Remember little Husseina? The Fulani child whose sponsor, from Fernley, Nevada Free Methodist Church sent so many wonderful gifts? Well, here she is - Husseina herself - dressed in the little sundress and holding the little doll which her sponsor sent. With her on the left is Haruna and on the right, Chief, both of whom enjoyed opening the gifts just as much as did Husseina herself!

Two of the very happy wheelchair recipients at recent wheelchair distribution!

On Saturday, May 2nd we distributed wheelchairs to seventy-six disabled men, women and children - mostly polio victims – mostly Muslims – at a celebration that included music, gospel messages, fellowship, fun and food! Chief, guest of honor along with his friend Arduli, listened with many others as Rev. Mike Henry told the story of how the gift of a wheelchair for Salihu, our disabled student at Hope for Little Shepherds, resulted in 200 wheelchairs given to the needy poor in Nigeria. I shared that in the same way King David showed great mercy to the crippled boy Mephibosheth for the sake of David’s beloved friend Jonathan, so God shows saving grace to us, crippled and broken by sin, for the sake of His son, Jesus.
One by one, our guests were called out, and assisted into their own personal wheelchairs amid great excitement and loud applause! And just as we settled the last person in her chair, the heavens opened up and a cool and refreshing rain, a wonderful shower of blessing began to fall – bringing sweet relief from the heat. We served rice, meat and pure water to our guests who enjoyed their meal sitting for the first time, not on the dusty ground, but on their own new wheelchairs – filled with dignity, respectability and joy.
As Michele spoke to our disabled guests of the real threat of pressure sores and how to avoid them, Kevin and other team members knelt before each individual, here adjusting a foot rest, there tightening a wheel. Faithful imitators of Jesus, they were in a true sense, bathing these poor, twisted feet.
Truly, the point of this wheelchair ministry was summarized very well in the chorus sung for us that day by the children of … choir:
“God forgave my sin in Jesus’ name; I’ve been born again in Jesus’ Name; and in Jesus’ Name I come to you to share His love as He told me to…
“He said, “Freely, freely you have received…freely, freely give. Go in my Name and because YOU believe, others will know that I live.”
There are at least seventy-six people in ….State today who know for sure that Jesus lives!

Back at the school, it took only two days to dig out and level the ground for the foundation of the new health clinic, in spite of very rocky, uneven terrain. Why did it only take two days? Because of the huge bonus we offered to get the job done in record time! And once the blocks were molded and the rocks and sand were carried up from the river, the foundation was poured and work on the walls put forth in earnest! Malachi and Nate were in charge of buying supplies, supervising the work and paying salaries. George, a civil engineer, was responsible for the technical drawings and calculations!
Michele, the team nurse, worked with Kevin and Sean to set up medical files on the children – gathering and recording basic information such as - how each child’s height and weight compared to the norm for his age, which immunizations the children had had and which they needed, common illnesses in their families, etc. With these statistics Michele hopes to come up with some recommendations that will improve the general health of the whole community.
Along with screening the kids, Michele taught classes to the Fulani and village women on hygiene, nutrition and childbirth, especially advising the Fulani women to begin using latrines and to keep their little ones in diapers for the sake of camp cleanliness.
And as if this wasn’t enough, Michele saw a steady stream of patients as well, treating such ailments as ear infections, boils, toothaches – a woman who believed desperately that she was pregnant but wasn’t, and another who appeared to be in her ninth month of pregnancy and was lactating, but also wasn’t!
When two of Jibree’s sons became seriously ill with fever, all of us were very concerned. Jibree had lost his older son Abdullahi in November from an undiagnosed illness. We needed to do everything possible to make sure these next two boys recovered.
Michele began treating the boys for malaria, but the fevers persisted. So, two days later when she heard that Jibree had taken his sons to hospital, Michele was very relieved, certain that there the boys would receive the care they needed.
“Which hospital did he take them to?” I asked.
“Oh, the one right here in …..!” Michele answered. “I’m going over there now, to see their lab results and discuss their treatment with the doctor.”
On her way over Michele phoned her husband….whose comment was, “Why do we need to build a clinic at …. if they already have a hospital?”
“Well, I don’t know,” Michele answered. She would soon find out.
Well, when Michele arrived at the little mud hut furnished only with a wooden bed, a bench and pail of water – no lab or lab results, no doctor or nurse, no treatment plan, her professionalism and medical training, even more, her heart of love and compassion, sprang into high gear.
I watched in wonder as there in that dark room, seemingly oblivious to the scantily-clad Fulani crowding around her and the sweat pouring off her face, Michele pulled out her Blackberry and proceeded to phone a friend! After calmly discussing the boys’ treatment with a pediatrician in Wenatchee, Wa, Michele administered the recommended drugs, and we all rejoiced in the boys quick recovery and return to school.
Soon after returning to Wenatchee, Michele wrote these words:
“I learned so much in …….about the power of God…of prayer, the focus of helping others in ways of which I never thought myself capable. I have served people my whole career, but I feel like it was all just practice for what we accomplished there at ….”
When Chief came over to thank Michele for treating his nephews and his wife, we took the opportunity of speaking to him about latrines for the sake of his families’ health.
‘We know you want what is good for us,” Chief answered, “so anything you advise us to do – we will do!’ Michele looked over and caught my eye. Afterwards we discovered we’d both had the same reaction to Chief’s statement.
“Chief! We advise you to follow Jesus! That is what would be ultimately good for you!” But we kept quiet, knowing better than to put him on the spot in front of the team. For how long though, I wondered, are we to keep quiet

On May 6th we combined business with pleasure, buying beautiful Nigerian lace and Fulani artifacts at a local market, touring the palace of the Emir then going on safari into the bush to discuss possibilities of opening an extension school for a group of about 100 Fulani children. The camp is several hours’ drive from …., and the children very young, so we’ve agreed to sending two Christian teachers to bring the children up through Primary 3, after which the kids will come as boarders to ….. for Primary 4 and beyond.
These Fulani , under the leadership of Malaam Sani, a close friend of Chief’s, have agreed to our Christian guidelines and we in turn have agreed to helping them with a small classroom building and school supplies.
But before we can do that, we’ll have to repair their existing water system – a borehole, pump and water tank out of commission for some time – and get these children clean and healthy again. This would be a great team project for some of YOU to consider! Imagine camping in a Fulani village for two weeks, providing children and families with clean water and a school! What an amazing opportunity to share the love of Jesus.

Thursday, the team’s last day in …., was spent packing and wrapping up various projects. Sean, Kevin and Michelle worked on school screening, Malachi and Nate on the clinic. Rev. Mike and I were discussing travel plans for the following day and George was on the computer drawing plans for a small bridge for our stream.
Suddenly Chief drove up on his motorcycle. He was with Abdul, the village ‘youth leader’ and spokesman for the village chief. There were two other Fulani men on a second motorcycle – two of whom I knew as top Muslims from the nearby village of …..
After greeting the men, giving them chairs and offering water, and after hearing what these men had to say, I called over Rev. Mike, Kevin and Michele and asked them to repeat their message.
“There was a meeting yesterday,” Chief began again, “of all the parents of children in the school. They discussed the program, the teachers, the new clinic, the medical work, even the soccer games you’ve been playing with the community boys. And they are so happy with what you all are doing for our village and for …. village that they have chosen us to come and say a special ‘thank you’ on their behalf. I, Chief, am here representing the Fulani of ….., and I say, thank you, especially for the school. “
“I’m here on behalf of the non-Fulani “ Abdul said, “the Bassa, Igala and Ebere of …..” “Thank you for everything you’re doing for our children – especially for the clinic. And I have a message from the chief. He says to tell you that anything you may need, even in terms of additional land - all you have to do is ask, and it’s yours.”
The two men from …. then spoke up. “We are here representing the Fulani and non-Fulani of ….. We are so grateful for how you are helping our village. You have brought real hope to this community, with education for our children and health care for our people.”
As the men were speaking, I thought of something Rev. Mathias once said to me. He said, “It is where the darkness is most intense that even a pinpoint of light brings relief. It is where the darkness is deepest that the smallest glimmer of light gives hope.”
As I drove home from the airport on Friday night, after seeing the team safely back on the plane for Seattle, I thought again of Chief – a Muslim by culture and tradition – yet allowing himself to be used by God to bring education and yes - Christianity to his people!
We both worship God, I know, but he in ignorance of the Son-ship, the Lordship of Jesus. Could Chief and his clan keep their family, their friends, their inheritance and way of life, yet acknowledge Jesus as their Savior?
“I know the plans I have for you,” God declares to Chief even now, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you….plans to give you hope and a future.”
Later that day, I picked up the phone and told Chief that I needed to see him. There was something of great importance we needed to discuss. He said he would come.

The Wenatchee FMC is sending a team next month to break ground for a school health clinic at Hope for Little Shepherds. They will do health screening and immunize the children, providing teaching for parents on hygiene, nutrition and HIV/AIDS prevention. 80 free wheelchairs and Bibles will be distributed to previously identified and targeted disabled people in the community. The Living Tower FMC in Aurora, Colorado has shown great interest in the new work with Dr. Tom and Kathy Hadduck giving great advice on plans and scope of the new clinic.

At the Fernley, Nevada FMC I met the sponsor of one of our little shepherd girls! The sponsor loaded me down with gifts, pictures and a letter for little Husseina, which I’ll have the joy of delivering in person. What a message of God’s deep love for these children is passed along through their sponsors’ caring support. Because of their sponsors’ commitment to their education and well-being, Husseina and her twin brother Hassan receive free tuition, uniforms, textbooks and feeding at Hope for Little Shepherds. Many other Nigerian children await sponsorship through the ICCM program. Information is available on www.childcareministries.org

What difference is our school making in the lives of these little shepherds? Well, when these children come to our school, many of them are learning about God for the first time. They learn that God created each one of them in a beautiful and unique way – and the world, as their perfect home. Why? Because God wants a love relationship with His children.
They learn that God is not distant and separated from those He created, rather, He is daily involved in their lives, helping in times of trouble, providing for their needs, loving, guiding and protecting – hearing and answering prayer. They learn that the kind of love God has for them is so real and true that He came to earth as the man Jesus, and was willing to lay down His life that their sins might be forgiven, that they might have eternal life with Him.
These children learn about God and His love through the pastors and teachers, through missionaries, and the children begin to respond. The changes are visible and real. It’s as though a light’s been switched on somewhere deep inside, illuminating a sense of joy as the child realizes he is valued, loved and accepted. And when the little shepherd dons the school uniform for the first time, for the first time he feels like a real Nigerian child.
As he learns how to read and write, learns about people and places he’d never known to exist, learns to sing and pray, his self-esteem becomes strong, he feels better about himself, he feels happier and begins to make new friends, playing for the first time with children of tribes different from his own.
Just imagine, he thinks to himself, people from a ‘white tribe’ come from across the ‘big river’ just to teach him, play with him and care for him in special ways! They are sent by God, they tell him, because God loves him so much. All these new experiences are gifts from God, he is told - his, because he is God’s own special child!
And so these children – once living isolated lives of physical and spiritual darkness are reborn into the kind of kids God intended them to be from the creation of the world. Children of light, joy and peace!

I'd been working in the southeastern part of the country when the call came to build the new school for Fulani kids. So, along with Pastor Bassey, we packed two vans with household and school needs and did the 9 hour drive to Kogi State. It was so hot and dry - rivers and streams, other than the Niger, beds of sand. I don't know how the cows survived! Our attempt at a hand-dug well failed - after months of hard work, only producing a small amount of water and a black mamba! So the first blessing was the gift from Clear Blue, the Free Methodist well-drilling organization, two deep wells which are supplying water for a large part of the community. Building the assembly hall, a classroom buildings and an mission apartment took about 3 months, then the business of bringing Chief's family from their forest camp to a new location on the hill adjacent to the school. Chief bought a piece of land, and for the first time in the history of their clan, will build a permanent house for his family! The children came in droves - we're up to 250 children now, and hoping to bring in more. And what a difference we're already seeing in the lives of these wonderful kids!

Every eye was on Chief as opening day approached. Would he risk ostracism, persecution and even death to enroll his children in this Christian school in the face of such opposition?Chief did not hesitate. Along with his brothers, their wives and all their children, he set up camp on the hillside adjacent to the school, enrolling their many children and opening the way for dozens of other Fulani parents who have since followed in his footsteps.We opened the school on Feb 1st, with 35 children, four classrooms and an assembly hall.From February through June our goal was to introduce Fulani kids to the concept of school – let me tell you - for the first two months, it was sheer chaos! We also planned to teach them as much English as possible in preparation for the official opening in September.Enrollment quickly shot up to 240 children and soon, we not only had 4 classrooms filled, but 3 more classes set up in the assembly hall! A team of teachers came from Wenatchee and a retired teacher from Michigan, to help train our Nigerian teachers and to give special tutoring to the children. Volunteers began work on the second classroom block.In June, we tested each child to determine their placement for September, and then on September 5, 2008, Hope Academy for Little Shepherds officially began!

One day, Chief invited me to visit his homeland on the banks of the Niger River up in Kogi State, in what is called the ‘middle belt’ of Nigeria. There, in his little camp, hours were spent discussing the possibility of establishing a school especially for Fulani children.Chief contacted the nine Fulani elders in the area, convincing them to agree with the establishment of a Christian school in their homeland. But there were still others to be convinced.There were four other representatives with whom we had to deal before building the school – two being traditional land owners in the area, and two traditional rulers over several states. All of these were powerful and influential leaders whose word could land us in prison or thrown out of the country for good. But let me say here, God was in control – this has been God’s project from the beginning, and though there have been times of extreme danger in which we feared for our lives, God protected us and carried us through. .We went first to the first land owner, whom I’ll call ‘Sule’.Sule’s palace is an elaborate structure built in the shadow of a large, private mosque! Getting out of the van, the first thing I noticed was a row of sandals outside the palace door, and two people crawling over the sill on their hands and knees!As we approached I watched the two as they crawled across the carpet to crouch below Sule’s throne, and I turned back to the van, ready to haul myself right out of there! But Chief laughingly assured me that everything would be okay and drew me on to the door!There, we took off our shoes and Chief crawled in on his hands and knees. I followed him, upright but hunched over as much as possible, trying to appear humble and subservient! I was shown a seat at the side of the room.When Sule entered, everyone bowed and touched their foreheads to the carpet – except for me, of course – I just sat there staring! Vague thoughts of Shadrack, Meshack and Abednigo floated across my mind, and I wondered about furnaces and whether God would agree to come and walk through one a second time! But nothing happened, and my gross disrespect was overlooked!Sule was a huge, impressive individual, dressed in the typical garb of long, voluminous white robes and white bonnet tied around his face. He arranged himself on his throne, looked down his nose at us, and proceeded to the business of the day.When it was time for our case, Chief told the story of our meeting, his request for a school for his children, and our readiness to build such a school. Sule asked many, many questions, and of course, the main bone of contention was religion. Sule asked Chief if he was aware that this school was to be a Christian school, and as a Muslim, didn’t he have a problem with that? Was he ready to sell out his people to the Christians? Chief said he had my assurance that I would not coerce or force his children to change their religion.Is that true, Sule asked me? I said it was true.“I am a Christian,” I told him, standing there before him, “and this school will be a Christian school. The school will be open to every child irrespective of tribe, language or faith. And though we will only teach Christianity, we will never force any child to change their religion.”Then came the issue of teaching Islam in our school. Sule was insistent that we hire Muslim teachers and provide Islamic religious training. I answered that we could not have Islam as part of our curriculum, just as I was certain that no Islamic school would teach Christianity as part of theirs!The visit to the second land owner was almost identical to that of the first, and though the two finally gave us an open door, we still had trouble ahead. A letter was written to a high official of the state by a traditional emir, whose power extends throughout many states, accusing Chief of accepting a huge monetary bribe from us, to set up a school to convert Muslim children, and then, a second ruler over Fulani people in the state reported Chief to the state security police, accusing him of threatening peace in the area by bringing in Christians to work among the Muslims.Chief invited his accusers to a series of week-long meetings, arguing on behalf of Fulani children, maintaining their right as Nigerians to an education and his freedom as a parent to place his children in whichever school he chose.When Chief was told that he would be held responsible for any child who died under our care, or who converted to Christianity, he reminded them that it is God and God alone who holds a child’s life in His hands. “Who am I,” Chief asked, “a mere mortal, to ordain the future of a child?”

Life in Nigeria! Quite an adventure, and quite a challenge!
Of all the challenges: language, food, the heat, the greatest came last year when I was invited to establish a school for Fulani children in Kogi state.
It all began with a can of paint, in the little town of Ekparakwa, and a meeting ordained by God.
I had been working in the southern state of Akwa Ibom, among the mostly Christian, Ibibio tribe, but was drawn to the Fulani people I occasionally saw along the roadsides and in the fields with their cows. On asking, I discovered that these beautiful, stately people were nomads from the North – cattle rearers who follow seasonal routes through West Africa looking for the best pastures and water sources for their cows.
They are an isolated tribe, speaking a different language, living in the bush with their animals, despised by many, though they are the beef producers of the nation. They have constant run-ins with farmers over the land. Because they carry weapons they are feared; in a mostly Christian state, because they are Muslims, they are carefully avoided.
It is because of this fear and prejudice that many Fulani children do not go to school!
Many Fulani kids, from the age of 4, are expected to herd their fathers’ cows and sheep, and spend their lives, isolated and illiterate as their fathers and grandfathers before them, shepherding the flocks, following the cows.
Well, I was in the town of Ekparakwa one day, buying a can of paint, when two young Fulani girls entered the shop and asked for some of the empty paint cans that were stacked by the door. The shop keeper rudely chased them away. I followed them and using sign language and broken English, I greeted them and invited myself to drive them back to their camp!
There began an incredible friendship with the head of the clan, whom I’ll call ‘Chief’, an unusually wise and enlightened Fulani chief, his brothers, their wives and children. There were long visits in their camp, tours of their herds, lessons in cooking traditional dishes and making ‘no-no’ - a home-made buttermilk, which I soon discovered was a big ‘NO NO’ for me, and field trips for their children to our school there in the south, Hope Academy.