Nigeria Missions Update

The Farm: We have rented farmland in Nigeria again this year! The older children from Jos Christian Refuge for Children will clear the land, seed, cultivate and harvest crops for their own use.

Helping to provide their own food raises the self-sufficiency of the orphans. Farming also helps them learn the skills of land management and crop care. The children are intensely proud of helping to provide for themselves and not being totally dependent on charity.

This year’s farm budget, supplied by Heart for the Persecuted Church, was $2,000. The children will harvest food valued at many times that amount. Just the Irish potatoes harvested will have more than double the value of our investment. The children will also plant sweet potatoes, maize (corn), soybeans and peanuts. Small amounts of fresh vegetables will also be harvested.

The harvests in past years have gone so well that our orphanage leaders have donated 10% of the crop to smaller Christian orphanages. Many of those have children whose parents were lost to AIDS, which is a serious problem in Africa.

Helping smaller orphanages: One of the small orphanages with less than 50 children faced eviction from their location in Jos. Our director in Nigeria, Joshua Dickson, contacted me about the situation. The Jos Christian Refuge for Children is currently at maximum capacity and there was no way to take in 65 children if the smaller orphanage was forced to close.

Realizing the plight of the children, I requested all the information I could get on the leadership and needs of the smaller orphanage.

Rent in Nigeria is very cheap compared to western nations such as the United States. I learned that the complex the orphanage is located in has an annual rental rate of 1,700,000 Nigeria Nira, about $2,000 in dollars.

The goal of Heart for the Persecuted Church is to aid orphans who lost their parents to Islamic terror, such as that inflicted by the Sunni Muslim Fulani Herdsmen. The Lord put His hand upon me to keep these 50 children in their orphanage home where they would be taught the Gospel and Christian values.

In May we transferred the funds to pay the rent for one year and keep the children in the only home they know.

The children will not have the level of care we provide at Jos Christian Refuge for Children. However, they will be in a safe Christian centered facility and not on the streets facing the possibility of human trafficking.

Attacks continue: On Sunday, May 25th, a pastor was murdered by Fulani in the Bokkos LGA just south of Jos. His wife was shot in the leg. Locals managed to get her to a hospital in Jos. Seven other Christians died in the attack that day in Bokkos.

Bokkos is one of the areas where we supply aid to IDP orphans and some adults. The adults we help have become caregivers to the younger children who are still IDPs.

The same day in Aondona, located in Benue State to the south, 42 were massacred by the Fulani including women and children. The youngest murder victim was reported to be 2 years old.

The Western media continues to hide the continuing horror of Islamic terror attacks in the world today. The mantra from the media continues to be “religion of peace” with an emphasis on how much money the Muslim nations “invest” in the United States. They don’t mention the money the rich Muslim nations have comes from American companies buying their oil.

You can see a list of known attacks at www.TheReligionOfPeace.com. You will be shocked by the numbers and the locations including India, Dagestan, and Thailand. Syria of course is a hotspot of Islamic terror, and the new Islamist government takes revenge on secularists and Christians.

Elsewhere in Africa in May at least a hundred soldiers died in an attack on a military base in Burkina Faso. The military style attack was carried out by Al-Qaeda affiliate Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM). The JNIM is well financed and armed and controls areas in West Africa including Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad and Togo.

The U.S. military has a large presence in Somalia to fight Al-Shabaab, one of the most terrifying al-Qaeda affiliated Islamic terror groups. In February, our air force struck numerous targets in in the Golis mountains to kill Al-Shabab leaders … Don’t bother to look for this information on CNN or Fox News. All is well with Islam according to the Western media.

Every day, we’re dedicated to helping the suffering Christians in Nigeria. Your continued support is vital, allowing us to expand our ministry and find new ways to reach those in need.

William J. Murray
Religious Freedom Coalition President