OGDEN -- A promise is a promise. That's what Joan Effiong's friends told her when the president and founder of the small Jenar Foundation expressed doubts about whether she would be able to take a trip to Calabar, Nigeria, to deliver school supplies to an orphanage and bring other humanitarian aid.
Since Effiong, an Ogden resident, was laid off last year from Ogden-Weber Applied Technology College, she didn't have her usual personal contributions to help her in her effort.
And with the economy at a downturn, she wasn't sure she could get the support she needed from others.
But her many friends came through and made extra efforts to ensure that funds and supplies were raised.
"People wanted to rally around and return because we made a promise," she said. "I asked how do I do this? Those donors turned it around."
Nora Hughes, of Syracuse, is one of those friends Effiong listed among those who turned things around for her.
"She's just very fervent about it, seeing that these children get the nets and the medications they need," Hughes said, explaining why she and others do what they can to help Effiong.
Dinners, auctions and other fundraising events are conducted by Effiong and others every year to raise the money to help.
"She just donates her life to helping others," said Ester Myers, of Ogden, also a supporter of Effiong's foundation. "I think she lives to do that."
Effiong said she is driven by the knowledge of how people in her native land live each day.
"The economy is bad here now, but people are always struggling in Nigeria," she said. "We can't keep the blessings. There are others who are suffering more than us."
Originally from Calabar, she's been back to visit three times since organizing her foundation. She also frequently ships supplies there that she collects from a host of area donors.
Her husband, Richard, pays for the travel whenever the family visits, usually with at least one of their grown children. The travel expenses are his contribution to the effort, Effiong said.
Effiong regularly takes mosquito nets, medications nd school supplies to that area.
Her foundation also has a goal of supplying agricultural needs for Nigerians but has concentrated mostly on the educational and medical needs.
Among those who have contributed to Effiong's cause are the Swanson Foundation, Northern Utah HIV, St. Joseph Catholic High School, students and parents at Lincoln Elementary School, First United Methodist Church, and a host of Ogden friends, neighbors and Boy Scouts.
Effiong started her foundation in 2002 as a hobby. She registered the effort officially in 2006 when she believed she had enough money.
Effiong and those who have supported her, including her church, First United Methodist, have made it possible for her foundation to make a difference in a faraway land.
The Jenar Foundation is so named for an African word that means spreading blessings.
"That is what this is all about," Effiong said. "I figure, well, I've been blessed to live on two continents. I've always been drawn to helping people."
It seems that her friends and supporters understand that message well.
"My church and friends made a promise to that orphanage," she said. "People wanted to rally around and return because we made a promise."
Effiong and her family traveled to Calabar in December and returned in February after serving in any way they could during their stay with Effiong's brother, Pastor Honorable Essien Ayi.
When they found their designated orphanage to be amply served this time, Effiong said she and her family concentrated this trip on helping at a local clinic.
She and her family spent time traveling throughout the area buying medicines for the clinic and making sure the medicines were not contaminated.
Effiong said she was touched especially by a set of twins whose mother died in child birth.
"Their dad was not in a position to go from wherever he lived to come to the hospital," she said.
"We paid for the transportation. We adopted the twins while we were there to make sure they got what they needed."
Effiong said she was surprised to see how the hospital made do with no incubators.
The babies survived with hot water bottles tucked in next to them.
"God will provide," Effiong said of the water-bottle heat.
Now, she's hoping the same God will step in and help her find a way to pay to ship a garage full of school supplies she couldn't afford to take with her on the plane.
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