Love Across Borders

Love

SAN ANTONIO MAN CO-FOUNDS NONPROFIT TO HELP NIGERIANS

BY RICHARD ZOWIE murder, kidnapping within Africa that comprises 30 percent of “We left in the middle of the night and took Nigerian Christians face severe persecution from Muslim extremists, are a few, The next time your car needs a along with churches being major repair or your bathroom is burned to the ground. As a flooded with foul-smelling water Christian, Ango was forced to because the toilet overflowed, flee to avoid torture or death. remember that your inconvenience is someone else’s dream. Mike Arnold | Co-founder Her but daughters are with her, she is now a widow. The rest of her family (a mother Particularly, someone like Hanatu Ango. and siblings) are scattered throughout Nigeria A member of the Hausa, a native group to the east. the population of Nigeria, she fled her She lives near the Nigerian capital of Abuja home region with her three daughters, due in an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) to persecution from Boko Haram, an Islamic Camp. There’s no running water, no jihadist terrorist organization in electricity, and she and her daughters live in northeastern Nigeria. a “house” consisting of sticks and feedbags nothing with us,” she remembered. “I saw many “I started crying when I saw the shelters,” Ango people killed.” recalled. “Not even cows or goats would sleep and even in Cameroon, which borders Nigeria poorly assembled. there. The rooms all leak when it rains.” that many Americans can’t imagine. Genocide, The plumbing is crude, as makeshift toilets are very close to the shelters; the camp sewage flows on the ground in puddles and ditches that send streams into the dirt.

Ango added that children often get a fever because of the food they eat.

She receives no aid, no assistance. She grinds corn daily to earn a living, which is just enough to feed her children and herself.

Mike Arnold, a San Antonio native who now lives in Blanco and co-founded the ministry Africa Arise, visited with Ango while touring the IDP Camp. He asked her what they needed the most and her answer wasn’t what he expected. An educated woman, Ango, who had started a teaching program, said what they really need is more teachers.

Educated children will refuse to do things that Boko Haram commands them to do,” she said. Teachers are scarce in the IDP Camps.

“[Having more teachers] was atop her list of

ACROSS BORDERS

needs,” Arnold recalled. “A trained, certified teacher makes about $1,300 per year there. Some American churches spend more than that monthly on air conditioning. They have a Book of Acts-type faith in Nigeria. The best way to spread the Gospel is to educate kids in the camps. They need to understand that God provided their teachers.”

The Africa Arise co-founder hopes to encourage people stateside to consider sponsoring a teacher or teachers in these camps for at least a year.

Arnold described Nigeria as a “country in chaos.” The country is approximately 54 percent Muslim and almost 46 percent Christian. Unfortunately, many Nigerian Muslims prefer to use violence as they force Christians and other faiths to convert to Islam or face death or torture.

Arnold remembered a visit where he landed in Lagos, the largest city in both Nigeria and on the continent.

“When I got off the plane, a poster for a national bank read, ‘Welcome to Nigeria, home of a people with passion,’” he said. “The people are not homogeneous. You have in the north Shariah Law and an open genocide on Christians. In the southern part is a Book of Acts-Christian faith. “There has been a thin veneer of inter-faith unity, which is rapidly eroding. The Christians there are fighting for their very survival and literally risk violence and death just to gather and worship. Yet in the pressure of that environment, they’ve emerged as bright diamonds of faith.”

Arnold’s involvement with African missions came from being the keynote speaker at the 20th Annual Leadership Conference for United for Africa and meeting the late Professor John Ofoegbu, a Nigerian pastor who had been living in San Antonio. As their relationship developed, Arnold’s compassion grew.

He hopes to see teachers in all the IDP Camps across the country. He also sees a bright future in Africa and sees Nigeria as a place of promise.

I believe God is raising Africa to be the continent of light in our generation,”

“I believe there’s a pronounced, vital kingdom importance to the church there. What they’re going through now is birth pains. I believe the future belongs to Africa. Nigerians are rich in natural resources. They’re sharp, bright, entrepreneurial, intelligent, hard-working and honorable people with a strong rock on which their faith is built. People with those characteristics can’t be held down for long. From a spiritual perspective, Nigeria should be sending missionaries to America.”

Be a Light

Learn more about how you can support Africa Arise

INVITE

Help spread awareness of what Africa Arise is doing in Nigeria. Invite Mike or his team to speak to your church, Sunday school class or business.

PRAY

Pray for peace of mind for Ango, her family and the hearts of all in Nigeria. Pray for God to move hearts to sponsor teachers in the IDP Camps.

“Americans, please help us,” Ango pleaded. “Take us from this slavery. We feel like we are in slavery.”

Pray that you or others can be the answer to Ango’s prayer.

GIVE

All donations go to the mission field. It costs just $1,300 to sponsor a teacher in the IDP Camp for an entire year. Visit letusriseafrica.org to make a difference. Your gift will change generations.

www.letusriseafrica.org mikearnold@letusriseafrica.org 210.286.4875