March school teachers for Nigeria

Our Bishop Julius Trimble just returned from Nigeria where he was one of four bishops from the Council of Bishops to meet/greet Nigeria UM Church persons. While in Nigeria Bishop Trimble was impressed with the educational program at the Junior Secondary School. The new boy’s hostel/dorm is being utilized by 30 boys. Plans are to install solar panels (in the sea container) on the roof to allow for brighter lights enabling students to study in the dorm.

 

Cletus David, our Master’s Degree student at Africa University, is thinking ahead to his last year on campus. He is expected to complete a minimum of three months internship to an organization that will expose him to the practical side of the issues he has been studying in class which for him is Peace and Governance. It is recommended that he travel to Nairobi, Kenya and work with the Nairobi Peace Initiative-Africa during the internship. BUT he has no money except what can be provided by the Iowa Conference. The cost of this internship would be approximately $4,500 to include airfare to Nairobi, housing, food and medical insurance while there. Shirley DeWolf, Intern Coordinator, says of Cletus, “He is one of our most enthusiastic and hard working students and this means we want to get him into one of the better internships where he can give the host institution good service and learn as much as he can. Cletus would be perfect working with the Nairobi Peace Initiative. Can the Iowa Conference help make this happen for him?” I personally will make a financial contribution to this internship for Cletus. Will you help support him in this opportunity as well? He will return to Nigeria to be one of the leaders to help reconcile the Nigerian church.

 

Fourteen Iowans will travel to Nigeria in June with several of them working at the Nursery/Primary Schools in Jalingo, Pero and Bambur. With their many skills, Iowans will help mentor children through individual attention, help with studies and reading, set up games and sports activities, provide craft items for them to make, offer in-service training sessions for the teachers as well as have fun with the kids and faculty. Your prayers are needed as the team travels June 16 – July 2.

 

This is the hot season of the year with little rain and winds blowing from the Sahara Desert. The harmattan wind is brutal causing sand storms with dirt flying through the air and low visibility. It is difficult for children to sit in hot, crowded classrooms with teachers trying to keep their attention. Continue to remember your counterparts as they teach under some adverse conditions. With the coming of the rains in April, the weather will modulate and become more bearable.

 

Doris, Jacob and Francis are busy attending classes, writing papers, taking tests and vying for the computer to research study assignments at Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe. Their usual time to write e-mails is after their church on Sunday! They continue to be grateful for the education made available to them by all of you, members of the Iowa Conference.

 

So what is the educational priority for 2010? The renovation of the Nursery/Primary in Jalingo which needs TLC in the replacement of the roof, ceiling and then a fresh coat of paint. Your support of this project would be immensely helpful for conducive learning by these little students and a morale booster for their teachers. 

-Beverly Nolte