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dbeville
Patrice Miles
LennyIn less than a month, I will be headed back to Nigeria with a team of servants going to help make a difference in the lives of so many kids, teachers and staff. It is always overwhelming to put together the schedules for the team. I wonder how each team members gifts can be best utilized in our ministry. I alway want everyone to have the best experience and to leave Egbe, Nigeria forever changed. I am challenged to not just make it about the experience but to also make sure that my staff on the ground are encouraged and inspired. This isn’t an easy task and only with the Lord’s help can all the pieces fall in place for a team with so many gifts and talents.
Meet the team!
Stephen and Diana Beville from Louisville, Kentucky.
Diana and Stephen visited Egbe, Nigeria in 2014 before C.A.R.E. Africa had started. They helped us put together the new pharmacy at ECWA Hospital Egbe. Stephen is a solution architect with GE and Diana runs our C.A.R.E. Africa markets while also working part time as a career consultant for people with disabilities. Since their last visit they have helped me put together the U.S. C.A.R.E. Africa legal side with accounting, board meetings, taxes and 5013c status. They also started the C.A.R.E Africa markets and our Etsy store. Diana visited us again in Jos, Nigeria in 2018 to run our children’s program at our SIM Spiritual Life Conference. They will be serving in our new seamstress program, documenting our Caregiver cooperative initiative and doing interviews with C.A.R.E. families.
Kathy Matheny from Louisville, Kentucky.
Kathy is the President of Cardinal Planning & Design. Her company did our land surveys years ago when Lenny and I were in construction building homes. They have been supporters of our ministry in Nigeria and now Kathy is excited to see what she has been investing in. This will be her first visit to Egbe, Nigeria. She will help lead worship at AWANA, teach elective classes, serve in the library at the school and assist with interviews.
Michael Beaumont from Bluffton, South Carolina.
Michael is the lead pastor at Live Oak Christian Church. His last visit to Egbe was in 2014. This will be his fourth trip to Egbe. He is the Pastor at Live Oak Christian Church. He will be leading a one day retreat for the C.A.R.E. Africa staff through a curriculum he created called Leading Healthy. In addition he will help with AWANA, our Sports Outreach and our weekly staff devotional and caregiver meetings. He will assist me with looking at land options for C.A.R.E. Africa’s new center.
Scott Beebe from Bluffton, South Carolina
Scott is the founder of My Business on Purpose and helped C.A.R.E. Africa create our vision, mission, values and goals. He helped us document our practices and coached us through the stages of his model to get us to where we are today. He will be joining the team to do leadership training, serve at AWANA and Sports Outreach, assist Michael at our one day retreat and visit all his old friends as he is a native of Egbe, Nigeria and has visited too many times to count.
We are so excited to see what God is going to do with and through this team.
We need your help!!
We would love to take any of the following items with us when we go.
- New or Used Soccer Balls in good condition.
- Used Laptops in good condition.
- First Aid Kits
- Board Games
- Used Playstation.
- Overcomer Movie
- National Geographic Magazines/Science Magazines.
- Bibles.
- Cake Pans all sizes.
- Muffin Pans regular size.
- Clothing and shoes starting at size 5T and up to Men’s and Women’s small sizes.
- Monetary donations would also help us purchase needed items and/or cover any baggage fees. Any monetary donations can be given to our general fund atgive.icareafrica.org or checks can be made payable to CARE Africa and mailed. Email me at patrice.miles@sim.org for our mailing address.
You can Email me at patrice.miles@sim.org with any local donations I can pick up or I can give you a shipping address.
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 
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 
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
Emma and Tofunmi were invited to come to a one week training on Family Reunification in Nairobi, Kenya that 
Miles In Missions 