So the March two week trip was very successful. It was long, tiring, frustrating, hilarious, but overall very successful!
There were six of us who went down, Steve and Catherine, Darren, Dale, Norm and myself. It was a great experience to have three people with us who have only heard us talk about Nigeria for years, and now finally have seen it with their own eyes. While they had been supporters of what we do, they now fully understand WHY we are doing it.
Our stay consisted of a few days in the capital city of Abuja upon entering and exiting the country, with the majority of our time spent in the village, Amaba (Isuikwauto -Abia State) where our current operation site is located.
During our two weeks there we met many important people in the Federal, Regional, and Local governments. It is apparent from the support and backing we have received now from these people that our many years of toil has not been in vain. It is our persistence through the many odds we have faced, that spoke volumes to these important people.
We were provided with four armed guards, a driver and vehicle from the Country’s Director of Security Services and his next in command where we are located the Director of Abia State Security. These guards lived and travelled with us during our entire stay in Abia State. We have been promised full security by the government when we are present in the country.
We also were able to legally establish our Foundation as a registered NGO in Nigeria. This is a very big deal as it takes mass amounts of time and money, and we met an amazing lawyer who took on our Foundation and did all of this for us.
We were told about the stats of vulnerable and orphaned children in our immediate area and how we will be able to assess and begin taking children in to our present site, when we return.
We were told that there will be several plots of land for us to look at when we arrive back in Nigeria, and that we may take our choice of the land and it will be given (deeded over) to the Foundation, for us to begin our building phases.
There are many more things, and some of them will come up as I try and keep you all update as too what is happening in the next two months. But overall, those are some of the big things that happened, and we are very excited to return and get started once again (this time with big support from the country we are trying to serve!)