SIM Nigeria

Wednesday, 12 September 2007
The Fulani family breathed a collective sigh of relief when the last of the children being screened for “the dreaded disease” (as HIV is often known in this part of the world) showed a non-reactive test. It was a warm, humid, sunny morning in the Nigerian bush. Every so often, a gentle cooling breeze would rustle the leaves and bring some refreshment to the staff and volunteers of the Spring of Life Centre, Egbe who were working in the shade of some trees at the semi-Nomadic Fulani camp at Akata, about six kilometers outside of Egbe. We arrived at the camp at 8:30 in the morning, and spent some time attending to the necessary courtesies—greeting the chief and his elders, introducing ourselves, and obtaining the permission to conduct a health education talk focusing on HIV and AIDS and its prevention. ... read more ...
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Spring of Life Club Video

Tuesday, 11 September 2007

Spring of Life is the support arm of The ECWA AIDS Ministry (TEAM), with activities including home visiting, voluntary testing and counseling (VCT), and community-building activities. See Susan Bertrand's short article about the Kids Club.

Here is a short (6 minute) video with pictures of the children in the Kids Club, as well as a few shots of the adults' Spring of Life club meeting. These support groups have played a big role in the lives of our clients, building a sense of community, caring, and teamwork, and helping eliminate the stigma of HIV. The pictures and footage here were shot in 2005. Nearly all the kids were living with HIV at the time, and most are still doing well, with many on antiretroviral therapy.

(Click on the player to start. If your connection is too slow for this video, see the low resolution version instead, or press pause on the player, wait until the video finishes loading, reaching 100%, then press play again).

Moses

Wednesday, 29 August 2007

Moses

Moses was involved in the occult and his life was in danger. In Nigeria, if someone is in a secret society, they may get possessed by evil and kill people. As a result, the people in Moses' village became afraid of him and threatened to kill him, so his mother brought him to Gidan Bege about four years ago. Moses is now a kind-hearted, patient and obedient boy. He loves Jesus and wants to be a pastor when he grows up.

Yesterday he came to me because he really wants to see his mom. One of the boys, DanLadi, was going to visit his own mother and Moses wanted to join him, because they are in the same village. Moses' mom, however, has said that his life is still in danger and that he cannot go visit her right now. When "Uncle Alex" was explaining this to him, tears fell down his cheeks. Not being able to visit his mom? Because people are afraid of him? What? It is difficult to understand. And yet, that is reality for him.

Moses is now part of our family. He is loved by everyone and strives to follow Christ. But, a child needs his mother. Pray for us as we are the mothers and fathers to these precious children.

Erin Rigsby is an SIM nurse working with the homeless and disadvantaged children at "Gidan Bege", or House of Hope. See her blog and website for more information.

New Library for Seminary at Kagoro

Saturday, 08 September 2007

Students browsing in new library at Kagoro

The seminary just completed and furnished its one story library building. It houses all the lecturers offices as well as a large lecture hall all on the ground floor. The upper floor houses the readings, thesis writers, reference, and stack areas. There are 17,000 volumes of books apart from the journals, audio and videos cassettes, and tapes for individual and class use. The Internet facility is located on the upper floor of the library where lecturers and students browse and send emails.

True Religion in Samaru

Monday, 18 June 2007

By Anna Beth Wildman
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27).
Many of these names have been changed.

Cheryl Pridham fills the tank to give the Pridhams’ house running water.

Joy lost her husband in a car accident. Her in-laws made her move in with them for a week. While she was there, they took everything out of her house. Then the relatives told Joy to give them the money from her bank account. “No,” she responded. They poisoned her children—not enough to kill them, but enough to make the children sick and let Joy know they meant business. She gave them the money.

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