Look at these amazing cucumber vines! We are so impressed with the staff and children’s farming. Not only have they worked hard to plant, tend and grow various crops throughout the seasons, they also have incredible fun doing it while learning useful life skills.
Snack time at Homestead Alternative Academy was filled with all kinds of crunchiness this week! Thank TWCF staff and children for your farming to provide fresh healthy snacks for all your classmates at school.
A Sunday School competition held in the summer, with a focus on the Bible book of Daniel. Our children were very eager to participate and try there hand in competition against other children. Several of our children were selected to represent TWCF in the competition, and all our children studied and practiced together. The first competition was held in our local government area, where children from all surrounding church and school groups came together. Our children won FIRST Prize out of several hundred children!
The second part of the competition was held for the whole northern part of Abia State, and was to be held in Umuahia, our capital city. Our children entered the second competition, representing the youngest children in the whole competition out of thousands of children, and came in 6th place. They were given notice for their young age, their most perfect english, and their responses in full sentences. Everyone was amazed. We are so proud of them, and more importantly, the children were proud of themselves and each other for doing so well and being so brave!
We are coming up on an election year for Nigeria in Feb of 2019, for a new President and National Assembly. Ongoing political unrest, and now campaigning and promises, headline the national news and take up a great deal of in-country leadership focus. Elections affect everyone, everywhere.
There continues to be unrest and warring between the herdsmen tribes and various local farming communities, with little being done to address the root issues, just attention focused on the horrible outcomes of each crisis. These issues easily overflow into Christian vs Muslim conflicts in terms of retaliations. This crisis, while more predominant in other states, does at times affect our state as herdsmen still pass through, and we are in a farming state.
The recent rains have caused mass flooding in multiple states, including Anambra State which is just above us in Abia. Since we are so close, we have been affected by the flooding and erosions. Many of the roads wash away which not only kills people (as their cars fall into it), but it cuts of access to the cities. One of our access roads has been completely washed away, replaced by deep ravines impossible to cross. We have one access road to the city left which is in dire straits and dangerous to use at this time.
Nigeria continues to face multiple challenges on all fronts, with the most alarming situations relating to the violation of basic human rights and lack of human security in the wake of 9+years of Boko Haram terrorism.The fallout from the last years of Boko Haram terrorism and attacks has left millions of people in horrific circumstances that continue to grow on a daily basis. Many of the camps do not provide adequate food, water and shelter, and there has been gross misconduct and violation of human rights in the camps with many of the women and girls being assaulted. It is a heartbreaking situation that continues to draw global media attention and should until it is properly addressed. Recent UN convoys to the country and talks are surrounding the need for global intervention and support to help these people heal, recover and get their lives set back up.
We are excited to announce the formalization of TWCF’s school “Homestead Alternative Academy”! We have been in discussions with the Abia State Ministry of Education for two months have initiated application to formally register. with the State. The Ministry sent a delegation to visit to our home and upon seeing the children both in the home and in three classroom settings that we have, we received rave reviews, and have their full support. The Education Ministry is excited about our unique approach to schooling. We are now awaiting our official registration process were we will official in a few weeks time. This is a big step for us, not only did we initially received recognition document from The Abia State Ministry of Education. We continue to enjoy a fabulous working relationship with Abia State Women’s Affairs and are so grateful to all those who have helped us in this process. We know our children are so beautiful and precious and we have desired to set up a alternative school that takes into account the holistic care and teaching that they need on their journey to rehabilitation and healing. Every day we continue to be amazed at their progress, and give glory to God for it all.
Before Mummie Canada and I arrived in the village we had two chickens, one rooster and 7 chicks. By the time we did arrive, there were 3 chicks, and over the last few weeks there are no longer any chicks! The crows and vultures had discovered the chicken restaurant in our compound and sneakily snatched away all our babies! We tried to save those last three as best as possible however the flying thieves were too much for us to handle. We know have 5 new chicks getting ready to hatch any day, and thanks to our new chicken coop in the works will do our best to help them grow up!!
We are working on growing our chicken numbers so that we might get some good layers on our hands! We are going through 3dozen in less then a week (it covers three meals, boiled eggs or omelettes). We hope to eventually start saving a big of money in the egg department by laying our own. When we are feeling a bit more successful we will begin to explore the idea of adding two goats to our little “farm” in the compound. Our farm, as the children call it, is the area we have planted corn, some few yam and cassava, groundnuts, basil, avocado tree, vegetable leaves, and a few other things. We hope to continue adding to it over time. We are experimenting with what can grow in our very sandy/clay-like soil, that won’t be demolished by bugs, monsoon rain or intense heat.
It has been a very busy last few weeks! The renovations and house maintenance has commenced. There has been mass time spent fixing beds and shelving, organizing storage for everything in the house, building a new clothesline (again), knocking a wall out in the guard house, working on the vehicles and gen, new chicken coop in the works, adjusting the always flooding compound water way issue, and more! Daddy Canada and Amos, will help from some of the older boys have been hard at work to make some much needed changes in the house and compound. We also have some plumbing underway and hope to bring our toilet count back up to three again! Our Terrano has finally been towed to the city to have the much needed repairs. We are excited and hoping these changes will make a difference in the cleanliness and orderliness of the house for daily routines and living!
Steve ‘Daddy Canada’ landed safely in Nigeria 11 days ago and has now been at the children’s home for 5 days. He was welcomed with great excitement and love by all the children and staff. A great many things have changes since his last vist a year ago, when we only had 4 children! So there were lots of new faces and names to learn, hugs to give out, and hands to shake. We have all been busy since arriving, and Daddy Canada’s presences increases the workload of things to be done around the house now that he is here. The chicken coop needs alterations, the rooms rearanged, new shelving/closet spaces, storage arrangements, the gen needs fixing, the Nissan needs assessment before a mechanic is sought, mosquito nets need fixing and moving, the guard house/school class needs fixing, and the house needs great adjustments in regard to lighting, storage, plumbing, space, etc. Slowly but surely we are all chipping away at these things among the daily routines. Daddy Canada will also take on teaching some of our staff training sessions, as we continue to teach the staff in proper parenting, teaching, relationships, behaviour managment/modification, positive role modeling, attachment/bonding, and so on.
***We, The Wanted Children Foundation, are looking for two individuals to come and serve/volunteer with us in Nigeria, in our extremely RURAL village area, and work with our orphaned children for a duration of no less then 1yr, preferably 2yrs with possibility of renewal each year:
Either a married couple or two individuals who are either both teachers, or one is a teacher and the other is in mental/physical health profession (pediatric nurse/physiotherapist/massage therapist…etc)
(If married couple you are NOT planning on having children during your time with us.)
Teacher(s) must be extremely competent in curriculum from kindergarten – grade 12 (whether BC, NS, or United States). Must be flexible to adapt various Nigerian curriculum/lessons/culture (we will help/train you) into teaching. Must have several years experience teaching. Must have experience working with Learning Assistance or Special Education, must know how to write and follow IEP’s and do assessments. Teachers must be able to teach Christian curriculum, understand and value our rules and expectations. Must be relational and social, must be strict yet understanding. You will be working with children who ALL have behavior challenges and vast learning issues due to the traumatic histories they have. You also will be working with staff and with a specific staff member appointed to you as an understudy.
Person who is a health professional must have education, further training and experience in pediatric health and/or mental health. Not only do all children need support, there are specific children with disabilities and need regular concentrated support. You also will be appointed an understudy. Must be compassionate, patience, flexible, joyful, understanding, relational and love children.
If YOU, or someone you know are interested, please contact us here at TWCF. We want to hear from you asap. We will host interviews for possible candidates. Go to our website, use the online submission form or email.
www.thewantedchildrenfoundation.org
Also, you can email thewantedchildren@gmail.com
Thanks!
Looking forward to hearing…
Well last week as Amos and I traveled to Umuahia to get some things for the house and have some meetings, our Nissan Terrano finally gave out. I had driven a few days before and said to mom, while we drove to an Eze’s house, that the SUV was in terrible condition and I couldnt believe it was still running while we were just driving it. It felt as though the whole thing would give way. With great thanks to poor road conditions, the struggle to maintain care for it, and lack of original parts or items to fix small things… it has now had a large issuse. Unfortunately I did not do a great job in picking it out for purchase in the beginning, as I dont know that much about the mechanics of a vehicle (just how to change oil and tires and carefully maintain thanks to dad), that along with the misleading fact that the small test drive on a very smooth Abuja city road, was a great difference from the rough roads and lack of any road in the village. The true condition of the vehicle popped up quickly with in the first few months. We did our best to fix and maintain it however, grateful for it.
Now however it would according to my best knowledge an opinion appear that clutch has completely given way and the gear box is ruined. It has been parked in the yard for just about a week now. The local mechanic, who trained himself, clearly was not able to know or fix the problem after banging around. And it has been decided the truck will have to be towed to one of the main cities, either an hour or several hours away, where it may take several days and a lot of money to fix. We are waiting on dad’s arrival to make the final decision.