SFA ON THE ROAD!
Saturday, September 20th, 6:30-8:30pm, Sage Hills Church, Wenatchee, WA in the Fireside Room, SFA Secretary Carisa Haven will be sharing about SFA, and her recent trip to Nigeria.
October 10th - 11th, Missions Fest Seattle will be hosting MANY ministries, including SFA! See the flyer below, get more info HERE!
Sunday, October 19th, SFA Secretary Carisa Haven will be sharing at Oroville FMC in Oroville, WA!
Missionary Phyllis Sortor IS coming home for Christmas, and will get to share at a church or two! We'll keep you posted on those dates!
A New School In Bauchi State!
Phyllis went with Wheelchairs For Nigeria to Bauchi state for a wheelchair distribution. While there, a government official invited her to come build a school there. They met in July to discuss the details, and a PARTNERSHIP was formed! So began Partners In Progress Primary School in Mungyar Village, Bauchi State. There are MANY Fulani in the area, living peacefully with other tribes just across the street! The chief is thrilled with the opportunity to educate his children, and the surrounding community!
Below is the Fulani chief in Mungyar Vilalge. His name is Ardo Gudel. Gudel means 'short man'! So he's Chief Short Man! He's a super nice guy - he'll be taking Phyllis around to the various Fulani camps to talk with the parents about sending their children to school.
Work began on the school and clinic last week! Phyllis walked the boundaries with the village elders again. There are children EVERYWHERE! There were also cows everywhere! Those cows will soon have to relocate - the school and healthcare clinic will go up quickly!
Phyllis and her team waited two whole days for the engineer to arrive at our new school site with his well drilling machine. He never showed. He kept saying he was 'coming'! In Nigeria, "I'm coming" gives a LOT of leeway. It could be in an hour... or a day... or a week. "I'm coming ON THE WAY" however, is a different story! We stand up and peer down the street at "I'm coming on the way"!!! He finally arrived, and the whole village celebrated! He was quickly successful at finding water, Praise God!
The government has given the team their guesthouse, free of charge, for as long as they need to stay while they build the school. They each have a luxurious bedroom - food is delivered - and there are two lounges, very nice. The only channel available on TV is football! (In Nigeria, 'soccer' is known as 'football'! But who's complaining??
Phyllis hired laborers to build block on site. Foundations were poured in concrete, and the blocks were already placed for the clinic building! Work on the clinic roof has begun!
The red portions on the map above represent the highest concentrations of Fulani people in Nigeria. Find JOS on the map and BAUCHI. Bauchi is the capital city of Bauchi State. We are building this very large primary school in Mungyar Village, within the red zone of Bauchi.
We also MUST initiate the establishment of schools in Gombe, where reside the highest concentrations of Fulani in Nigeria. Fortunately, Phyllis has a very good friend in Gombe, Alhaji Bello Mahmud, retired government official, who is ready and eager to assist.
There are over 6 MILLION Fulani living in Nigeria, and only 10% of them have ever been to school. Will you support our endeavor to provide every Fulani child with the opportunity to learn?
UPDATE! We just met with the Bauchi State representative and three other Bauchi representatives - they want SFA to establish schools in their constituencies as well. They are arranging a meeting for us with the State Governor! God's work is moving ahead!
We Have Some Needs...
At Lafiya 2 Grazing Reserve on Ero Mountain, Kogi State, we are working on a model grazing reserve. We are partnering with World Bank to refine the grass types that are best for our cattle there. We need beacon stones all around our large reserve, almost 1,000 acres! These beacon stones are used to mark our boundaries against encroaching neighbors. It is important, but also costly, at $10,000. The investment will safeguard our land for the long term. This work in rotational grazing is becoming more and more important for the Fulani, as the population is exploding in Nigeria. They are really beginning to recognize the value of staying in ONE PLACE!
Another need is that our schools are doing SO WELL that more classrooms are needed to meet the demand! TWO SCHOOLS, Good Shepherd Primary in Ogun State and Solid Rock in Plateau State need more classrooms! It will cost $15,000 to add more classrooms to one school.
Check out the story from School Supervisor Victoria, at Solid Rock School: We admitted so many children in Solid Rock Good Life Academy that the school is full! We have limited classroom space, and we even converted the headmaster's office for another class! As more and more children came in, we had to refuse to admit more until the next class graduated. Some Fulani children came to school in the morning, but because they were refused, they would sit outside the fence until school was over, then go home. This continued untill the local chief came and pleaded with us. He said he could not rest while the young children were sitting outside the fence. Once they are in, his mind will be at peace. We relented, creating another class for them since they are very young. Thank you, Supervisor Victoria Jwantu
At Good Shepherd Primary in Ogun State (below), Phyllis lives on a large river with over 100 Fulani families. There are SO MANY Fulani children, and our classrooms there are FULL! More classrooms are needed to squeeze them all in! Schools For Africa will hire additional teachers as soon as the classrooms can be built.
Can you help to fund this good work? Click the button below to give! To save on fees, please mail checks to SFA, c/o Don Standley, Treasurer, 1010 Silver Springs Way, Stanwood, WA 98292. Designate the funds for CLASSROOMS or BEACON STONES.
Click Here To Give!
As the Lord pours Himself into Nigeria, it is an absolute delight to be His hands and feet there. We see the Lord moving mightily! God certainly doesn't NEED us, but He does INVITE us to join Him. Would you care to join us by supporting the work financially?