People in Mission

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Iowa Nigeria Partnership

    

 

JOSEPH, CAN YOU SEE?



I met Joseph on June 11 at the Nursery/Primary School in Jalingo, Nigeria.  Joseph is the only student of 150 students who wears glasses.  When I met him, his glasses were is disarray.  One bow was broken and one lense kept popping out.  I used a ribbon to repair his glasses and used a bandana to keep them on his ears.  I sent a letter home to his parents asking about Joseph and why he wears glasses.  When I had Joseph read some words, he held the paper about 4 inches from his face.  Many of the words were incorrect, as I think he is learning by hearing, rather than seeing. 
 
The very next day was Saturday and while I was working at the school, Joseph and his dad came to visit me!  George, Joseph's dad, told me Joseph is 9 yrs old.  At 2 months he developed cataracts in both eyes.  He traveled to Kano, Nigeria at age 4 months for cataract surgery.  He then began wearing glasses.  His lenses were increased every 2 years.  In 2007 he was told he needed surgery on both eyes again.  This has not been done.  Joseph has 3 sisters and the only ones in the family with glasses are dad and Joseph.
 
June 21st found Joseph and his uncle, Bala, traveling in the INP pickup with Yusuf, Linda, Judy and myself.  We were going to Zing.
At Zing, Joseph and Bala went to the Eye Clinic.  Joseph received excellent eye care from Dr.   Avar.  He had the most radiant smile told us how thrilled he was with his new glasses.  He spent much of the day taking pictures with my camera. 
 

On the day the Nursery/Primary School was rededicated, Joseph mustered all of his confidence and volunteered to be the songleader for the entire school.  It was a very proud moment!  He did a fantastic job and had alot of confidence!!  Later that day when Dr.  Avar  came, the two had a great reunion!  What a blessing this is in Joseph's life!

 Barbara Johnson, Iowa team member from Le Mars to Nigeria in June

 An added note: Dr. Avar is planning to observe WSD (World Sight Day) from October 11 – 15 by providing eye exams for the 210 students who attend the Junior Secondary School in Jalingo. He is also targeting public eye health awareness for the National Union of Road Transport Workers. This awareness will emphasis cataract, glaucoma and refractive errors as well as the effect of medical conditions like hypertension and diabetes mellitus on the eye.  In 2011 he plans to utilize the Iowa medical team to help perform free eye surgeries. Your donations will help make this happen so money may be sent through the local church to the conference treasurer designated: INP, #230 Eye Surgery.





 

ROSELINE GETS A GOAT



If you remember Roseline, a student at the Women’s Leadership Training Center (WLTC) in Bambur, Nigeria you will know that she came from a polygamous family, that her parents didn’t have sufficient funds to provide her schooling and that she wanted to continue her education. Desperate to attend the Women’s Leadership Training Center, her mother gave her $3 and Roseline sold her goat to pay the tuition. Roseline’s family relied on the income from the goat but it was hers to sell.
After her story was told here in Iowa, a kind hearted Iowa woman provided funds for her to purchase a new goat. The picture tells the story of her happiness at receiving a goat…even a pregnant one.
Presently Roseline continues classes at the WLTC and will return back to her village with a treadle sewing machine that has been purchased for her by generous Iowa United Methodist Women. Her goal is to teach village friends the things she has learned to empower them as she has been empowered at the training center with the support of caring women in Iowa.   Your gift makes a difference to one who will share!                                                                  
Beverly Nolte, Iowa Nigeria Partnership Chairperson

 

I/Eye Care

Each year I go to see the eye doctor to check the only pair of eyes I have! Has my vision changed in a year? Do I need new glasses? Do I have cataracts or glaucoma? I care about my eyes!

 

In Nigeria caring for one’s eyes is difficult due to lack of good sanitation, poor diet and no reputable eye doctors.  Quack “doctors” will come into a village stating they are able to care for eye problems like removing cataracts. Taking the villagers money, they poke the cataract breaking it up but fail to remove it from the lens causing the person to become blind, while they walk away with the money. A tragic happening but true!

 

Dr. Gideon Avar, eye surgeon at the UMC Eye Centre in Zing, has for the past two years, held an eye camp in one of the church areas. With the help of Iowa health care professionals they have performed eye surgeries on over 125 patients as well as performing eye exams on 1000 persons.  This year Dr. Avar wants to hold another 5 day eye camp in the Bambur area. In order to allow Nigerians access to free eye care, Iowans are requested to underwrite the cost of the surgeries which is $150 per eye. In 2009 $5,000 was sent for the eye camp.  Can we help the blind to see physically (and spiritually) this summer?   You bet!  I care about eye care! Money may be sent through your local church to the conference treasurer designated: INP, #230, Eye Camp.

 

 


The B-I-B-L-E School Teachers for Nigeria

How many Bibles are in your home? Are these read on a daily basis? For Nigerians who have completed the Lit-Lit Program sponsored by the United Methodist Church of Nigeria in their church or community, Bibles in Hausa are a prized commodity. The majority of students in the Lit-Lit classes are mainly village women whose parents didn’t feel it was worth paying the tuition fees for them to attend school.  Through the program they learn to do simple arithmetic, read and write and for some, come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.  It is never too late for education and when you educate a woman you are educating the family and village. At graduation they must pay to receive the Hausa Bible which some can’t afford. The ability to read the Bible and the lack of funds to provide one for them is agonizing. How can we help remedy that situation? For $7 a Hausa Bible can be purchased. For $25 a student can attend Lit-Lit classes. Your contribution may be made through your local church and sent to the Conference Treasurer designated INP #230, Hausa Bible or Lit Lit.  The next time you pick up your Bible to read or to study, count yourself blessed. 

 

 

 

What your money can do in Nigeria:

$1.50 will allow a child to have basic school supplies

$7 will purchase a Bible in Hausa

$15 will provide a one month stipend for a UMC teacher

$20 will help an illiterate Nigerian learn to read and write

$35 will provide one- term tuition for a high school student

$50 will purchase vaccines for the poultry program

$62 will allow a woman to attend the Women’s Training Center for one term

$75 will buy a goat for the Agricultural Program

$100 will stock the medicine cabinet at the church run clinics

$120 will purchase a treadle sewing machine

$130 will purchase a bicycle for a local pastor

$550 will purchase a motorcycle for the Lit-Lit, Evangelism or youth director

$1,500 will purchase a solar refrigerator for the district medical clinics

$2,000 will built a round hut home for an evangelist to minister to unsaved people

$6,500 will sink a deep water borehole/well providing clear, pure water

 

Money may be given through your church and sent to the Conference Treasurer designated INP, #230 and choice of project. 


 

 

Let There Be Light!  And there was! Solar!

NEPA (Nigeria Electrical Power Association) is one of the world’s most frustrating, unreliable electrical systems in the world.  Off and on, day or night, one never can count its availability when electricity is needed. Classrooms, staff housing and dormitories at the Junior are limited in the ability to function at night due to no electricity available. Secondary School

 

To remedy that, James Richardson of Ottumwa, is assembling an alternative option to no lights by designing a solar system. This will be attached to the JSS campus buildings that will harness the sun through the use of a solar system. James is purchasing and putting together components which will include solar panels and the hardware to install them. He plans to produce a booklet on how to install the units and what items are available in Nigeria since he worked with the Iowa team there the past two years.  Each of these solar units will cost about $2,500.

 

Local churches wanting to bring light to the JSS Campus may sent money through their local church to the conference treasurer designated, INP, #230, solar units. Now JSS will not need to depend on NEPA to continue their study program and student life. Let there be light! Go Solar!



NA GODE (Thanks) to Iowans
To all Iowa United Methodists who contributed to the Iowa Nigeria Partnership in any way in 2008, we say NA GODE (thanks in the Hausa language). In spite of the economic downturn and the natural disasters in our state, $143,000 (yes! that much) was given for projects ranging from purchasing bikes to funding literacy programs, from providing student tuition grants to offering teacher’s stipends, assisting the agricultural programs with funds to purchase chickens, giving A3 seeds for planting to reduce malaria suffering, purchasing treadle sewing machines, constructing a staff house on the Junior Secondary School campus…all of these mission outreach ministries benefited from your generosity. This does not include the hundreds of kits for Nigeria prepared for the InGathering.  

Personally I used to think that when I wrote stories to tell about NigerianChurch work, their wants and needs that no one read them and that my writing was in vain. But I’m a believer that YOU DO READ and that YOU DO RESPOND! For 20 years the Iowa Conference has been partnering with the NigerianChurch. Bishop Kulah sends words of thanks on behalf of our friends there. If you keep reading, I’ll keep writing and together let’s continue our support to spread God’s word in a country a half a world away! Consider supporting one project in Nigeria during 2009, our celebration year!  

Beverly Nolte
INP Chairperson