Several of our handmade hand bags are 50% off today only for Cyber Monday!
Do you need a Christmas gift for that special someone? Buy from our Etsy store this Christmas and help empower a Nigerian! Our new beautiful labels attached to every item, will tell that special someone at Christmas how their gift helped C.A.R.E. Africa, Children at Risk Empowered! Visit http://www.CareAfricaStore.com to make a purchase today!
There is Black Friday, Cyber Monday and then #Giving Tuesday! Two years ago we were struggling with getting our kids to and from the C.A.R.E. Africa center for A.W.A.N.A. and other programs. We started a bus campaign and raised $10,000. It wasn’t enough to get a bus but it did get us a minivan. Our minivan has been a huge asset over the past two years. From bringing teams to and from Egbe from the airport, to transporting the kids all around town, to making needed shopping pickups in Ilorin and taking our secondary school kids to University visits. This vehicle has blessed us abundantly but we have grown.
In the last two years we started a school, Foundations Academy Egbe. With over 70 children in the school, our needs for an actual bus have become more urgent. Currently our driver makes several trips to and from the school everyday to get all the kids home safe. The wear and tear on the vehicle and the amount of kids we have to pack in each trip is getting overwhelming. We need your help!
In one week on December 3rd it is #Giving Tuesday! would you please consider donating any amount toward the purchase of a bus for the school. Help us “make the wheels on the bus go round and round” for the C.A.R.E. Africa kids. Click https://www.donorrise.com/careafrica/bus
“So, Patrice, what do you do all day?” “Oh, I just sit around all day eating bonbons!” HAHA! Since moving back to the states this has become the number one question people ask me. I can’t give them a quick or short answer. Should I show them everything on my to do list that I have completed or all that I still have to complete? Should I get my calendar out and show all the people and places I have visited or are scheduled to visit? Running a nonprofit and having responsibility for over 100 people (60 children, 50 caregivers and 23 employees) that live halfway across the world is inherently difficult. Not to mention the six hour time difference.
In Nigeria, I employed house help and a driver as part of the ministry to give people jobs. This allowed me to work all day on C.A.R.E. Africa and have my evenings and weekends free for family and Sabbath time. In the US I still get to focus on ministry during the day, but nights and weekends have turned into cleaning, cooking, shopping and driving kids around…… Welcome to America most of you would say!
Sabbath is how I refuel. Not the 30-minute rushed devotional in the morning but spending an entire day sitting at his feet and breathing him in. Without it, I am running on empty and when someone asks me “So, what do you do all day” – I get annoyed. This annoyance is a red flag that my heart is not in the right place and I need some time with the Lord.
This past Sunday I scheduled a Sabbath on my calendar because I knew it was the only way it would happen. During that time God showed me my need for approval from people in order to feel good about myself. When people ask me “What do you do all day?” it makes me feel judged -like I am not doing enough. I am not blogging enough, emailing enough, meeting enough people and not sharing the C.A.R.E. Africa story enough. Otherwise, people would know what I do all day and wouldn’t have to ask. In my quiet time God gave me Galatians 1:10 “Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
In one week it will be American Thanksgiving Day. Odds are you will be around some well-meaning family members who might ask “So, what do you do all day or when are you going to get married or find a better job “ – other people’s expectations as to what you should or should not be doing in life. Remember who you are and whose you are! You have already met the approval of the only One that matters! So sit down, take a breath and enjoy this holiday. God loves you unconditionally always!
Orphan Sunday started in a small, struggling church in Zambia. The church members had little, but the pastor believed that everyone is called to express love for the fatherless. The church responded in astounding ways, some even removing their own shoes for orphans nearby.
This Orphan Sunday our staff and children headed out to create awareness and serve in Egbe and the surrounding communities. They started at Chapel Of Blessing to speak sing and pray for all the orphans around the world. They then headed to two orphanages, Ekundayo Orphanage and Greater Grace in Isanlu. Both orphanages reminded us how blessed C.A.R.E. Africa is.
Emma spoke to the orphanage staff to remind them that the children under their care are precious and not a problem, they are of value and not of trouble, they are the next leaders in Nigeria. He spoke of how it is not poverty that stops us from giving and caring for the orphans, but our unwillingness, and because we don’t want to share with others what God has given us. C.A.R.E. Africa enjoyed giving this Sunday instead of receiving. We pray seeds have been planted and God was glorified in these two orphanages and also in our staff and children that attended.
Jolie, what is the best thing about being back in America?
1. Air Conditioning in my school.
2. A real school cafeteria with food.
3. The dinners you cook us at night.
(She is definitely my daughter, everything relates to food!)
Jolie, What do you miss about Nigeria.
1. I miss my friends, Caitlyn and Lowena
2. I am sad I will miss SIM Spiritual Life Conference in January.
Cason, what is the best thing about being back in America?
1. I love American school and making straight A’s now.
2. I love how much there is to do.
3. I love having all types of food options to eat.
Cason, what do you miss about Nigeria?
1. My friend Jephthah.
2. I miss having Jollof Rice all the time.
3. Freedom to do whatever and no rules.
Lenny, what is the best thing about being back in America?
1. Love having hobbies again like hunting.
2. More activities to do as a family and couple.
3. Being around my family again.
Lenny, what do you miss about Nigeria?
1. Food, Egusi & Pounded Yam!
2. Miss the missionary community.
3. Rainy season.
Patrice, what is the best thing about being back in America?
1. Food, Food, Food and more Food! (Doughnuts, cakes, cookies, real chocolate oh my!)
2. Seeing my kids joy as they play sports and are involved in different programs.
3. Hanging out and catching up with all my family and friends.
4. The participation and involvement from family, friends and strangers in C.A.R.E. Africa!
Patrice, what do you miss about Nigeria?
1. Food, Egusi & Pounded Yam.
2. Driving around with my driver, Samuel, on all our adventures in the crazy city.
3. Jumai, who helped me clean, cook and shop.
4. Those deep conversations with like minded missionaries who lived and breathed the same trials and tribulations we did.
5. My Nigerian brother and sister, Emma and Tofunmi.
6. Having to rely on God every day to just get from Point A to Point B in anything and everything I did.
Click to see the video of Amarchi’s home visit.
Amarachi stands nervously as we walk up to her house. She has her 4 children all lined up to greet us. I immediately notice that their clothing shows age but the children are well groomed and show much respect to their mother. Amarachi’s middle girl, Damilola is 10 years old and has been accepted into C.A.R.E. Africa.
I ask Amarachi to share her journey with me. In the early years the family lived in Lagos where they had jobs that paid for food and school fees for the children. Amarachi’s mother-in-law fell ill so she and her husband had to leave Lagos and move to Egbe to care for the ailing mother. Once in Egbe, they crammed all their possessions into the mother’s 20 x 16 sf room. The floor is dirt, one window, no ventilation, no plumbing, no electric, and no toilet. All seven lived in this one room for four years until the mother passed – now there are six. All six of them sleep on two foam mattresses (see picture). Before she passed, Amarachi’s mother-in-law taught her to make palm kernel oil to sell. The locals use it for skin salve and also take orally for stomach problems. The smell and texture reminded me of motor oil.
Amarachi also works with her husband who is a vulcanizer – repairs tires. Amarachi and her husband freelance a street corner where people know them to be honest workers. They attend church as a family and are well liked in the community. She and her husband are both hard working people but the need for palm kernel oil or tire repair is not much. The need to feed and educate her children is a constant worry for Amarachi. Her other three children will not be attending school as they cannot afford the school fees. Amarachi is very thankful Damilola has been accepted into C.A.R.E. Africa because her daughter will be well educated, looked after physically and spiritually and have a chance at a better life.
At the time of writing this article, Damilola has a sponsor but the family does not. C.A.R.E. Africa would like to come alongside the family through their church to help empower them through business and the education of the remaining children. Please consider becoming one of the families sponsors at $35 a month or $420 a year by clicking Amarachi.
If you didn’t see this blog last week…here it is again because today is the day! I don’t know if you remember, but last year for my 39th birthday, you helped me install a playground at my school in Egbe, Nigeria. It was so much fun watching your donations come in and it was one of the best birthday presents ever. I enjoyed picking out the equipment, watching it made and shipping it to Egbe from Jos. There were many challenges in all the logistics, installation and maintaining quality, but the joy in the children’s faces when they experienced their first playground….made it all worth it!!
This year for my BIG 40th birthday on October 21st, I have a BIG request! Will you help my Nigerian daughter, Titi, with an education? If you don’t know who Titi is, click on her blog at https://plantainsplease.wordpress.com/ . She is an amazing young women who walks with the Lord and has blessed our family with smiles, belly laughs, insight, new challenges and a different outlook on life. She has been in the USA for a little over a year now studying Social Work at Lancaster Bible College, and is making straight A’s. She is the RA for her dorm while working as a writing mentor too.
Titi raises all her own school fees, which is $16,000 a year. She currently has an outstanding balance of $8,000 at Lancaster for her second semester school fees. You will encourage and make a big difference in this amazing young woman’s life through any amount given through this birthday donation.
Thank you so much for making my 40th birthday extra special! Click Patrice 40th Birthday to donate.
“How can we learn more about family based orphan care, empowerment and discipleship?” This is a constant question with my staff at C.A.R.E. Africa in Egbe, Nigeria. Before I moved to Nigeria, trainings through conferences, webinars, podcasts and business groups were a priority for me in order to excel in my real estate business. It was a luxury that I took for granted.
C.A.R.E. Africa is one of the only family based orphan care nonprofits in all of Nigeria. Everywhere there are orphans, there are orphanages housing them. Majority of them are poorly maintained, managed and overall a very scary site to see. So to find trainings on orphan care much less family based orphan care, is not easy. Even webinars and podcasts I have found outside of the US have been challenging for us in Egbe due to poor internet connections.
We have for years had to rely on publications like From Faith to Action and read books like In Pursuit of Orphan Excellence to get any insight into how to run our family based care ministry. Recently we connected with Agape Children’s Ministries at a recent CAFO Summit (Christian Alliance for Orphans) in Louisville, Kentucky.
Emma and Tofunmi were invited to come to a one week training on Family Reunification in Nairobi, Kenya that Agape Children’s Ministry and 1 Million Home was offering. They were also allowed to spend a second week in Kenya at the actual ministry in Kisumu. Emma and Tofunmi spent time with the Agape staff, visited families homes, helped with street boys outreach and attended their church and school. They were able to see an organization running family based care at a very large level and they were so encouraged.
This was a huge blessing and answer to prayer! Praise the Lord with us as you view the photos below.
I don’t know if you remember, but last year for my 39th birthday, you helped me install a playground at my school in Egbe, Nigeria. It was so much fun watching your donations come in and it was one of the best birthday presents ever. I enjoyed picking out the equipment, watching it made and shipping it to Egbe from Jos. There were many challenges in all the logistics, installation and maintaining quality, but the joy in the children’s faces when they experienced their first playground….made it all worth it!!
This year for my BIG 40th birthday on October 21st, I have a BIG request! Will you help my Nigerian daughter, Titi, with an education? If you don’t know who Titi is, click on her blog at https://plantainsplease.wordpress.com/ . She is an amazing young women who walks with the Lord and has blessed our family with smiles, belly laughs, insight, new challenges and a different outlook on life. She has been in the USA for a little over a year now studying Social Work at Lancaster Bible College, and is making straight A’s. She is the RA for her dorm while working as a writing mentor too.
Titi raises all her own school fees, which is $16,000 a year. She currently has an outstanding balance of $8,000 at Lancaster for her second semester school fees. You will encourage and make a big difference in this amazing young woman’s life through any amount given through this birthday donation.
Thank you so much for making my 40th birthday extra special! Click Patrice 40th Birthday to donate.
“Mummy, can I have a picture of my sponsor so I can see them?” “Mummy, please tell my sponsor I pray for them.” These are just a few of the things my children at C.A.R.E. Africa ask and tell me.
One of the many hats I wear at C.A.R.E. Africa is child sponsorship. With over 60 children it is a huge task, but very satisfying. I know each one of these children and their needs personally so the investment I have in each on of the sponsorships is huge. Words cannot express the joy in seeing a child open a letter or a package from their sponsor when they have never had a gift like this before. I’m speechless when I see a picture of a child’s sponsor taped to the wall by their pillow when checking in on them. The greatest joy is getting to experience a child and a sponsor meeting for the first time in Nigeria when he/she comes on a mission trip with us.
Many of our sponsors may not think their $35 a month makes a big difference, BUT IT DOES. These children are getting an amazing education, attending discipleship programs, receive provisions for themselves and their families and are apart of a community that loves and accepts them. Seeds are being planted and one day we will see the harvest of our labor.
Would you consider making a difference in a child’s life? We have so many in need and many on the waiting list. You can see all the children and the different ways you can help on our sponsorship site at give.icareafrica.org . We have children that require just one sponsor because they only need education, discipleship and provisions. We have children that require two or three sponsors because we are trying to empower the entire family, through a trade, medical needs, house rent or work.
Our suggested single sponsorship is $35 a month and I personally do my best to keep you updated with pictures, cards and drawings from your child 3 to 4 times a year. Make a difference and click one of the children below or visit our sponsorship site at give.icareafrica.org where all of the children in need are listed.
Through grace and forgiveness in Jesus Christ, the disarray we create with our choices and actions transforms into our testimony.
"Only those who give away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.” (Mark 8:35)
my words sound better coming from my hands than my mouth,
A writer whose passion is to encourage others to live joyfully!
"Only those who give away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.” (Mark 8:35)
"Only those who give away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.” (Mark 8:35)
"Only those who give away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.” (Mark 8:35)
"Only those who give away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.” (Mark 8:35)
"Only those who give away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.” (Mark 8:35)
"Only those who give away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.” (Mark 8:35)
"Only those who give away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.” (Mark 8:35)
"Only those who give away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.” (Mark 8:35)
"Only those who give away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.” (Mark 8:35)
"Only those who give away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.” (Mark 8:35)
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Patrice Miles
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Miles In Missions 