C.A.R.E. Africa | Miles In Missions

Archive for the ‘C.A.R.E. Africa’ Category

You’ve Got Mail

Posted: July 29, 2015 by Patrice Miles in C.A.R.E. Africa, Miles In Missions, Patrice Miles, People of Egbe
Tags: CARE Africa, Miles In Missions, orphans, orphans in africa, Patrice Miles

“You’ve got mail!” This is one of the most exciting things to hear in Egbe. When a small package or letter arrives it is like Christmas. We always love to look at the date to see when it left the U.S. When we first arrived to Egbe over two years ago, there wasn’t any mail service. Everyone would ask us where he or she could send care packages. The looks we would get when we told people we didn’t have mail were hilarious. They just didn’t get it that there really was no way to get anything to us in the bush.

Gradually we had friends and family try to send a letter or package and it would take over 3 months to arrive. Now we are seeing it is only taking one month or less. This is so awesome for us! Two years ago if you had told me I would be getting excited over getting mail I would have laughed at you.

The best part about the mail service is now my CARE Africa kids can receive pictures and letters from their sponsors in the U.S. Bolu was our first recipient and he was sooooo excited. I cannot explain the emotions I had watching him carefully open the envelope so worried he would tear or rip it. Bolu has never received mail before and doesn’t even begin to understand how it arrived in Egbe. Once we opened the letter we read each word out loud together. We looked at pictures of his U.S. Mommy. We touched her children and grandchildren’s faces and he didn’t utter a word. He just sat there in complete awe as if I had just given him a bar of gold. It was one of those priceless moments I will never forget. I am so honored to have been the one to share this experience with Bolu. I am so thankful for all my U.S. CARE Africa child sponsors and the Miles family supporters. Your donations have allowed me to be here in Egbe to share Christ’s love to boys and girls like Bolu through something as simple as a piece of mail.

If you sponsor a CARE Africa child and would like to send them mail or even if you don’t sponsor a child but would love to send a letter or small package for one of them, please feel free to. Cason and Jolie, my own children, would also love to hear from you and I promise any child you send to will write back and send it all the way from Nigeria.

Mail to;
ECWA Hospital Egbe
Attn Patrice Miles C/O (Childs Name)
5 Hospital Rd
Egbe, Kogi State Nigeria.

If you would like to sponsor a child please email me at Patrice.miles@sim.org.

C.A.R.E. Market

Posted: June 25, 2015 by Patrice Miles in C.A.R.E. Africa, Egbe Nigeria, Miles In Missions, Volunteers
Tags: African Crafts, CARE Africa, Egbe Nigeria, Etsy

Over one year ago Stephen and Diana Beville visited Egbe, Nigeria. They left a part of their hearts here with us when they returned to the US. After convincing a local boot company to ship 94 pairs of boots to Egbe for all the workers, they still felt called to help. They decided to volunteer to run the CARE Africa Etsy store in the U.S.

It is not easy o! Diana receives goods from Egbe that random world medical mission volunteers or SIM short-term missionaries take back to the states for us. She posts everything to the site and then ships the orders out to all over the U.S. She has recently added to her repertoire by featuring our product at a local farmers market. She has created displays and beautifully decorated the booth She sits there on the first and third Sunday of every month sweating as if she was in Egbe. I cannot tell you how grateful we are and how blessed I feel to watch God bring people alongside us to help with the work.

If you live in Louisville, please stop out and see Diana at the next show on July 5^th. Shop and stroll down the Promenade at the summer farmer’s markets to pick up fresh, local produce in The Parklands! Join us the first and third Sunday of the month June-September at the Festival Promenade in the Humana Grand Allee section of Beckley Creek Park (approx. 1800 Beckley Creek Parkway). This event is free and open to the public. Diana will be their showcasing CARE Africa’s products all the way from Egbe, Nigeria.

Click CARE Market for the link to the Farmer’s Market site.

2015 Market Dates:
July 5 & July 19
August 2 & August 16
September 6 & September 20

P.S. If you have a local craft show or fair you would like to promote CARE Africa product….we would be so grateful. Email me at Patrice.miles@sim.org.

Answer to Prayer

Posted: June 14, 2015 by Patrice Miles in C.A.R.E. Africa
Tags: CARE Africa, Egbe Nigeria

C.A.R.E. Africa will be a year old in August. We have experienced the Nigerian school system for two terms and have entered into our 3rd. We have learned a lot. One of the most troubling things is that there are many children in middle and high school grades, that do not know how to read.

Bolu, 15 years old, and our beautiful Fulani M&slim Adama, 13 years old, are two that have been struggling with reading. After the 1^st term of school we realized there was a problem and put them with a tutor. After a 2^nd term of poor results again, I realized my children needed more one on one attention than the school could provide. I was very frustrated. I am so unequipped for this journey God has me on. I know nothing about school except for the one year I tried to homeschool my children. I prayed for God to show me what to do. It is so challenging to find resources and knowledge in the bush. You cannot just google how to teach a Nigerian to read and find books and curriculum and have them delivered to your house….or can you?

After some serious prayer I remembered the women that seems to know all, our SIM personal director in JOS, Adena. She of course was an answer to prayer and immediately knew of a Nigerian created reading curriculum. 27,000 Niara ($140) later it was in my hands. As I held the books I was in awe of how much God loves me and these children!

As happy as I was to have my curriculum I realized I had no teacher. I went into panic mode. Who was going to teach Bolu and Adama? I circled another prayer in my prayer journal “TEACHER”.

After interviewing several Nigerian teachers, I felt hopeless. Some would show up, some didn’t. Some said they wanted to do it but then we would never hear from them again. How was I going to find a qualified teacher in the bush? I guess I am just going to have to do it myself! I’m so American to the core….if you can’t make it happen then just do it yourself….who needs God?

The next day, Bolu came to my house with a horrible tooth infection. After Dr Jen examined him, we realized he would have to go to a town 3 hours away to see a dentist. This poor boy was so swollen and in pain that we could not start reading class on that Monday. I was so frustrated again!! God…don’t you want these children to read.

Then enters sweet Janet… Janet, her husband and two children arrived to our community just two weeks ago. Her husband is a new resident doctor in our hospital and they will be here for five years. She has been coming to our morning devotions and Wednesday Bible Study. She always has so much wisdom and the sweetest demeanor. One day someone mentioned that she was a teacher. I approached her and sure enough, she use to teach Nursery and Primary kids.

When I arrived at her home to talk about my ministry, the first thing I noticed was a chalkboard with spelling words written on it. She was already teaching her two children reading and writing at home. God…..you are sooo good! I showed her my C.A.R.E. Africa book that tells all about C.A.R.E. Africa and then began to tell her my burden for these children. I asked her to pray about teaching them. The next day she come to devotions and with a smile on her face she told me she would do it.

Amazing how when we pray, God shows up! Even though my type A personality would have just taken this task and tried run with it….it wasn’t part of God’s plan. I am so relieved! I had no desire to teach reading. God knew it would be a disaster and saved me from myself. How many times do we jump into something because we are not patient with God? His timing and plans are always better than our own. Pray, wait, and watch what God will do in your life!

Catching the Vision

Posted: June 4, 2015 by Patrice Miles in C.A.R.E. Africa

“Mommy, my caretaker hasn’t been feeding me.” “Mommy my Caretaker delayed me from school to pick firewood.” These are just a few of the concerns we have heard over and over again with our orphans. Weekly home visits are great but they evidentially were not allowing the Caretaker to catch the vision of what C.A.R.E Africa is and isn’t. After prayer we knew we needed to get all the Caretakers together to let them see the big picture and catch the vision.

C.A.R.E. Africa had its first Caretaker meeting this past weekend. We didn’t expect many to show. We knew it would be hard for some to trek to our location or pay an Okada (taxi). We had sent home a circular with all the kids, but you know how that goes. To our surprise every caretaker or a representative of the house came except for one. Praise the Lord!

The proprietor of the school came and talked to the caretakers about what is going on at the school. She also let them know what a huge opportunity it is for the kids to be apart of our organization. Katie our US teacher, who organizes all our Saturday educational centers, explained what we do on Saturdays. I spoke to the Caretakers to encourage them to take interest in what the child is doing at school. I also explained the Caretakers role in our ministry. Emma spoke too. He presented CARE Africa’s vision statement so all the Caretakers could understand our goals.

We pray that after this weekend the Caretakers will feel honored to be apart of our program. We don’t want to just be a ministry that pays school fees. We want to grow God’s kingdom by changing lives through education and empowerment. Reach – Serve – Teach – Grow – Develop = Gospel. Please continue to pray for our orphans and our Caretakers. If you are interested in sponsoring an orphan or donating to our ministry, click CARE. You can also visit our website at www.iCareAfrica.org.

Egbe Life 18 Months Later

Posted: March 2, 2015 by Patrice Miles in C.A.R.E. Africa, Egbe, Egbe Nigeria, Miles In Missions, Nigeria, Patrice Miles

We have been back in the states for almost one month now and as much as we love our family and friends we miss Egbe. Our flight back to Egbe is scheduled for this week. We will miss the U.S. food and comfy accommodations, but as we watch this video below we cannot wait to see our Nigerian family. We put together a short video to give you little insight into our Egbe life after 18 months of living there. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as we did putting it together for you.

Gently Used

Posted: February 2, 2015 by Patrice Miles in C.A.R.E. Africa, Egbe, Egbe Nigeria, Miles In Missions, Missionaries, Nigeria, Patrice Miles, People of Egbe

18 months ago our family left the United States and landed on Nigerian soil. God has gently used us to help host over 100 construction and medical volunteers, say good bye to three Samaritan Purse pioneer missionaries, say hello to 7 new long term missionary families, completed work on a new pharmacy, OR, CSR, men’s ward, maternity, X-ray, laundry, 3 missionary houses, 5 containers unloaded, started a new guesthouse and a Wednesday Women’s Fellowship group. C.A.R.E. Africa came alive and over 20 children are in school now, 5 women are learning a trade and 2 women were helped to start a business. From rashes, Mosquitos, Lenny malaria x5 and Cason x2, cotta (Nigerian cold), dog dying, 110 degree temperatures, Mosquitos, bombs in JOS and Abuja, tearful goodbyes, stomach problems, Mosquitos, bank robbery and shootings, road robbers, Mosquitos, nail boys, Ebola, hospital gates stormed, fighting and did I mention Mosquitos, we survived. Everything was completed giving God the glory and lives have been changed and his kingdom has grown. He gives us small peeks every now and then of his big picture for Egbe Nigeria through open doors in ministry, national workers voices of gratitude, lives given to Christ, relationships built with Nigerian leaders, miracles at the hospital and deeper relationships with other missionaries . These small glimpses keep us going in a culture that is not our own.

We will be home in less than week and we are so excited! We have been gently used and God knew when this date was being planned that we would need this time with friends and family to refuel. While we are home we need your help. In less than a month we need to collect a lot of items to take back to Egbe. Can you look around your house and see if you have any of these gently used items that you could donate to the people of Egbe.

Boys items for ages 12-16
-Clothes
-Soccer wear
-Soccer cleats
-White Socks and Boxer Briefs
-Sandals, flip flops, tennis shoes.
-Belts
Girls items for ages 13-16
-Everyday dresses, skirts, shirts
-Sandals, flip flops and dress shoes
-White Socks
Back packs
Wrist Watches
Laptops
Tablets
Oxford Dictionaries

We would also like to get some t-shirts printed for C.A.R.E. Africa if anyone knows of an affordable place. Contact me at patrice.miles@sim.org if you have any of these gently used items you would like to donate. Or if you would like to donate directly to our ministry click Miles In Missions, missionary #040380.

C.A.R.E. Africa Etsy Store

Posted: December 14, 2014 by Patrice Miles in C.A.R.E. Africa, Egbe, Egbe Nigeria, Miles In Missions, Nigeria, Patrice Miles, People of Egbe

C.A.R.E. Africa’s Etsy Store is up and running! https://www.etsy.com/shop/CAREafrica Almost all of the items have made their way back to Louisville, Kentucky and are waiting to be shipped out to a new home.

Everything is hand made in Egbe, Nigeria. There are four beautiful girls that make our beaded jewelry. Seun, who is a single mother. Remi, is a widow with 3 children. Felicia, is a young single girl trying to make ends meet. Last but least is our newest addition Abigail who is also a single girl.

All our cow horn, coconut and calabash items are currently made by Emma. He is in the process of training the Home Care boys on how to make these amazing pieces. The cow horn is from Fulani cows. The calabash is taken from trees in Egbe and dried and then cut into pieces for earrings. The coconut is taken from the Miles kitchen. We eat a lot of coconut so we have a lot of coconut shells J

A few different people in Egbe sow the bags and purses. Toyin, is an orphan and he also does a lot of the tailoring for the men on the compound. Janet, who is our compound seamstress, has an apprenticeship program. She trains women over the period of a year how to sew. These women in training sew our bags for us currently. Gift who is our only member in our seamstress program is a widow with 4 children. She is learning at Janet’s 3 days a week and then comes to CARE Africa on Saturdays to sew our new patchwork material for the purses.

All of these children of God plus our Home Care kids come together every Saturday to work on the items for the Etsy store while also spending time in God’s word. All of the members are paid the moment they complete an item so they can support themselves throughout the week. We then send the items back to the US through visitors that come to Egbe. Once they arrive in our hometown Louisville, KY, my friend Diana Beville puts them on the Etsy store. Once an item is purchased she ships it to wherever it needs to go.

Please support the women, men and children in our program by purchasing some of the items as gifts for Christmas or for yourselves. All items will reach you before Christmas. Please pray for our store to find a place in Egbe too. We will be testing the Nigerian market at the end of January at an annual ECWA conference. We need your prayers.

Christmas or for yourselves. All items will reach you before Christmas. Please pray for our store to find a place in Egbe too. We will be testing the Nigerian market at the end of January at an annual ECWA conference. We need your prayers.

Meet Iyabo, a F$lani Business Women

Posted: December 6, 2014 by Patrice Miles in C.A.R.E. Africa, Egbe, Egbe Nigeria, Miles In Missions, Patrice Miles, People of Egbe, Prayer

Adamo in School

Meet Iyabo, a F$lani business women. Two of her daughters happened to be at a football match and met Emma, my partner with C.A.R.E. Africa. When C.A.R.E. Africa started, Emma remembered one of the girls, Adamo, We registered her in our home care program. Adamo and her family are a Yuroba F$lani family. The Father has many wives and is in the bush with the cows. He rarely visits. When he does come home there is no support given to the family. With 5 children to take care of, Iyabo, like many abandoned mothers, is struggling.

Picture Inventory Spreadsheet

Iyabo has a store, but it doesn’t provide the income to sustain her family. We wanted to help her but in a way that would not hurt her later. We wanted something sustainable. We sat down and talked about what product she is selling and what product she is not. We quickly analyzed her business and found there were several items she wasn’t making any money on. There was also many that she was making great money on. We got rid of the non money making product and focused on what was moving . The next step was to teach her how to keep inventory and track expenses and income.

Emma explaining how to use the spreadsheet.

This was a lot harder as she does not know how to read. We came up with an inventory in an excel spreadsheet with pictures. Once we showed her the chart and how to use it, she was very excited and said no problem. We will be starting week one with her on Monday. I am so excited to see what happens. I am sure that we will find product she said moves doesn’t. There will probably be mistakes in the inventory count, but we will tweak it every week until we find out what works and what doesn’t. I never thought I would be teaching business in Africa but God did. He prepared me through running my husbands construction business and my own real estate business. Now I get to use those skills to watch his kingdom grow.

Iyabo and her store.

Please pray for Iyabo and her family to come to know Christ. Pray for God’s wisdom with C.A.R.E. Africa on how to help the people of Egbe, Nigeria.

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