School renovation for 1,700 children in Nigeria

Pastor Richard Awah set up a small school in some rooms of his Holyrock Mountain of Light Church two years ago.

The vision is to make quality education accessible to children in the area. The aim is to work with like-minded individuals and/or organizations to reduce illiteracy and poor educational basis in the Afikpo community by providing quality education at low cost to the parents.

Richard is one of HUMAN-Stiftung's project partner in the renovation of the U-Block - which HUMAN-Stiftung funded - of the Amuro/Mgbom public school. During this project he learned why some parents do not want their children to attend large public schools.

The Amuro/Mgbom school accommodates 1,700 schoolchildren and employs more than 80 teachers. Despite the infrastructure improved by our project, such large schools also have limitations and deficiencies. However, there is no alternative to this school, simply because of the number of children that can be taught there.

As our experience in India shows, it is often difficult to keep the infrastructure in good condition in public schools over the long term. School management is not always “optimal”, teachers are often busy with personal matters and their motivation is sometimes low. Due to the very poor economic situation in the rural areas of these countries, teachers are more concerned with money (and thus a reasonably bearable life) than with carrying out their teaching duties. The safety of all children in these large schools is not always guaranteed because the entire school grounds cannot be overlooked, and access is possible from anywhere. Many children leave public schools without a qualification.

The Morning Starlight School was founded to provide children in poverty with a better basic education. The HUMAN-Stiftung (Foundation) has agreed to support the Morning Starlight School by covering the teachers’ salaries and, over time, carrying out smaller infrastructure measures, such as school equipment, building a playground, etc.

Currently, around 40 children attend the school, which will not grow much. There are Nursery groups (preschool) and five classes with the goal of expanding the school to 6th grade. The number of children per class is deliberately kept very small and allows for intensive teaching and targeted support. In the next five years, we will see how the Morning Starlight School concept develops.

We wish Pastor Richard and his team of teachers all the best and are happy for the children who can attend this school.

We will not completely give up on the renovation project of the public Amuro/Mgbom school, however, as the government is known to not invest anything in infrastructure and the children suffer as a result. Great progress has already been made through the renovation of the U-Block, the construction of a water supply and the two toilet blocks. Our mid-term goal is to renovate at least one further building.

Preface: We are expanding our portfolio in Afikpo to the health sector with clean drinking water and emergency medical aid. Although our project is not only focusing on school renovation we will keep the project name, as we do not want to lose some anonymous donors which cannot be informed. The majority of the activities are offered in the same town and children from the Afikpo school will benefit from other projects as well.

Since the project was founded in 2021, individual emergency medical aid has been provided for people in poverty and need.

In 2023, thanks to generous donations, we were able to help a total of 38 patients. For some people it was minor procedures or tests (such as malaria and typhoid tests). For other patients, however, it was associated with a surgery and a stay of several weeks in the hospital. One of the following four examples shows that help does not always lead to success.

Emmanuel, 23 years old, is a “sickle cell patient”. This is a chronic disease of the red blood cells that impacts those affected throughout their lives.
Emmanuel had open wounds on his arms and legs and underwent two surgeries in each of these areas. He was able to leave the hospital after about two weeks. He is still undergoing medical treatment, which is very expensive.

Due to the poor water supply in Afikpo, 2-year-old Orieoma has a skin disease that could not be controlled with simple medication.
At St. Michael’s Hospital in Abakaliki, she had to receive infusions and a cream specially formulated for her twice a week for four weeks.
After the therapy she is doing well again. The illness has not yet returned.

Paul is 40 years old, homeless and has been living on the streets for 6 years. In 2018, he was working as a minibus driver, the bus caught fire and he sustained wounds on his legs. Due to his living conditions, it is not possible for him to treat his wounds and scars.
This causes the scars to open again and again. Wound care often has to be carried out, which is very expensive. It would make sense to operate on him, his current condition does not allow it.

Solomon, 45, was a family man and a mechanic by profession. He introduced himself to us as a “sickle cell patient”.
Solomon was treated at St. Michael’s Hospital, Abakaliki by Dr. Nwokoro. He underwent surgery twice. Malignant tissue was removed.
Three days after the operation, he left against the doctor’s wishes with the words: “He would have had such a good time in his life.” Unfortunately, Solomon passed away a few weeks later.

We could describe many more cases – some of them serious – and also show pictures that are difficult to digest. Be it large tumors, open fractures after accidents, severe burns. Helping the people affected is a big challenge because visiting a doctor or hospital is not always desirable or there has been a lack of money. “Constant dripping wears away the stone” and every help is a part of the quality of life of those needy people.

We are very grateful to your contributions. Without you this would all not be possible. Thank you so much.