Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation with 158 million
inhabitants, but it has been plagued by troubles throughout its
history.
Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation with 158 million inhabitants, but it has been plagued by troubles throughout its history.
There was a bitter civil war over the breakaway republic of Biafra in the 1960s and frequent violent clashes between Christians and Muslims recently. A serious HIV/AIDS epidemic continues today. Despite being Africa’s leading oil producer, government corruption and mismanagement have left more than half Nigeria’s people desperately poor.
The Rev. Eric Smith, senior pastor of Gilroy’s South Valley Community Church, says his church offers “full service: getting out of the four walls to preach the gospel and serve peoples’ needs.”
For the past several years, the members of his congregation have been working to meet the needs not only of local residents, but also of this struggling African country’s residents.
A good example of this philosophy being put into action is the time, effort, and financial support contributed in support of the West African Center for Missions and its president, Dr. Casmir Ihegworo.
An acronym describes the goal:
P= Promoting reconciliation
E= Equipping leaders
A= Assisting the poor
C= Caring for the sick
E= Educating the next generation.
The city of Owerri is the headquarters of the West African Center for Missions. This dynamic organization operates a 60-bed hospital that provides medical care to residents who otherwise have nowhere else to go.
It is the only hospital in the region willing and able to treat the large number of HIV-Aids patients in the area. Much of the hospital’s equipment and medical supplies have been donated by the South Valley congregation and its nonprofit, nonsectarian affiliated organization, TAPP (The Africa Peace Project).
A 40-foot cargo container arrived at the church’s Gilroy storage facility on Nov. 22. Volunteers spent days loading it with supplies that had been purchased or donated for shipment to Nigeria. Its contents included:
– Hospital beds
– IV stands
– Infant incubators
– Generators
– Water purifications devices
– Kitchen utensils
– Bibles
– Eyeglasses
– Office furniture
– A 16-foot fiberglass baptismal font (so baptisms won’t have to continue to be performed in the polluted local rivers).
In March, a 10-person contingent of volunteers from Gilroy will arrive, shortly after the supplies have reached their destination, and they will help to distribute the container’s contents. They will also travel to surrounding rural villages to assist in providing medical outreach care through clinics, as well as helping to drill wells to provide clean water for the residents.
Pastors Eric and Carol Smith will also take part in important leadership training events while there including a week-long Women’s Conference for 1,200 attendees and a Pastors’ Conference that some 2,000 local ministers are expected to attend.
In addition, they will view progress of construction on a new three-story facility for which TAPP has raised more than $100,000. It will include space for classrooms, a library, a nursery, primary school and an office for a micro-loan credit union that provides small loans for residents, which allow them to start their own businesses.
South Valley Community Church in cooperation with Pacific West Christian Academy sponsored a Community Holiday Boutique at the church on Dec. 4. Proceeds from the event go toward mission work, both locally and internationally.
For more information, call (408) 848-2363.
