Dear Friends,
Ishaku comes from Gwoza Local Government Area in Borno State, from Ganjara-Ngoshe village, on the slopes of the Mandara Mountains that separate northern Nigeria and Cameroon. It is now a desolate place. His village came under attack in 2014 from Boko Haram, when Ishaku was 10 years old. In the final attack the insurgents arrived dressed as Nigerian Army and called all adult males, including Ishaku's father, grandfather and uncles, to the church in the centre of the village to hear a "special announcement from the Nigerian government". It was a lie. All of the men were massacred, the church and village set on fire. The women and children fled into the mountains, with nothing, terrified of pursuit.
Ishaku cleaning plates at Wurin Alheri after a meal.
For more than a week they trekked on cattle paths though mountains, without food or tools, drinking from streams and puddles. In the mountains there was no signal for the cell phones a few carried, and the charge soon failed. Some of the very old and the very young died on the way and stones were piled over the bodies. They went on until they reached a town in Cameroon where they finally received a little help. They were able to get to Maiduguri, in Borno State, Nigeria, where they stayed first with a relative, but there was no space for all of them. Ishaku has 6 siblings: he is number 4 in the family. They were relocated to an IDP camp, where they stayed 3 months. Life was very difficult. The camp was not well supplied nor well administered: it was difficult to get food to eat, the family had no clothes - they had no time to gather anything before escaping their village.
Only Ishaku's cousin, Abutiya Avatsava, who was a 1st year student in CFM bible college at the time of the attack, of all their near male relatives, survived. Abutiya, with help from CFM, collected Ishaku (Isaac) and his older brothers Yakubu (Jacob) and Bulus (Paul) and brought them to CFM's Children's Crisis Care Home, along with Abutiya's younger sisters Alheri (Grace) and Hadizer (Esther) and brother Dogara. Ishaku was the youngest of them. The others have now passed through, finished school, and Ishaku will complete his final school exams this year. Abuitya is now a pastor, on CFM's Discipleship training team, living at Wurin Alheri, married to Milcah, another survivor from their village, with a brand new baby boy, born Feb 25th 2023, the first of the next generation in the families of the survivors (see further below.)
Ishaku (centre) with friends from CFM’s crisis-care home.
Ishaku is grateful for the help of CFM and he is happy. If not for CFM he would not have been able to afford to go to a good school and may have been one of the millions of Nigerian youth without education and without hope. He is grateful for the way his character has changed over the years here, that he has learned patience and kindness instead of anger, rudeness and arrogance. He sees the world from a different perspective, and has been moulded in a different mould through his time at CFM. He is deeply grateful to CFM leaders and to all the sponsors, helping him and many others to receive care in kindness and love, all their needs met and a very good education. May God bless them and provide for all their needs.
Abuitya and Milcah with their first baby at CFM’s hospital this morning.
Thank you for supporting CFM. On our last email: we are still waiting for clarity on last Saturday’s presedential election. Nigeria is going through a very difficult period, so much corruption, with a Cecil Rhodes geopolitics that still dominates the world, but so many people awakening and involved to change it. It’s the billions of small people who suffer, which is why we must respond peacefully but firmly. A graduate of CFM was offered N10m (a lot of money here) to switch results at the polling booth he administered last Saturday. Truth will prevail: “Hope does not leave us ashamed.” What it’s about:
Jesus feeds 5,000 men with five small loaves and two fish, walks on water, heals a man born blind, and so much more. Experts tell us we live in a universe with insufficient resources, and limited scope for invention, so we must reduce our population and lock people down. Nigeria is told she must not develop her energy resources, infrastructure and industry, but must go without and die. Thank God he has the final say. New Nigeria!
Development brings peace. Thank you for praying for Nigeria and for supporting CFM as we minister in the love of Jesus.
Kent, Ruth and the CFM team,
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