Chairman’s Report for February 23, 2024

In this issue of the newsletter
Update: 1,000 new orphans and fifteen open beds at orphanage – Now what?
Update: Transition house for orphanage graduates to become reality
New: Traumatized orphans we have helped win athletic competitions
New: Capitol Hill, Nigeria, and even more Christians massacred

How do we help children orphaned in Plateau State attacks?

We cannot do this alone … but we must do what we can!

Here is the horrible truth, most of the orphanages in Nigeria are forced labor camps at best. There is also a lot of human trafficking of orphans.

Tens of thousands of girls and boys are sexually trafficked each year. Once they are forced into the “sex industry” their lives are ruined.

There are many so-called orphanages that give children a place to sleep and cart them off every morning to do jobs including housekeeping, agriculture and even mining.

Sadly, I visited one such orphanage and found that the children slept on mats on the floor. There were no educational facilities. The director was very proud to tell me that the children received a ration of meat
twice a week.

There are 18.5 million orphans in Nigeria. One million of those have been made orphans because of attacks by the Boko Haram and Fulani Herdsmen … both groups are Sunni Muslim.

The traumatized orphans in Mangu, Barken-Ladi and Bokkos have lost parents who cared for them. Almost all were school age.

They deserve better than an orphanage like the one I described.

Working with tribal leaders in the area to move the children to the homes of their relatives if possible is job number one. Job number two is making it feasible financially for the relatives to take in the children.

Job number three is to seek out reputable Christian orphanages with vacancies in other areas of Nigeria and arrange for transportation for the children.

Partners are needed to help find homes for the children.

We are working to find homes, but we will need to promise some aid to the families, to encourage them to take in the children. Partner homes are needed in Nigeria and partners in the United States to help those families are needed.

The need may be great, but our God is greater than any need!

There are ninety-four million people in Nigeria living on $1.90 a day! What is considered basic nutrition in the United States would cost TWICE the minimum wage in Nigeria.

The minimum wage in Nigeria is 65,000 Naira a month. At the current exchange rate that is just $52! How much needs to be added to that for a family to take in a child?

Right now, I am working with our on the ground staff in Plateau State as well as tribal leaders to develop a solid plan to place children.

Whatever the final program looks like it will require commitment!

A process will need to be put in place so that each family that takes in a child will receive a monthly stipend to take care of that child. Funds will have to be set aside for a full year for each family chosen. There are logistic issues that must be dealt with.

The Campaign: Begin raising funds for the program as it develops.

The need is critical, and regardless of the final process we need to begin raising funds now while still maintaining our existing programs in Nigeria, including funding of our orphanage.

Next month I will mail a letter to thousands of caring Christians asking them to help the children’s immediate needs and to commit to helping with their expenses. Please pray with me that we will find supporters willing to take on this task.

The letter I will send in March will have all the details of the plan, with the exact cost per child. I have written that there are about 1,000 children, but the reality is that the attacks continue. There are now more orphans in southern Plateau State. Please pray for these children.

Transition home for graduates from the orphanage

The initial work has begun on a transition home for up to ten graduates from our orphanage in Jos, Nigeria — and the news about it is getting better.

We have now formed a relationship with a Christian college in Plateau State to assist the graduates at the transition house with vocational education. The college has an emphasis on computer learning and programing.

That college partnership will not be the last. We are working on other educational opportunities as well.

In addition to our own transition house in Jos, we are still maintaining a relationship with a ministry partner in Makurdi in Benue State. I want to make sure that young men and women are not turned out onto the streets at age 18. While we need to make room for the young, we must prepare the young adults for jobs in a nation with a very high youth unemployment rate.

Orphanage updates

Over the last year or so I have focused on the construction of new buildings at the orphanage in Jos. Several have been constructed, including educational buildings and living quarters. Even more important, foundations have been laid as the children have received a better education than is available in public institutions and training to participate in non-curricular activities.

The resilience of these traumatized orphans is amazing as they participate in and place well in athletic competitions including “para” competitions.

Student Achievements at our Orphanage – Badminton

Japhet – Received the Bronze medal for Plateau State in the under 15 Badminton National Para Games Abuja.

Japhet is physically disabled with a problem with one leg.

He is pictured with Orphanage director Joshua who led the rebuilding effort of the the children in Jos city.

Cycling

Six students from our orphanage represented Plateau State in the under 15 cycling competition. Two students won 2nd and 3rd place. The orphanage in Miango was destroyed by Muslim Fulani in August, 2021. The
children had nothing but the clothing they wore as they fled Miango. The children have now bloomed into winners participating in state wide competitions.

Capitol Hill and More

House committee calls for Nigeria to be added to CPC list.

The U.S. House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee voted on February 7th to move forward with H. Res. 82, a House resolution calling for greater U.S. action in response to the religious freedom crisis in Nigeria.

The House resolution calls on the U.S. Secretary of State to redesignate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) of religious freedom offenders for “engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.”

For the third year in a row the U.S. State Department released its annual Religious Freedom Watchlist, leaving Nigeria off the list. The failure of the State Department to designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern came just after hundreds more Christians were murdered for their faith in Plateau State, Nigeria!

I have signed several letters to Secretary of State Blinken over the past three years demanding that Nigeria be placed back on the CPC list. Nigeria was removed from the list shortly after President Biden was sworn into office, despite the egregious behavior of that nation in ignoring or facilitating the murders of Christians.

I have personally visited the graves in Plateau State and spoken to the victims of the Fulani Muslim murderers.

In January Christians were killed in attacks in the Nigerian villages of Mangu, Omala, Iwilli, Kukareta, Gajirim, Ugboju, Pulka, Ekiti, Agatu, Gubio, Mafa, Bokkos, Arufu, and other areas. There are many more that were not in the news media to learn about.

The continuing killing of Christians, while worse in Nigeria, is not limited to Nigeria. Muslims target Christians wherever they can.

On January 30th eight Christians were beheaded in a church in Baeti, a city in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Thirty more were injured. The attackers were Sunni Muslims.

On January 9th 14 were killed and 19 injured when Sunni Muslims placed a bomb in a bus in Homs, Syria.

The Western media is silent about the slaughter. Why? The Sunni Muslims who rule Saudi Arabia would get upset if the murders were reported. The West must appease its very wealthy Sunni Muslim ally, Saudi Arabia.

Please continue to pray for persecuted Christians all over the world. Please pray for the persecuted Christians of Plateau State, Nigeria. Your help is needed.