Merry Christmas Everyone.
So I thought I’d update you on the last couple of weeks, and all the shenanigans going on here. I’ve been in Jos for Christmas, traveled up on the 13th December. It was really nice to see Abi from home, who is working in Jos for Mission Africa.
I’ve done lots since I’ve been here. Jos is like the mission capital of Nigeria, which is great because there are so many ministries and things to get involved in. but it’s also a bit strange going from Ogugu where there is 5 white people to Jos where there are like 200, part of me wants to spread them a little more evenly over the whole of Nigeria.
Some of the ministries here though are top! I visited Abi’s work which is a school for special needs students. Its such a great place. Special needs aren’t really recognized in Africa yet. Those who are born with special needs here are often neglected, abused, and don’t receive an education, so the work that the school does is really great. The students there are so happy as well! It’s seems to be really rewarding work. I was really struck by one story of a boy who was locked away by his family, for 20 years, having no contact with the outside world, because he had severe special needs. He was found by open doors and now aged 30 has the mental age of a 5 year old. It’s so sad, but makes me wonder where these people would be if it wasn’t for the school.
I also really enjoyed visiting the street orphan ministry which is running in Jos, particularly a place called Gyero, which is where kids go after coming of the streets to live and to go to school. It’s in a small village on the outskirts of Jos, but its such a cool place! There was also a team from Orange county in California which was there over Christmas for a week, and two of the guys were American college footballers, one of them was a quarterback for USC college which is apparently a pretty big deal, but he was a cool guy, and the team ran a really great program with the kids, and built a brand new set of football goals for the kids. I’m interested in coming back for a couple of weeks and running some sports programs with the Gyero kids, maybe I’ll even try and introduce them to rugby J
I’ve also been visiting a place called Transition House, which is where the guys go to live after Gyero, to make the transition back into society getting a job and a house ect. I’ve made some really good friends there and hope to return back there some time later as well.
So that’s the work stuff that I’ve visited, but there’s also been a lot of other stuff to do here. One day we went to Yankari ‘hot springs’ which was beautiful. It’s a big hot stream running out of a rock face which is situated in thick forest. It was incredible we floated down this hot river into thick forest where a tiger or elephant could of just wondered out of the trees. Apparently there are also water snakes ad alligators as well but we didn’t see anything, which was probably for the best, but then also a bit dull.
On Christmas Eve we also visited a place called cherry hills which is a big natural rock formation, you climb up through these tiny crevices in the rocks making way to the top where you can see for miles over the whole of Jos. We stayed there to watch the sunset and it was incredible. Such a beautiful place to spend our Christmas eve.
After sunset we headed back home. This is when the MADNESS started!
I don’t know if any of you have seen on the news, but on Christmas Eve there were 3 bombs detonated at different parts of Jos, by Muslim extremists. We were running one of the guys who we were with back to Transition House, and then when returning home after dropping him the bomb was detonated on the bridge that we were approaching, and the whole place just kicked off, we were diverted down a road that we didn’t know, with cars screeching round like wacky races. And as the driver I’ve gotta say I was pretty scared, and we just started praying, asking God for protection, and for a way out of the madness because we were completely lost and didn’t know another way home apart from going over the bridge. But God answered. Ruth who has been living in Jos for a year and a half vaguely remembered a back road which took us back to Transition House. So we found the road and made our way back quickly to Transition House. It was a surreal experience, but God was so good to us and really undertook for us. So we stayed for Christmas Eve at Transition House, and had a great time with some of the boys who had no family to go home to for Christmas, and with the TH staff, before taking a safe route home in the morning. It was certainly a Christmas not to forget!
Since the bombs there has been a lot of problems in Jos, with burning of Churches and Mosques, and fights between Muslims and Christians on the streets. Because of the violence we have been told to stay in the compound for now. The guys from Ogugu (ie. Sharon, Mel, and Me) have been recommended to spend the rest of our Christmas celebrations in Abuja, so I think we will travel there tomorrow.
So all in all it’s been a pretty eventful couple of weeks. I’ve got to see more of the amazing World which God has created around us, but I’ve also seen a pinnacle of how we as mankind have just messed up, and are in need of forgiveness. It’s been amazing to speak to some Christians who have lost family or friends in Jos crisis that have happened in the past, and the way that they have not sought to justify the wrong themselves by going out in retaliation, but by putting there trust in God that he will righteously judge all the wrong that has happened and that they will receive the punishment that they deserve for the wrong that they have done.
Hope everyone is well at home, and enjoyed there Christmas!
Happy new year For Saturday.
Any news from home would be lovely to hear J
