It was a much shorter trip than usual (only about 9 days) because the visa was delayed and obviously I had a time commitment to keep, so had to be back for a specific date. My primary focus of this trip was to help the financial management and ensuring our bookkeeper (Vivian) was functioning well in her role. A highlight of my trip was actually to see just how well she was doing. It is often so difficult to asses from thousands of miles away just how well things are going. I was so impressed with how she was doing her work and encouraging others to also stay strong in the procedures we laid out.
Of course, another highlight was getting out into our communities. As I said before, our Nigeria communities are some of the ones where poverty hits you right in the face as soon as you step foot in them. But for me, this emphasises and confirms that we are in the right communities. Communities where no-one else wants be because they are seen as the least or not worthy of being cared for.
I spent most of my time in a community called Temitope, which means ‘worthy of gratitude and thanks.’ This is so apt for this community, where many of the kids we meet do not feel that worthiness. Our local Care Workers are breaking the mold in this community by showing that sense of self-worth to our kids. This specific Care Point is focused on the younger kids (pre-school age) and caring and preparing them for them to move to Eagles Wings, our other Care Point and fully functioning community school. It is still a very new Care Point, having only started caring for children in February, but there is huge potential.
Often when we do home visits in our communities, we visit those who are not currently part of the group of kids we are supporting. The reason for this is to be continually assessing the children in our community. Ensuring those who we are serving are the most vulnerable when looking at the circumstances of others. Things are often changing and sometimes children are taken in by other family members who do not live in the same community, sometimes they move away - just a few of many reason why a space may open up for a new child to be cared for. During my couple of days in Temitope, I went on one such home visit. I had the opportunity to visit the home of a young boy named Diola. He is 6 years old and lives with his mother, brother and sister. None of the kids have ever been to school. His mother tries to earn money by walking the local market and offering to carry people’s food they have purchased. She only gets 50 Naira (0.15 USD) per load for doing this and most people usually opt to use wheelbarrows to transport their food anyway. When we visited their home, there was very little in the wooden shack which was built on rubbish. It was very humid and it was even tougher when I thought about the four of them sleeping on the wooden floor in this heat at night with no lock on their door. Often Diola and his siblings wander the community looking for food because their mother will not have earned enough that day to get her family through the day let alone week. It is a story all too familiar in Nigeria and is why this community is exactly the place we need to be especially as we learn more and more about the stories of those who live here.
Please pray for Diola and his brother and sister. Pray that the mother will be able to find more work. Pray for this family as they continue to place their trust in God’s provision for them. Pray for our SC team in Nigeria as they have the difficult task of discerning the most vulnerable kids in a already very vulnerable community.
Since going to Nigeria, lots has changed in our little family. More about that in another post
-T
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