Our short-termers spent 3 weeks helping at a Gidan Bege Care Centre in Kagoro, Kaduna State. I joined them on the 1st and 3rd week, as I had to do some work in Jos during the 2nd week.
We stayed in very basic accommodation: I entertained the girls every night by my struggles to get up on the top bunk of a very unsteady bunk-bed, with no ladders! We carried our water from the bore hole each day (when the boys allowed us) for our bucket showers. Even though we were in the middle of nowhere, somehow, I managed to get 1 bar of signal for my internet! The boys wanted to do everything for us. If I carried water on my head, which actually is so much easier than carrying it by the handle of the bucket, the boys would come and take it from us to carry it.
In my first week in Kagoro, we were playing games with the kids, getting to know the kids and leading their devotions. In the 3rd week, I was teaching. Six of the boys do not yet go to school. They have only been at the centre for a year, so they are not quite ready for school. Instead, they are taught at the centre, though we never actually saw their teacher during our time there, so Neil and I took a few boys each to teach English and Maths. In the afternoons, I gave guitar lessons. Some of the older boys had learnt a few chords before, so they were flying! I ended up buying them a guitar, with money that some lovely people from church gave me to spend on wherever I see a need. This will help them a lot! This centre is quite deprived; they don’t have a lot of resources, in terms of educational materials, so I was also able to get some teaching resources for them. In devotions, Friday, one of the older boys plays the drums. When I say drums, he has two sticks that he bangs on the wooden bench that he sits on. Although this does actually work well and sound amazing, we are hoping to get them a Djembe at some point. The boys love singing worship songs and even though they have all been through so much pain in their lives, many of them are so on fire for God! It is after all, God who has given them hope and a future. It’s been quite nice, just sitting under the Mango tree (which is my place to escape to, to get out of the heat!) singing with the boys, in English and also in Hausa, one of the main languages spoken in the North of the country.
I learnt quite a lot of Hausa during these weeks. The boys, and the village kids were our teachers! I find that when I am in a rural situation, away from Jos, I learn far much more. Maybe it is because there are so many Baturi’s (westerners) in Jos, so we are not given much chance to practice. Most people speak to us in English.
Last Thursday night we were to do an outreach using the film, ‘Faith like potatoes’. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. The program was to begin at 7.30pm. At 6.30pm, I became quite ill and began vomiting every hour from that moment. I was meant to speak at the end, summarizing the story and allowing people to respond. Thankfully, I had written notes in preparation for this. Neil had agreed to do my talk, as well as his own. My notes went missing!! A child from the village had run off with them! The film started a lot later than it should have. My notes turned up 10 mins before they began, but the sound was terrible. The background music could be heard, but not the words that were being spoken. Half way through the film, the projector stopped working, and not many villagers turned up anyway. Meanwhile, I was throwing up and trying not to pass out. Abi, Bethan and Ally were like a little group of nurses, looking after me. I’m sure they never thought they would be looking after their supervisor. I don’t know what I would have done without them all!
On Friday morning, I was taken back to Jos to recover. I was really quite ill and had become dehydrated, but I was taken care of in Jos and I am now totally fine. Mungodi Allah! (We thank God!)
We were all so disheartened by everything that happened. As I write this, I am sitting in beautiful Ogugu with all the short-termers. Last night, Mel shared a verse with us that has really helped me process last week:
Hebrews 4:12
“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.”
Even if one person was challenged by what they heard/saw in the part of the film that they were able to watch, then it was worth it to go through everything for that one person. God’s word is so powerful and its God that is in control. I really felt God directing me to take the film to Kagoro with me to do this outreach. We will have plenty of opportunities to go back there and re-do the outreach. This time we will make sure it is totally covered in prayer and that we have people on board to pray at least a week in advance so that everything goes smoothly! Satan may have had his way this time to do everything possible to put a stop to our program, but we serve a God who is much more powerful! The battle has already been won!
We stayed in very basic accommodation: I entertained the girls every night by my struggles to get up on the top bunk of a very unsteady bunk-bed, with no ladders! We carried our water from the bore hole each day (when the boys allowed us) for our bucket showers. Even though we were in the middle of nowhere, somehow, I managed to get 1 bar of signal for my internet! The boys wanted to do everything for us. If I carried water on my head, which actually is so much easier than carrying it by the handle of the bucket, the boys would come and take it from us to carry it.
In my first week in Kagoro, we were playing games with the kids, getting to know the kids and leading their devotions. In the 3rd week, I was teaching. Six of the boys do not yet go to school. They have only been at the centre for a year, so they are not quite ready for school. Instead, they are taught at the centre, though we never actually saw their teacher during our time there, so Neil and I took a few boys each to teach English and Maths. In the afternoons, I gave guitar lessons. Some of the older boys had learnt a few chords before, so they were flying! I ended up buying them a guitar, with money that some lovely people from church gave me to spend on wherever I see a need. This will help them a lot! This centre is quite deprived; they don’t have a lot of resources, in terms of educational materials, so I was also able to get some teaching resources for them. In devotions, Friday, one of the older boys plays the drums. When I say drums, he has two sticks that he bangs on the wooden bench that he sits on. Although this does actually work well and sound amazing, we are hoping to get them a Djembe at some point. The boys love singing worship songs and even though they have all been through so much pain in their lives, many of them are so on fire for God! It is after all, God who has given them hope and a future. It’s been quite nice, just sitting under the Mango tree (which is my place to escape to, to get out of the heat!) singing with the boys, in English and also in Hausa, one of the main languages spoken in the North of the country.
I learnt quite a lot of Hausa during these weeks. The boys, and the village kids were our teachers! I find that when I am in a rural situation, away from Jos, I learn far much more. Maybe it is because there are so many Baturi’s (westerners) in Jos, so we are not given much chance to practice. Most people speak to us in English.
Last Thursday night we were to do an outreach using the film, ‘Faith like potatoes’. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. The program was to begin at 7.30pm. At 6.30pm, I became quite ill and began vomiting every hour from that moment. I was meant to speak at the end, summarizing the story and allowing people to respond. Thankfully, I had written notes in preparation for this. Neil had agreed to do my talk, as well as his own. My notes went missing!! A child from the village had run off with them! The film started a lot later than it should have. My notes turned up 10 mins before they began, but the sound was terrible. The background music could be heard, but not the words that were being spoken. Half way through the film, the projector stopped working, and not many villagers turned up anyway. Meanwhile, I was throwing up and trying not to pass out. Abi, Bethan and Ally were like a little group of nurses, looking after me. I’m sure they never thought they would be looking after their supervisor. I don’t know what I would have done without them all!
On Friday morning, I was taken back to Jos to recover. I was really quite ill and had become dehydrated, but I was taken care of in Jos and I am now totally fine. Mungodi Allah! (We thank God!)
We were all so disheartened by everything that happened. As I write this, I am sitting in beautiful Ogugu with all the short-termers. Last night, Mel shared a verse with us that has really helped me process last week:
Hebrews 4:12
“For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.”
Even if one person was challenged by what they heard/saw in the part of the film that they were able to watch, then it was worth it to go through everything for that one person. God’s word is so powerful and its God that is in control. I really felt God directing me to take the film to Kagoro with me to do this outreach. We will have plenty of opportunities to go back there and re-do the outreach. This time we will make sure it is totally covered in prayer and that we have people on board to pray at least a week in advance so that everything goes smoothly! Satan may have had his way this time to do everything possible to put a stop to our program, but we serve a God who is much more powerful! The battle has already been won!
This is Chris, the child of Uncle Sunday and Auntie Jummai who live at the centre to care for the boys.
