amy0b87982ac418
bluewatergigi
dbeville
Patrice Miles
LennyAt C.A.R.E. Africa we do many interviews every week for children wanting to join our ministry. We try our best to get to the truth of the child’s current situation by asking lots of questions. Caretakers and the children will say whatever to get into C.A.R.E. so we have to play detective. We talk to references and pastors to see if their story is true. Once a child makes it through the first interview we then visit the home to see the environment and if the child truly meets our vision statement of being voiceless and exhausted.
Recently an 8 year old boy name Damilola came with his mother for an interview. His mother looked tired and exhausted as well as very thin. Damilola was dirty and his clothes were torn and ragged. She was annoyed with our questions but more out of exhaustion then frustration. Damilola couldn’t understand my English or any of our staff’s English. He couldn’t read or write. When we visited the house, the structure looked like it was days away from caving in. A few old doorframes were literally holding the roof in place. They truly were voiceless and exhausted.
We didn’t have a sponsor lined up so we put Damilola on the waiting list. All of our staff that visited his home that day were in shock of the conditions and started praying for a sponsor. Two days later we received an email from the mother of two little girls in the U.S. who had saved and raised money to sponsor a C.A.R.E. Africa child. They had visited Egbe as a family and spent a lot of time with C.A.R.E. Africa. When they went home, they decided they wanted to sponsor a child.
Our staff were so excited, but knew that Damilola would not be able to cope in school yet. We started looking for a teacher that would have the patience to work with him one on one so he could eventually go to school. God sent us an angel who is the daughter of one of our housing compound workers, Oyibosay. She had taught primary school for many years and had recently lost the job. She is a miracle story herself as she was recently heading to heaven with congenital arrhythmia of the heart. Through donations toward a pacemaker she was given a second chance at life. Now she is helping a little boy who is also being given a second chance.
This story is one of so many that I get to be a part of daily. I wish I could share them all. Continue to pray for C.A.R.E. Africa as we always have a list of children waiting for a second chance.
I am so excited to send these awesome pictures to you of the new C.A.R.E. Africa Educational Center. Our staff have been praying and praying for months for a building for C.A.R.E. Africa. Currently we have been housed in the hospital compound in a 10×10 office at the Spring of Life clinic. The hospital and Pastor Alabi have graciously let us use this space for our office, weekly caretaker meetings, monthly child celebrations, Saturday weekly discipleship and weekly staff meetings. We have grown so much that we were starting to dominate the space and the kids coming and going was just too much.
We are excited that God answered our prayers with this building that has 6 class rooms, 4 administrative offices, one large hall and one small hall and a playground area. We will be able to host our AWANA program here and have the space we have needed for so long to break into small groups for team time. We will also be able to split the small kids and the big kids up for the council time now.
Last but not least we desire to open an IJMB course for secondary school graduates that scored too low on their WAEC/JAMB/NECO. This course with the passing of the IJMB exam will allow them direct admittance to 200 levels in University. This is another opportunity for secondary school graduates that are currently not available in Egbe.
I was so excited to get to attend the wedding of Toyin’s parents a few weekends ago. If you don’t remember Toyin’s story of reuniting with his Father over a year ago, click 
Recently Toyin’s sponsor had has to discontinue his sponsorship due to the loss of employment. We are so thankful for the 2 years that Toyin’s sponsor was able to support him. Without them we would not have had the financial means to help Toyin and his family. If you are interested in continuing the sponsorship for Toyin, it is $35 a month. Click 
When we announced we were moving to Nigeria in 2013, the number one question I received was “What are you going to do?” Everyone understood Lenny’s role, but they wondered how I was going to manage going from a businesswomen to a stay at home homeschooling mom. Fast-forward to 2017 and I have to laugh at all the hats I wear… Egbe Hospital Revitalization Accountant, Office Manager, Volunteer Coordinator, Guesthouse Manager, C.A.R.E. Africa Marketing Manager and Spring of Life Project Manager. I had never expected to fill any of these roles when I said yes to the missions call, but God knew. He had been preparing me for years in my U.S. business life for this time in Egbe, Nigeria.
Recently one of our C.A.R.E. Africa caretakers, Gift, had a baby. She called me when she arrived at the hospital. Within 15 minutes she called again to tell me that she had the baby. I rushed down to the hospital and there she was sitting up in a chair with the baby next to her already dressed in some clothes. In a total of 30 minutes, she had a baby naturally. The baby was dressed, she was out of labor and delivery, in the ward at her bed, sitting in a chair making phone calls, and all ready to go home.
When it was time for Gift to go home there was some confusion on her bill and I had to go down to the hospital during dinnertime to make sure she could go home. I immediately was inconvenienced as I was trying to enjoy dinner with my family. Then as I am trying to get out the door my seamstress stops by to drop a new outfit and a Chief from the town drives up to give me paperwork on a school that C.A.R.E. Africa is about to lease. Uggghhh……. I finally got to the hospital, flustered of course, and see Gift. She has her new daughter on the breast and 3 large bags all ready to go. I looked at everything and said, “Gift, how are you planning on getting home?” She looked at me like I was stupid and said “Okada” (the motorcycle taxi that everyone uses to get around). Really!!!! How was she going to get this new born baby and three large bags down to the road, hail an Okada and then get on the motorcycle with all this stuff and the baby.
Meet Mosun. If you have ever visited the Spring of Life HIV/AIDS Center in Egbe, you would have gone and prayed with Mosun. She is an HIV patient that has been on ARV therapy for 5 years now. She is doing great, but unfortunately the sickness left her blind in both eyes. She has two small children, Faith and Eniope. They are currently enrolled in C.A.R.E. Africa and sponsored by Rick and Martha Bradford, two SIM missionaries in Egbe.
When I recently visited her to see how the charcoal business was going, she expressed her need for eye drops. Vision First is an eye drop that was subscribed for her. These drops she said have really helped with one of her eyes. It has allowed her a little bit of vision in the one eye. The costs is n4,000 for a two month supply. That is $50 a year for her eye drops. I wish she would make n4,000 from the charcoal sales, but she will only make about n400 per large bag she sells.
About four months ago we were posed with the question, “What do you think Cason should do for high school?”
Since then, we have been in prayer and seeking guidance through SIM leadership for what should our next steps look like to accommodate a high schooler. We visited Jos, Nigeria recently and went to look at Hillcrest School. The school has a deep history for many missionaries in this region that we have grown to call family. We are glad to announce that our children will be attending school there starting August of 2017. Cason will enter as freshman for 9th grade and Jolie will enter middle school as a 6th grader. They are both very excited about this, but are of course sad about saying goodbye to their Egbe friends.
So what does this mean for the whole family? It means that we have a large transition ahead of us. We will be moving from Egbe to Jos where we will resettle at another SIM station. SIM Nigeria has recently appointed a new director and with him comes a grander vision to reach 75+ million least reached people in northern Nigeria. Our family feels God is calling us to move closer to the north and live in Jos to assist with this new vision.
Patrice will continue to manage the C.A.R.E. Africa and Spring of Life HIV/AIDS Project in Egbe. She will travel back and forth between Egbe and Jos many times a years utilizing the resources of a number of other ministries in Jos to grow these two ministries in Egbe. She is very excited to now be able to dedicate her full time to these two ministries, helping to grow them and make them more sustainable in the future.
This move will be costly, but we trust God will provide for all our needs. We were blessed to be able to borrow furniture, cars, generators and appliances loaned to us in Egbe from the hospital project itself. However, in Jos we will be required to buy all of these items. Plus we will now be responsible for full school tuitions for Cason and Jolie.
Miles In Missions 