God REALLY wants a school in 'New Okigwe'!

From Phyllis: Some time ago we were driving through Okigwe, Imo State, Nigeria. We were stopped at a road junction when a Fulani man came to the car, introduced himself as Yusuf, a relative to Mogodi, and asked us to visit their camp. He knew about Hope Academy in Kogi State and begged us to build a school for them in Okigwe.

More time had passed when my friend Mrs. McKay contacted me asking whether we'd built that school for the Fulani children in Okigwe. Mrs. McKay's father had recently passed, and she wanted to build the Okigwe school in his memory.

I phoned my Fulani colleague, Mogodi, asking about the situation in Okigwe.

Mogodi advised me NOT to go there, that the area was very hostile towards Fulani. All the Okigwe Fulani had fled the area. I had to tell my friend we couldn't build a school for the Okigwe Fulani; they'd left the area and I had no idea where they'd gone. We'd need to think about choosing another group of Fulani who need a school.

Next, our SFA staff member Haruna asked if, on our way south, we could stop at a Fulani village near Itobe, just minutes from Hope Academy, as his friend there had told him of hundreds of children with no school.

I said sure, we could stop by.

We would pick up a guide, Haruna said, as the village was hard to locate.

The guide was waiting along the Itobe Lokoja road. He got in the car, reached over and shook my hand. "Do you remember me?" he asked. "I'm Yusuf, the one you met on the road in Okigwe. All of us from Okigwe had to leave the area because of persecution. We've settled in a village near here. We have something like 500 children who need a school. Will you help us please?"

And THAT, my friends, is a bona fide April 2022 miracle!

I would say God REALLY wants that school in 'New Okigwe'!

The road in to the village near Itobe - we were thankful for a guide to help us find the village!

Meeting with the Fulani men in the village to discuss their great need for a school!

A few of the MANY precious children needing a school!

Can you help to build a school?

SO MANY ARE NEEDED!

Can you give monthly to maintain a school?

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GREAT NEWS!

School has reopened on Bobi Reserve, at all seven schools! It has been peaceful since the Nigerian Air Force attacked the bandits there. SFA will request a permanent base on Bobi Reserve, for continued protection and support!

Prayer Requests:

  • Pray for the New Okigwe school to be built quickly!

  • Pray for the precious children, families, and teachers on Bobi Reserve - for their continued safety!

  • Pray for travel mercies in April as Phyllis and Bishop Matt Whitehead travel to churches throughout Nigeria for annual conferences.

Our Kidnapped Redemption film is doing very well at film festivals! !

Did you hear that Pastor Mike Henry has produced a documentary about Phyllis, her kidnapping and her ministry?

The Kidnapped Redemption film is doing VERY WELL in film festivals! Gaining entrance into a festival is an accomplishment in itself, but our film has won several awards and recognitions!

This does extend our release date to YOU and the public, which is SO HARD! We KNOW that you are super excited to see it, and we are SUPER excited to release it to you!

We promise to keep you posted on the release. :)

Watch the official trailer below!

Producer Mike Henry has worked with missionary Phyllis Sortor in Nigeria on several occasions and knew that her story needed to be portrayed in a movie. "As my first time producing a film, I simply recruited smart, talented people to help. I am a retired pastor and missionary and now the author of adventure/spiritual thriller novels. I love a story of high risk when only divine intervention can bring the resolution. And Kidnapped Redemption is just that, a true-life story that will inspire courage and faith."

Click HERE to read more about the film.

The Kidnapped Redemption film was created to share Phyllis's story. Any proceeds from the film will go directly to Schools For Africa and the work God is doing there.

Give monthly to sustain what the Lord is doing for His beloved people in Nigeria!

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Prayer Requests:

  • Pray for favorable grant funding for new school projects.

  • Pray for Phyllis and the team as they travel dangerous roads throughout Nigeria.

  • Pray for the Kidnapped Redemption film to reach influential people at festivals, and for a widespread reach!

  • Pray for the Imala project development to move forward smoothly and quickly in God's timing. :)

Healthcare clinics save lives in Nigeria!

Schools For Africa saving lives, one clinic at a time!

Healthcare Clinics change EVERYTHING!

In communities with healthcare clinics:

  • Mamas and babies are surviving, and THRIVING!

  • Healthy children attend school!

  • Injuries and diseases are treated promptly!

  • Families feel loved and cared for!

1st and 2nd clinics in Imala, Ogun State

SO FAR, we have built a clinic at Bright Hope Christian Academy in Kogi State, two clinics on the Bobi Reserve in Niger State, and two clinics on the Imala Reserve, in Ogun State. The clinics are staffed with nurses and stocked with medicine and supplies. Community Health Extension Workers, or CHEWS, are trained to advocate in the communities surrounding the clinics. CHEWS bridge the gaps between local communities and the clinics, and help connect shy tribal people to life-saving services.

Our healthcare clinics save lives in Nigeria!

One of the primary overall objectives of Schools For Africa is to improve healthcare for the Fulani people, and reduce the number of deaths of Fulani children in Nigeria. The most dramatic and urgent issue is to reduce the deaths of children, birthing mothers and babies. Other primary healthcare issues include malaria, diarrhea, and dehydration from malnutrition and lack of clean drinking water.


Schools For Africa has successfully opened, trained, staffed, and continually stocked with necessary medical supplies FIVE clinics SO FAR! These services have improved the overall health of our Fulani communities tenfold, as well as helped educate and empower Fulani communities to pursue healthcare for their families. Clinics complement our schools and grazing reserves by providing comprehensive healthcare for the Fulani to thrive!

Saving lives!

Clinics cost around $15,000 to build and supply. Operating costs are low thereafter, and are funded through monthly giving!

Can you help?!

Please give monthly to sustain what the Lord is doing for His beloved people in Nigeria!

Give $35 monthly

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Give $150 monthly

How does Schools For Africa share about Christ?

PRAYERFULLY

and

CAREFULLY!


Click HERE to read more!

Prayer Requests:

  • Pray for Phyllis and the team, as they travel throughout Nigeria, supervising this amazing work!

  • Pray for security and safety on Bobi reserve, so that we can reopen schools there.

  • Pray for favor in an upcoming meeting with a high government official!

  • Pray for an upcoming medical/dental trip to Nigeria- doctors, nurses and dentists needed!

Sign up to stay in touch! Go to: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/7lc0YDL

Reaching the unreached in Mambila!

The Mambila are listed among the world's unreached people groups. We have been invited to open schools for them and the Fulani there!

What an amazing opportunity!

Our longtime friend, M.M. (right), has moved his family to Mambila, built a house and put his children in school there. He is the one who invited Phyllis to Mambila! It is THIS friendship that the Lord has used MIGHTILY to create new opportunities for ministry in Mambila!

Phyllis was invited to a meeting of the FUDECO Association, the Fulbe Development and Cultural Organization. This group of highly motivated, educated Fulani men and women mentioned three ways SFA could work together with them in Mambila! We could help with their schools, provide boreholes, and train herdsmen in how to manage their animals as a business.

We hope to help!

There are over 50 schools in this area! EACH serving a minimum of 250 children! Can you imagine? None of the teachers have textbooks from which to teach. None of the children have supplies of any kind. WE CAN MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE IN THESE SCHOOLS, WITH THE SIMPLE PROVISION OF SUPPLIES AND TEXTBOOKS! We would like to donate school supplies and reading materials to each school. Phyllis will buy supplies and distribute them in September before schools resume.

Most of the school buildings on the Mambila Plateau that Phyllis saw were barely standing, NOT safe for children! In fact, one had recently collapsed, though thank God no one was hurt! We have asked for a grant to help repair the schools. The damaged schools that we’d like to repair are those where the parents have already contributed their own efforts. For example, the collapsed building was due to lack of proper cement blocks. Mud blocks were used by the parents, but they couldn’t hold up the roof. We’d like to help support and encourage these parents who have done their best for their children.

Lack of water is a big problem in this area. If God provides the funds, we would be so happy to drill boreholes at those school locations that are very far from water.

We would love your help to fund this project! (Click HERE to GIVE!)

We will also talk with our partners at Friesland Campina, the largest producers of milk products in the world, about working together on a milk collection center on the Mambila Plateau. This will help herdsman to better provide for their families!

With God, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!!!

This Fulani matriarch is 100 years old! She couldn't stay out in the bright light for long because the sun bothered her eyes. We finally got a good picture of her lovely face.

EVERYONE wanted a picture taken with Phyllis! These guys were so cute! They'd never seen a white person before!

Give monthly to sustain what the Lord is doing for His beloved people in Nigeria!

Give $35 monthly

Give $50 monthly

Give $100 monthly

Give $125 monthly

Give $150 monthly

Prayer Requests:

  • Pray for the unreached people in Mambila, and for SFA opportunities to share the love of Christ!

  • Pray for funds to provide boreholes in Mambila, where water is greatly needed.

  • Pray for the Fulani herdsman and their partnership with Friesland Campina - that they would gain knowledge to better support and sustain their families.

Praying BOLDLY, for God's GLORY! after receiving very bad news...

WE ARE PRAYING BOLDY, FOR GOD'S GLORY!

To sign up for bi-monthly emails and LOTS more info, stories, background, etc, go here:

https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/7lc0YDL

To read our email update from today, go here:

https://conta.cc/3ujlsWH

We received news from Bobi Reserve, and the news is worse than initially reported. Bandits with guns attacked our church service on Bobi Reserve around 10:00am Sunday, Nigeria time. MANY men, women, and children were kidnapped. These are our friends, our beloveds, our brothers and sisters in Christ, including 2 SFA teachers and a SFA nurse. Lives were lost, cattle and money stolen, and homes were burned to the ground.

We are heartbroken, sad, worried, BUT GOD! God is faithful, and He knows all things. He knows where are friends are, He knows the outcome, and HE WILL BE GLORIFIED! We are praying that no weapon formed against us will prosper! We are praying that, like other Muslims WE KNOW, that JESUS would appear to these bandits in a dream and reveal Himself to them! We pray AGAINST this attempt to distract and disrupt what God is already accomplishing on the Bobi Reserve, in Jesus' name! God is breathing Life, Breath, and Truth into the Fulani people! His kingdom WILL move forward, for His glory.

Father, lead Schools For Africa in Your will!

Director Phyllis Sortor is in Niger State today, meeting with the Governor, Commissioner of Police and Commissioners of Agriculture and Education, requesting immediate help in the locating and release of our kidnapped comrades. We thank God that our two teachers were able to escape. We are requesting that the Governor DO SOMETHING about these bandits who are wrecking this reserve!

The bandits are an army... fully equipped with weapons, transport and informants! As long as there are none to oppose them, they will continue to pillage, kidnap and kill.

Phyllis is pointing all this out to officials and strongly requesting an army of our own! From Phyllis: "God is our Commander and Chief. May He lead, guide, give wisdom and favor before these officials today. We need serious prayer."

This comes in the midst of SO MUCH good stuff!

Just 90 minutes before the kidnapping was reported, SFA Director Phyllis Sortor emailed our SFA team with an email titled "JOY". The email detailed the many new requests for schools, details of new churches we are building, and new partnerships with old friends. Phyllis wrote, "I'm so happy to be here, doing all I can, with YOUR help, to plant seeds of peace and faith in Jesus among all these precious people God brings into our lives!"

Prayer Requests:

  • Pray for the families of those who lost their lives in the recent bandit attack - number not yet known.

  • Pray for the safe and speedy return of all kidnapped from the Bobi Reserve - number not yet known.

  • Pray for our great need for ongoing security on Bobi Reserve, to continue the good work there.

Give monthly to sustain what the Lord is doing for His beloved people in Nigeria! Click HERE to set up monthly giving.

Monthly giving (FREE BOOKS!), Grants, and Medical Missions Trips!

YOU GIVE, WE GIVE!

We rely on monthly support for a steady income.

CARE TO JOIN US?!

All NEW monthly givers will receive BOTH of Phyllis's books in January, FREE of charge!

This is our way of saying THANK YOU so much for partnering with us!

Click below to go to our website, to sign up to give monthly support of $35 or more. THEN, email us at carisahaven@gmail.com to request the books, and we will mail them out in January!

https://phyllis-sortor-schools-for-africa.org

The Kidnapping Of An American Missionary

On Monday, February 23 2015, Phyllis Sortor’s life was irrevocably changed when she was kidnapped by Nigerian gangsters while working at a Christian school. Over the next two weeks, she was repeatedly beaten, traumatized, and abused as she held out hope for rescue.

Read Phyllis’ firsthand account of her harrowing adventure. Her trust in her Savior and her fierce resolve will embolden your faith and enliven your spirit. This remarkable true story of God’s beloved daughter will challenge you, inspire you, and transform your Christian experience like no other.

Kidnapped Redemption

As a sequel to The Kidnapping of an American Missionary, Phyllis Sortor tells the story of how God has redeemed what kidnappers meant to harm and destroy. As she searches for her kidnappers to offer forgiveness and to help them, she also tells the story of a new ministry in Nigeria. This is a powerful story of boldness that has opened the way for a flourishing ministry called “Schools for Africa.”

Through rotational grazing for the cattle of Fulani Herdsmen and schools for their children, the Fulani are emerging from the stereotypes that have kept them oppressed in Nigeria for generations.

Student support!

Your monthly support of $35/month covers the costs for a child to go to school, including healthcare and meals at school. SFA serves 1.688 students so far!

Click here to support a student monthly!

Teacher Support!

Your monthly support of $100/month covers the cost of salary for an SFA teacher, and gives them access to healthcare! SFA employs 98 teachers so far!

Click here to support a teacher monthly!

Nurse Support!

Your monthly support of $125/month covers the cost of salary for an SFA nurse, and gives the Fulani access to healthcare! SFA employs several nurses already!

Click here to support a nurse monthly!

Grants!

In addition to monthly support, which we rely on for a steady monthly income, we have been blessed by grants to help fund some big projects. We apply to various charitable foundations, and occasionally, we receive grant funding for our work! We use the funds as requested, for example, on our new Imala clinics, then report to the foundation how we used the funding. As we continue to apply for grants, would you join us in praying for favor in our grant application process?

-2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

Philippians 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

We come BOLDLY before His throne because we KNOW that God will continue to bless our ministry, as we are simply joining Him in what He is doing. God controls VAST sums of money - all of it, actually! We have seen Him provide in many miraculous ways. We never doubt His goodness or His provision!

We are SO thankful!

Medical Missions Trip 2022

Schools for Africa and Action International desire referrals of interested doctors, dentists, nurses, pharmacists & those with expertise in assisting such a team, for a medical/dental mission trip to Nigeria in 2022, possibly in May. Prayer is needed for every detail. Thank you for your prayers!

Email us at carisahaven@gmail.com if you would like to join us!

CONTAINER NEEDS

Our team is also working on a container shipment from the US to Nigeria. We need many things for our new Imala projects! Would you pray that we can find an organization to help ship the container, and for donations to fill it? We are in early planning stages, but we look forward to seeing how the Lord provides, here, too! Pray with us for a CONTAINER OF BLESSINGS!

We hope you enjoy this season of HOPE, make MERRY, and

have great JOY in this holiday season!

May God BLESS each one of you, Merry Christmas!

-From all of us at Schools For Africa