Archive for the ‘Egbe Nigeria’ Category

8 Weeks Till Christmas!

Posted: October 31, 2018 by Patrice Miles in C.A.R.E. Africa, Egbe, Egbe Nigeria, Miles In Missions, Nigeria, Orphans, SIM

8 weeks

Screen Shot 2018-10-25 at 3.13.14 PMAre you starting to make you list of everyone you will be buying presents for. Teachers, neighbors, friends and family. Please consider purchasing a C.A.R.E. Africa 2019 Wall Calendar for someone you love, and support our ministry in Nigeria. What a great way to bless that special person every month of the year as they get to see our kids smiling faces on their wall. They will know that their Christmas gift helped our kids, caregivers and staff. Click http://bit.ly/CARE2019calendar to order today so you can have it before Christmas.

If a calendar isn’t for you then please visit our Etsy store at https://www.etsy.com/shop/CAREafrica  for all types of amazing handmade purses, jewelry, skirts  and housewares. When you check out ask for a C.A.R.E. card and we will make sure your gift comes with a card that will introduce your special recipient to how their gift helped our ministry!

 

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My home made birthday cake from Lenny and kids.

Thank you to all my friends, family members and supporters who made my birthday so wonderful. I spent my birthday in Kano, Nigeria with C.A.R.E. Africa, SIM, Lenny and kids. From coffee lattes and cake with my friend Jocelyn, to shopping for fabric in the local market, a package from the USA with a awesome t-shirt and a surprise homemade cake from Lenny after a 5 hour drive back to Jos from Kano….it was a great birthday.

Icing on the cake was that my birthday wish of getting a playground for my kids in Egbe was granted. Thanks to everyone $2,104 came in, of the $2,400 that I had asked for. I am so excited about this and cannot wait to send you all pictures of the kids playing on the new equipment. I will head to Egbe in a few weeks to start working on this along with many other items. Please pray for safe travels along with wisdom and discernment from God as C.A.R.E. Africa continues to grow.

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Coffee Lattes and cake in Kano.

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Fabric shopping with my favorite shopping partner!

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My birthday gift all the way from America by post in only 11 days.

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Dream come true!

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me (Patrice), Happy Birthday to me.

Everyday my kids have recess time where they run out to a gated dirt playground with nothing but a ball and some jump ropes. My Birthday is on Sunday and I cannot think of a better Birthday wish than a Playground for my kids at our school. The joy it would bring to my heart to get to see them playing on actual playground equipment would be the best birthday present ever!

Please consider donating to our playground for my birthday! Click https://www.gosponsorit.com/careafrica/playground to donate.

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It’s kinda crazy to think we have been living in Nigeria for 5 years now! God has been so good and we have learned so much. From the revitalization of Egbe hospital, to C.A.R.E. Africa’s birth, AWANA Nigeria in Egbe, C.A.R.E. craft shows, our own kids growing a foot or two, Ebola, spiritual battles, malaria and other illnesses, weddings, moving from Egbe to Jos, Lenny’s new role as SIM Communication Specialist, additions to our family (animal and human) and now an opening of a primary school….. God has been faithful! Nigeria is home now and we are excited to see what else he has in store for our family.

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Started w/ 2 Kids

 

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50 Children Now

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AWANA

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C.A.R.E. Craft Shows

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Emma & Tofunmi’s Wedding

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IMG_1122How it all began….

It was September 2017 and the Global Leadership Summit in Jos was going strong. C.A.R.E. Africa CEO, Emma and I listened to speaker after speaker with growing enthusiasm. I don’t remember the speaker but I do remember the impact of what was shared….“think big and don’t ask HOW just say WOW!” Emma and I looked at each other and said “We really need to start a school!” I immediately wanted to say but “HOW” and Emma reminded me of the speaker and said “WOW” Yup that is how it all started!!

We had no clue where to start but I knew a missionary, Marybeth Oyebade, who had successfully started several schools in Jos, Nigeria. Marybeth maintained standards unlike any other Nigerian school I had seen before. The curriculum had some Western influence. School fees were kept comparable to other schools but the teacher to child ratio was lower. Teachers, parents and students were held to a higher standard than normal. No cheating allowed. Failing students were not promoted to the next grade. Integrity was integral to the foundational values of the school. All of these things seemed like a dream come true! The icing on the cake was when I asked Marybeth to help me take her school to Egbe and she said YES!

IMG_3557I immediately reached out to my Business Coach, Scott Beebe with Business on Purpose https://www.mybusinessonpurpose.com. He helped C.A.R.E. Africa get out of our chaos a few years ago by providing vision, mission, policies, procedures and so much more. When I told him what I was wanting to do he simply asked “Hey you want me to fly to Nigeria and help you with this joint venture?” God is so good!

A few weeks later Scott Bebee, Emma, Tofunmi, Marybeth along with husband Bayo Oyebade and I were all sitting at a desk putting together a joint venture. Scott not only helped us with the legal issues but also helped us with a timeline, org charts, job descriptions and much more. Scott’s time with us was such a blessing and God knew we needed this to jump-start our school.

DSC_0484 (2)Since then it has definitely been a learning process. Marybeth and I continue to trust the people God is putting in front of us to catapult this school to its opening Sept 10, 2018. I could write an entire story about all the miracles that have occurred along the way but I will just share a few. With Marybeth’s blessing, one of her staff members has volunteered to leave the comfort of Jos and move to Egbe for a year to provide consultation and mentorship to our new C.A.R.E. Africa school staff. Other miracles include the qualified teachers God has provided that are full of joy; the U.S. mission team who just happened to be teachers and knew exactly how to decorate classrooms; curriculum getting delivered just in the nick of time AND some unexpected donations that allowed us to buy a few more needed supplies.

As with anything good, some spiritual attacks are to be expected. These attacks have been exhausting but we are persevering. We are in our last leg of this race and your help is needed! Please be in serious prayer for the $15,000 U.S. Embassy grant we have applied for to be approved. This $15,000 grant would allow us to finish the schoolrooms and pay teacher salaries for the first year since there will be no income coming from the school in year one.  Please add the U.S. embassy grant request to your prayer list! I hope to hear something by month’s end.

This school promises a bright future for the C.A.R.E. Africa kids and the community of Egbe. We covet your prayers and if you would like to financially support our C.A.R.E. Africa school all donations can be sent to https://give.icareafrica.org/careafrica/careschool

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DSC_0226This is a great prayer letter that Carmen Marflak sent out. She is currently serving at Egbe Hospital for one month. This is her 5th time to Egbe Hospital. She makes a great observation that there is so many opportunities to serve in Egbe. Medical being the biggest need but anyone can come on a mission trip or serve short or long term and find a place to be God’s hands and feet because there is ministry going on all over the Egbe community. For more information about all the opportunities to serve email jos.sta@sim.org or visit www.egbehospital.com .

Monday, the 16, started out with a full day of surgeries. All day long, I kept watching the clock because I knew we were not going to be finished in enough time for AWANA’s at C.A.R.E. Africa. There was a prayer in my heart all day, for the Lord to “speed up” the surgeon’s hands. Well, God answers prayer! We sent the last patient back to the ward at 3:30; I ran back to the guest house, took a 2 minute cold shower, put on street clothes, grabbed the salvation bracelets, and walked out the door as Emma was driving up to get me.

DSC_0209We had a great time at AWANA’s. There were not the 190+ kids there; there was only about 170 because it was raining and the roads and walking paths were very slick and muddy. The silence in the room was also a miracle. I walked in with the children laughing and talking, noisy!!!!!. Emma raised both his arms and said silence! You could have heard a pin drop. And they remained that way until I was finished telling the story of how Jesus died for our sins, makes us clean and whole inside, helps us to grow in our faith, and prepares a place for us in Heaven. It was an exhausting day, but so exciting and rewarding!

Every Tuesday at 2:30, Dr Jen (one of the SIM missionary doctors) leads a hospital Womens Bible Study. Change of shift here in Nigeria is 2:15. So several of the women from each of the departments come regularly to this Bible Study. For the last 3 months they have been going through the Book of John. Last week they were in chapter 12. So, fortunately, last week, those of us in the OR were finished by 2:30 and could actually make it to Bible Study. There were 14 of us last week. It is a pleasure to listen and answer their questions, and see the eyes light up when they grasp what God is trying to teach them. It is a joy to hear of their struggles and how God has answered prayers. It is also a real treat for me to build a relationship with the other women in the hospital, as well as the ones I work with every day in the OR.

DSC_0521These last 2 weeks in the OR have almost been overwhelming. My first day in the OR was the 11th and I have actually had 1 day off (Sunday, the 22). Tuesdays and Thursdays are supposed to be clinic/office day for Dr Fabruce, with no surgery scheduled on those days. So I am scheduled for lectures for the family practice residents, the Anesthesia trainees, and for the nursing students. But, even on those days, there have been so many emergent patients come through ER, that we have been working late into the evenings. Between all the trauma patients (motor bike accidents, walls collapsing on families, machete fights), the C/Sections, the appendectomies, perforated bowels and the snake bites, we have done very few elective/ scheduled procedures. On Monday, Wed, Friday, we normally start out with 3-4 scheduled procedures, but by the end of the day we have done between 5-7. All last week and this week, the only anesthesia providers have been Jummy and me. Evelyn is on maternity leave, Rebecca and Adeola are both on vacation. We have been getting a little weary by the time we finish the day. But God is good and gives us both a restful sleep at night. I am reminded of

Psalms 3:5 and 4:8, I will lie down and sleep, I wake again because the Lord sustains me.” And “In peace I will lie down and sleep for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety”

DSC_0383 (2)Last Wednesday, a team of mothers and their teen children (10 altogether) came from my home church (Live Oak Christian Church) in Bluffton, SC. They experienced a lot of flight cancellations, and lost luggage (the last of their luggage arrived last evening), but they have been serving over at C.A.R.E. Africa all week; painting the school, doing VBS, making home visits to the sponsored children, visiting the HIV clinic. It has been a joy to have company!!! I am usually alone in the guest house. I don’t get to see them much, because I am finished with breakfast and in the hospital before they get to the dining room. Many evenings, I have missed dinner because of late cases, but the times that we have shared together have been good; hearing what they have done, and the stories of the C.A.R.E. Africa children, helps me to realize that there is another world out there in Egbe, that I rarely get to see. Mission service here in Egbe entails a lot more than just the hospital; God’s Word, Love, and Compassionate service is being made known throughout the community by cooperating groups and missions. It is exciting to see how God works in other areas besides medicine!

Since moving from village life in Egbe to city life in Jos – my life has become more comfortable. In Egbe I was on my knees daily just to make it through each day. I prayed about the heat, the workload, my husband’s constant bouts of malaria, the spiritual warfare, not too mention the constant prayers for CARE Africa . I needed and relied on God to show up every day. Life in Jos is still hard – it’s Nigeria – but it is easier than Egbe. I talk to God all the time but it isn’t the same yearning and deep need for Him like when we lived in Egbe.

Screen Shot 2018-07-21 at 8.53.18 AMI recently read a book called God’s Smuggler. It is a true story of how a young, Dutchman by the name of Brother Andrew risked his life to bring faith and hope to believers behind the Iron Curtain. While reading the book I was continuously jealous of all the miracles Brother Andrew experienced. Some were as simple as a cake being provided for a meeting where he had no money to buy one. Others were big miracles like not getting checked at checkpoints where he had over 100 Bibles hidden in his car. I was so jealous and I felt if he experienced miracles in the 1930’s why can’t I experience God’s miracles in the 2018’s. I got on my knees and begged to see, hear, and experience God like Brother Andrew did. I begged God to “show up and show off” as I like to say.

When I asked God to make me like the God Smuggler, I was expecting great miracles and even greater blessings. Well, over the past month God has been showing up and showing off. I can’t begin to document in this blog all the great things He has done and is doing. What I forgot is that when God is doing a great work someone else is trying to disrupt that work – someone who wants to steal God’s glory. I don’t want to mention his name in case that gives him any power but we all know who he is. He prowls around like a Lion.

Staff finalPray for me, for my family, for my husband’s media ministry, for my CARE Africa staff and for our school that we are starting in Egbe. My family and CARE Africa staff have experienced some serious spiritual attacks such as health problems, computers crashing, uncontrollable emotions/ thoughts, missionaries leaving, different cultural problems and even serious and brutal killings only miles from our home. There is sin in this world and when God is visibly doing big works in your life – evil is going to want to try and conquer it. There is a battle going on that our small, small minds cannot even grasp. It is a battle for our minds and souls and we know we are the winner, but there is nothing that says we will not experience suffering.

Screen Shot 2018-07-21 at 8.57.53 AMThere is a song I really like by Kari Jo that is called “Speak to Me”. If you listen to it and ask Him to speak to you He will. Be prepared to put your armor on because that prowling lion will begin to challenge you. I encourage you to beat the crap out of him with prayer when he comes to steal, rob and destroy.  Pray and watch God “show up and show off”. It is a beautiful thing to see!

 

Would you consider becoming one of our prayer partners? Through these challenges so many have come alongside me and made me realize even more the importance of prayer to fight these battles. We currently have 214 of you out there praying when I send my requests. I would love for it to be 1000!! Click http://eepurl.com/DZf_D to receive our weekly prayer requests.

family-preservationFamily Based Care is all the rave at any adoption/orphan conference and in any article, blog or discussion regarding orphans and adoption. There are hundreds of studies that show most children in orphanages are there because of poverty, not orphanhood. Many children we call “orphans” have some form of family that would care for them if they had the means. Strengthening families is the best way to meet the needs of orphans and other vulnerable children.

When Emma and I started C.A.R.E. Africa we agreed to do everything we could to keep kids in families. We have struggled with Family Based Care many times over the past four years and thought an orphanage would be soooo much easier. There are many positives to Family Based Care but also many negatives. The biggest negative is the lack of control we have regarding the children and their learning environment.

careboysThey go to school for 8 hours a day in a Nigerian school system where cheating is overlooked and teachers send them on personal errands during school lessons. There is no accountability regarding attendance and shame based punishment is the norm. At the end of the school day they go home to a grandma who may not know how to read or speak English. The C.A.R.E. Africa children are kept busy running errands for water, firewood, cooking and childcare such that there is no time for homework or studying for an exam. C.A.R.E. Africa has a policy that no child should be out past 7pm but we do not have the manpower to monitor all the children in our program 24 hours a day.

Two times a week we meet with our children for discipleship. In those 4 hours each week we spend intentional time with our children teaching them about Christ and Christ-like behavior. However, the other 32 hours a week are spent in a less than ideal school system. Some of our children have been accused of stealing, lying, cheating, gambling and other bad behaviors. If we had an orphanage they could start each day with morning devotions, we could guarantee they attend school and make certain they have help with their homework all while showing them the love of Christ.

An orphanage sounds so much easier, right?

But could there be a middle ground?

Something that allows the children to stay within a family but allows us more time to sow into these children. Something that helps us build good character traits and show these children what a relationship with Christ looks like. For the last four years we have wanted to know what this missing piece to the puzzle of Family Based Care is and I thank God He has revealed it to us!

Last Import - 338 of 581OUR OWN SCHOOL – 36 hours a week to demonstrate Christ’s love to these kids.

1. We will hire and train great Christian teachers that walk with the Lord.
2. We will keep the classroom pupil to teacher ratio low so each teacher can have relationship with the children.
3. We will have special classes for children that need extra help in subjects so they can regain their confidence to try and learn.
4. We will teach discipline through correction that doesn’t exasperate the child through shame and fear.
5. We will hold teachers accountable to a different style of teaching that involves discussions, questions and answers so the children can learn to think outside the box.
6. We will know that our children are attending school.

This C.A.R.E. Africa school will be free of fear and shame based learning! This C.A.R.E. Africa school will encourage children to have relationship with each other and their teachers! This C.A.R.E. Africa school will teach children confidence and encourage them to dream of a better future.

1st tutored kidsPray for the five teachers that we have hired for our school. They will come to our city, Jos, for three weeks in August for training. Their eyes will be opened to a different way of teaching and how they can truly make a difference in each child’s life at our school. This 3-week training is critical for these teachers to learn new pathways for effective and compassionate teaching. We cannot do it without financial support. Please consider sponsoring this training which will include transportation to Jos, accommodations and feeding for all five C.A.R.E. Africa teachers. Click TEACHERS to donate to their training.

Transportation is $200
Accommodations is $600
Feeding is $500
TOTAL $1,300 needed for Teacher training.

DSC_0067Over a year ago, while looking for HIV/AIDS resources for Spring of Life Egbe counseling center, I stumbled across a hospital in Jos called Faith Alive.  What started out as a small clinic for HIV/AIDS patients is now a three-story hospital that serves over 10,000 patients a month with various medical problems, provides ongoing care for HIV/AIDS patients, provides maternity care and performs about  3-4 surgeries each day. What makes Faith Alive unique is that all medical care is offered free of charge. Dr. Chris Isichei , Founder of Faith Alive, relies on local Nigerian doctors to volunteer their time outside of their regular jobs at other hospitals.  Dr Chris has been a source of encouragement and help to me in my ministries in Egbe over the past year. When I asked how could I help him, his only request was for more volunteers.

After some research and legalities I was able to establish a partnership agreement between SIM, my mission organization, and Faith Alive. Now I am able to help Dr. Chris by recruiting missionaries to come serve at Faith Alive Hospital.

DSC_0040My first volunteer (guinea pig) is Carman Marflak.  Carman is a nurse anesthetist who has made several mission trips to ECWA Hospital Egbe and is also a member of one of our supporting churches back home in America.  She was coming to ECWA Egbe Hospital for her 5th visit and was interested in seeing our ministries in Jos.  I was excited to tell her about the needs of Faith Alive Hospital and she agreed to come serve!  

At the time of writing this post, Carman Marflak has almost completed her 2 weeks at Faith Alive in Jos. During her time here the staff have been trained and encouraged.  She has improved their spinal block techniques, taught them how to place OI needles and has started organizing the operating room (OR).  Carman has also given several lectures at University of Jos to medical and nurse anesthetist students. I visited her at the OR a few days ago and the smiles and thank you’s from the staff for letting “Grandma” come were overwhelming. The staff of Faith Alive have fallen in love with Carman and I know she has fallen in love with them.

IMG_1901It hasn’t been easy being our volunteer guinea pig. The OR at Faith Alive is under equipped.  They need a new anesthesia machine, new OR beds, running water, better sterilization equipment and so much more.  Many times Carman was the only anesthetist available due to a shortage of nurses on surgery days.  “Grandma” Carman has survived an exhausting but rewarding two-weeks and her experience is helping me better prepare future medical volunteers for their service at Faith Alive. We currently have 2 pre med students and 2 nurses coming to Jos in June and a general surgeon is coming long term next year!

IMG_1958If you or someone you know is interested in medical missions, please email us at jos.personnel@sim.org. Faith Alive is only one of our many medical missions opportunities. We also have an amazing revitalized hospital in the bush of Egbe with an eye and dental clinic called ECWA Hospital Egbe, we have an eye clinic in Kano that serves a predominantly Muslim population call Kano Eye Hospital,  and the largest VVF (Vesico-Vaginal Fistula) clinic in the world located in Jos that ministers to women from the “North”. In addition we have several community health and medical outreach opportunities throughout Nigeria.  If you are looking to serve in a foreign country- come visit us in Nigeria. I promise it will be a rewarding experience you will never forget!  

See this latest video my husband, SIM Communications Specialist, put together about Medical Missions in Nigeria. https://vimeo.com/272002516

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I am just a little excited to announce that our new website for C.A.R.E. Africa is live! Thanks to one of my prayer partners, Angela Clevenger, telling me about www.VolunteerMatch.com, we have a new website that was FREE! It is still under constructions as we continue to make improvements. I just couldn’t wait any longer to tell everyone how great God is as this has been a prayer request for over two years. Visit www.iCareAfrica.org and please tell us what you think.