The Road to Hope…

‘Children are forced to flee, scattered across camps and host villages. They are missing school because of insecurity. That’s why we are so proud of Roads to Hope. Our van travels to students who can’t get to school. We’ve been able to put a smile on people’s faces. We’ve organised coaching among our community leaders and teachers. Parents are so grateful. Many children in the region have witnessed terrible conflict and violence.’ Hassan John, Roads to Hope coordinator.

In 2021, St Christopher’s PCC decided to send funds to the Humanitarian Aid Relief

Trust (HART), specifically to their Roads to Hope: Education in Emergencies project in the Anglican Diocese of Jos in the Middle Belt of Nigeria, a region we often read about in HotPott’s Suffering Church articles, including in this edition; schools continue to be targeted (mainly by Islamist terrorists), many children and adults are killed, suffer life-changing injuries or are abducted. The concept of the Roads to Hope: Education in Emergencies project is simple: when it is unsafe for children to travel to school, school and educational resources are taken to the children. The project was designed to provide flexible learning opportunities for thousands of these children displaced by violence across Plateau state and southern Kaduna, with remote villages targeted by armed militia being prioritised. The project is managed and run by local people. The Roads to Hope project has reached nearly 10,000 children across 25 villages in Plateau state and southern Kaduna since its launch. Within the last year, 700 children have enrolled in Roads to Hope reading clubs and extra-curricular activities designed to provide crucial learning opportunities that many students have missed due to insecurity. The project recruits local schoolteachers who live alongside the children in displacement camps, having fled violence in their own villages. Whilst the teachers are willing to work for free, the project provides them with a salary. This is crucial to allow teachers to focus on their lessons rather than sourcing food. They provide lessons in maths, English, Bible studies and personal hygiene.

St Christopher’s was delighted to be able to fund the provision of a mobile classroom, plus its running costs for the first year; David Gem gave more details about this in an interesting article which appeared in the

March 2022 edition of HotPott.

After receiving project funds for the Roads to Hope education van in February 2022, the Anglican Diocese of Jos was unable to withdraw the money due to inflation causing a lack of available foreign currency. Three months later, Hassan John was able to get the funds out of the bank and select a van for modification. Throughout the year, workers were periodically forced to stay home amid escalating violence and lockdowns, causing another three months delay. However, by late September 2022, a van fully equipped with books, pens, a whiteboard, an LED monitor and a solar-powered generator was ready for operation. It has evidently been put to excellent use ever since: ‘We want to say a big thank you to … St Christopher’s Church [for providing] another education van to villages in Nigeria. The smiles and excitement on the faces of young boys and girls as they receive these educational materials is just enormous. It can’t be explained. We want to express our gratitude for what you have done and what you continue to do. We pray that the Lord will continue to bless and keep you. Thank you so much.’ Hassan John, Roads to Hope Coordinator.

Thanks to HART for providing the above update, and for doing such excellent, innovative work in difficult circumstances. Thanks too to David Gem for liaising with HART. If you would like to find out more, please visit: https://www.hart-uk.org/

A minister whom I know of uses a standard liturgy for funerals. To personalise each service, he enters a ‘find and replace’ command. The computer then finds the name of the deceased from the previous funeral and replaces it with the name of the deceased for the upcoming one.

Not long ago, the minister told the computer to find the name ‘Mary’ and replace it with ‘Edna’. The next morning, the funeral was going smoothly until the congregation intoned the Apostles’ Creed. “Jesus Christ,” they read from the pre-printed programme, “born of the Virgin Edna…