Growth

It's truly amazing how fast things are growing now that the rains have come.  The passion fruit making its way up our ugly concrete water tower has sprouted 3 inches overnight.  The grass grows by about the same amount sometimes. 

Orange blossom

Over the past week I'd been watching the orange tree as buds started to appear.  Now its in full bloom and deluged by bees.  The smell is overpowering, sickly sweet, heavy and all-pervading but we should get another good crop later in the year.

 I'm baby-sitting some pots of strawberries for a couple who've gone back to the USA for the summer and I'm not just finding caterpillars on them.

Toby

Price paid

Yesterday the BRICC family went to pay condolence visits to two people whose mothers had recently died.  One was Saddiq, the education co-ordinator, the other an older man who was a talented footballer in his youth and now helps with the sports programmes.  Nearly a dozen of us walked from the BRICC office the short distance to Saddiq's house, Christians and Muslims together in family feeling in the face of death.  We sat for a while in his living room as several people gave messages of consolation and the love that flowed between this group of very disparate backgrounds was obvious.

We had only been in Nigeria for six months when several people I knew and cared about died in the UK.  With each death a piece of self also dies and a dark yearning emptiness takes its place as we experience the devastation that was never supposed to be part of humanity's story.  Sometimes we are given glimpses into the heart of God.  These can be exciting, exhilerating uplifting experiences or they can be times when the pain and sorrow of this spoiled world almost overwhelms us.  It isn't that God doesn't care when loved ones die; his love conquers all things and he has provided a solution to the agonising consequences of death - Jesus.  There is comfort in the knowledge that death is not the end and we will meet our Christian brothers and sisters again, although even that temporary parting is painful enough.

I got to this paragraph in my daily reading this morning:

We do not understand the mystery of why God allows tragedy, heartache and sorrow but we do know that those who trust the eternal God as their refuge will experience the reality of his promise that "underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deuteronomy 33:27).

Jesus never promised his followers a life without pain but he did promise he would never leave us to make our way through without his help and support.

The heart of Christianity is love - Jesus' love for us, our love for him and for those who would otherwise be lost for ever. There are too many people who, if they were to die tomorrow would face eternal desolation, yet all that is necessary to defeat death is to accept that Jesus on the cross has beaten it and to follow him.  Perhaps it's too simple but the entrance fee to a glorious eternity has been paid, we just have to accept the ticket.

Cornerstone Academy

Cornerstone Academy is run by SIM's City Ministries in Gero, a village about ten minutes along a dirt track from Bukuru.  It's one of the steps in their ministry to street children and orphans which begins in Gidan Bege (House of Hope in Hausa) in Jos.  That's where rescued children are taken initially and where they stay for about six months until they're ready to be moved to Cornerstone Academy.  After the academy they move back to Jos to Transition House to prepare for the transition from life in a children's to home to independence as adults.

Teacher training

Anne Karin Lauritzen from Denmark supervises the academy and asked if I would go and talk to the Cornerstone teachers about thinking creatively.  It was a challenge and opportunity for me but, as I was going to stress to the teachers, when an opportunity comes along you need to have the courage to take it and have an experience if you hope to learn and develop yourself.  Yesterday I went with her.  We had fun with the teachers and I hope something of what I said was useful to them.  I'm sure that after promoting the memory-enhancing properties of the dopamine produced by having fun, there'll be a lot of laughter coming from the classrooms in the next few days.
We also had some fun towards the end as we discussed such important questions as "Does a sound exist?" "If you could take a pill that would make you always happy, would you?" "Would you rather be brave and poor or cowardly and rich?" - all designed to get the teachers to think and move their brains in different directions.

One of the first people I saw at Cornerstone was Mission Africa's Lynsey Bell.  She goes once a week to help Emma (short for Emmanuel), a boy who was found abandoned in the bush a few years ago.  She works with children with special needs in Jos but goes to give Imo the one-to-one attention he needs.  He can't communicate very well and lacks most of the skills of a boy his age.  She suspects he's autistic which is probably why he was left to fend for himself from very young.

Before we went back to Bukuru Anne Karin had to visit one of the boys' boarding houses.  A supporter had paid for new beds so a photo had to be taken.  The boys all shouted happily that they loved their new beds.  The house "uncle"told us that he knew they were comfortable when all of the boys had to be woken up for school the first morning they had them. 

One of the quirks of life in Nigeria is the electricity supply.  Often when there's a storm the power goes off.  Sometimes it returns within a few hours, other times it's off for much longer.  It's going to be rather frustrating in the months to come as we expect a storm most days.  Last night we lost power just before 6pm, at 5:30am it still hasn't returned and the battery on my laptop is emptying so that will have to be all for now.

BRICC Graduation

One of the most active of the BRICC programmes is the extra-mural education co-ordinated by Saddiq and his deputy Abdulahi.

Siddiq, education co-ordinator

Academic subjects are interwoven with the message of peace and relationship building to equip the students to withstand the pressures towards violence as well as helping them in their ordinary schoolwork.  The hope is that BRICC students will do extra well in their exams and will act as ambassadors of peace within their groups of friends.

Abdulahi

 At the end of each course a graduation event is held in the BRICC meeting room.  Today it was junior and secondary students in the morning, primary pupils in the afternoon.  I could only manage the morning session but it was very encouraging to hear about how BRICC has made a difference.  With Toby being away in the US for a few months and no one else there from BRICC management, I was asked to stand in and pass on greetings to the students on their behalf.  I think it's a rule of Nigerian meetings, always be prepared to be called on to say a few words without advance warning, perhaps that's the best way.  I wasn't the only one.  Many of the co-ordinators of other BRICC programmes were there and they had to stand up and speak too.  It amused me as Saddiq exhorted them to speak for only three minutes: "Let's see if you're white or black.  When whites are told they've got three minutes they speak for two and a half then stop.  The Nigerian has only just got going." 

It was a good humoured event with personal testimony from the co-ordinators and students.  Veronica, leader of the women's skills programme, told us that Nigerians like to make money but BRICC taught her that wisdom is better that naira. 

Madam Veronica, women's skills

"The pillars of BRICC are love and unity.  Nigerian politicians take money to we don't know where whilst we are dying.  BRICC gives everything for free. You must spread the news."

Ahmed, art co-ordinator and commended by Siddiq as being white for his short speech, revealed that BRICC gave him education in "social, moral and peace"[sic].

Monday, sports

Monday, sports co-ordinator, told the students, "BRICC does not teach you peace, you are the peace."

The senior student spoke maturely about how he has learned to resolve conflict for that is the way to avoid violence.

His deputy said she'd gained knowledge, wisdom and love.  They are the leaders of tomorrow and are keen to spread the message BRICC has taught them.

Assistant senior class rep.

The event ended with the passing round of bottles of fizzy drinks and Saddiq reiterating that he was always approachable and open to suggestions.  He then asked that if he had unwittingly offended any of his students during the course they would forgive him, a very BRICC touch to finish with.