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Ted visited
many villages and taught at the Theological College. I went mostly to the
schools. A visit to Wusasa is always such a mixture. There is frustration at
the fact that most Nigerians seem to completely lack the gene for time
keeping!
As the guest
bungalow was full, I was initially the guest of a lovely family about 20
minutes outside Wusasa. The car sent to collect me would be 2 hours late or
I be forgotten. When Ted turned up to teach at the College, they were not
expecting him. But set against the huge and genuine welcome one inevitably
receives, the amazing work which is being done in establishing churches and
schools, and the work at St. Luke's Hospital, the frustrations are as
nothing.
A visit to Gwada village
We left the main
road, metalled, with only occasional potholes and set off along earthen
pathways, got lost and had to turn round when the pathway petered out,
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passed
Muslim villages where tiny children could be seen scratching away at the
soil with small hoes, drove for miles through the bush, swinging from side
to side as the driver tried to find a smoother surface and arrived at Gwada
village.
Here was a large
church, built with concrete blocks, with a fine roof, supported by huge
timbers, where a big congregation was worshipping with lively singing,
accompanied by drums, followed by a thirty minute impassioned sermon in
Hausa. Here, surrounded by semi-arid land, with no proper road, no
electricity. a village well for water, how on earth do they do it I
wondered? We saw the two bullocks and plough supplied by your generous
donations.
The difference this is making to the
lives of the subsistence farmers is incalculable and humbling. They pay some
of their young men to take the team from village to village, thus providing
much needed employment. They
reported, regretfully, that their goat had not yet obliged with kids. |
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St. Bartholomew's Schools
The Principal,
Sunday Maiwada, told me I didn't understand the context in which they
worked. The next day I found myself in charge of 53 children aged about 8,
seated three to a desk, most with a textbook. I had a blackboard and chalk.
We got on well, although they found my accent difficult, until it was time
to write. 12 children had no pencil, 4 had no exercise book. In desperation,
I set 4 to write on the blackboard and having broken 4 children's pencils in
half, sharpened them with the razor blade. Excited by the possibility of
writing on the board, 4 children promptly lost their pencils. Later, four
sad students came to tell me I had broken their 'examination' pencil. Even a
pencil is precious. After over an hour, I had begun to understand the
context! Later, I was disappointed by the chaotic nature of the library but
then came across two seventeen-year-old boys quietly reading 'The Merchant
of Venice, to each other. I visited the kitchen, where they prepare
breakfast and two cooked meals a day for over 600 boarding children over a
wood fire. Miracles are a part of everyday life here!
Wusasa Wishes
The meeting with
the Committee administering this project was inspiring. No only is it well
organised with proper accounting procedures but the first recipients of our
gifts had already paid back in enough money to purchase another ploughing
team, it had been bought and is ready for use. Ted totalled the amount of
money we now have available - 1 million, 12 thousand Naira. |
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They
totalled the amount needed to complete this phase of the project - 1
million, 12 thousand Naira. God is indeed the great mathematician! In just
over a year, we have provided for 22 bullocks, 11 ploughs and 11 sewing
machines! God has truly blessed our efforts. It was agreed that clean water
for the village schools at Mai Mai and Rafin Tabo should be next on the
agenda.
A
visit to the Children's Ward
This is both
heartbreaking and inspiring. I cried at the sight of a young boy, horribly
burned. Matches are precious, so his grandmother had tried to refill the
kerosene stove without turning it off. She was killed in the explosion and
the boy badly burned. A little 8 month-old girl was receiving treatment for
malaria. She has a very good chance of survival because the family can pay
the £5 it costs. If they had not, she would have died. The hospital has no
other income except what the patients provide. Dr. Pam and the nurses work
untiringly but it is very hard. 1 in 5 children die in infancy. We hope to
set up a scheme to provide payment for children with malaria. £5 saves a
baby or toddler.
Finally, many
thanks for your prayers. Apart from Ted suffering the effects of having to
eat five cooked meals in one day as part of the welcome in the villages, we
remained well! Our journeys were safe, despite two wheels coming off a huge
lorry immediately in front of the car and it later being almost covered by
calabashes when a load came undone, just as we overtook the truck. I
returned, my faith stronger and convinced that in developing this Link, we
are indeed doing as our Lord wishes.
Barbara James |
