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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.
To many times I have taken two steps forward and then looked back and thought “What if everything fails? Did I hear you correctly God? Is this your will or mine?” My life continues to be a life of stepping out in the dark in faith not knowing where the next step is, how high it might be or if it even exists. It is so out of my character to step blindly trusting what God says in Jeremiah 29:11. I like to plan everything and have control. It stresses me out to rely or trust on anyone but myself because people let me down everyday.
I have recognized this about myself and release the steering wheel of life back to God much quicker now a days. I then get mad at my self and ask “Why did I even try and touch the steering wheel? ” Paul says it great in Romans 7:15, that he continues to do what he doesn’t want to do b/c of his flesh.
“Ahhhhh….. Their you are! Sorry, I was so focused on my plan and trying to control everything again and I didn’t see you there. I forget that you promised in Deuteronomy 31:6 that I will never be alone.” I unlock the door, scoot over and my heavenly, beautiful, graceful, merciful, forgiving, smiling Father sits down and puts both hands on the steering wheel and starts to drive.
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.
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.
I am sure everyone reading this blog has had life smack them in the face before. I know that I have. Sometimes it is my own stupidity and disobedience that brings on these trials, at other times it is just LIFE. We live in a broken and sinful world so we are going to experience disappointments, heartbreak, sadness, and much more.
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.
Miles In Missions 