to ask for help. I have had to stay on the phone countless times to listen to grown-up men cry as they share their stories. I have received messages from men who are fighting depression, debt, marital crisis, divorce, health issues, sexual frustration and the list just goes on.