The worldwide street children phenomenon is growing to alarming proportions. In Nigeria the towns and cities have an especially high number of street kids.

The major cause of this appears to be deeply entrenched poverty which defines the lives of the vast majority of Nigerians.  In addition, broken homes caused by various forms of social disruption as well as the HIV/AIDS epidemic, deepens this crisis even further.

Many children are forced into a life of begging, petty crime or even prostitution.  The children are deprived of a real childhood, they are robbed of love and cannot see a way out of the problems they face.

 

Life as a street kid

Street children often suffer from a variety of illnesses resulting from malnutrition and neglect.  Some have been infected with HIV/AIDS at birth or after being forced into the commercial sex trade.  Street children are perceived as a nuisance and often get beaten and abused, even by those in positions of authority who should be protecting them.  Street kids have very limited prospects for the future, they have no chance of going to school and getting an education which would offer the potential of a better life in the future.  Street kids have no birth registration documents or health cards and therefore no legal status or formal identity within their community.  Street kids are left on the furthest margins of society.

City Ministries

Mission Africa are supporting a project in Nigeria called City Ministries which reaches out to street kids in urban areas and provides them with the home and love that they have been previously denied.

City Ministries also seeks to develop the kids' skills and education, whilst nurturing them spiritually and giving them the opportunity to know Jesus.

 

Education and Equipping

In Jos, Nigeria, the first point of contact is a city centre drop-in-house.  Here kids are able to get off the street, get some food and play games together.  The offer of a new home is always open to them along with a better way of life away from the streets.

Once the kids indicate a desire for change, they are assessed over a period of time; they are introduced to discipline, shown love (perhaps for the first time) and they encounter God’s love in Bible stories and prayer.

After this time of assessment, they are moved to one of the long term residential centres, either Transition House in the city or Gyero in the countryside.  Here they are given an education and the opportunity to attain state education standards.

The children are surrounded by strong Christian influences and have the support of family groups in order to give them as many opportunities as possible.

 

The children are encouraged to take up a trade and are given vocational training in building construction, joinery, car repairs, computing, tailoring or an equivalent vocation.  This means that when the time comes for them to leave City Ministries they are able to support themselves.

A network of Christians in businesses throughout the city of Jos are willing to take apprentices for training.  This helps prepare the children for adult life whilst also reinforcing the Christian values that they have been taught at City Ministries.  The kids are shown how to live the Christian life in the everyday world.

  

Prayer and Ministry Opportunities

Peter Fretheim of City Ministries is the driving force behind this project.  He shared his vision for a street-children's ministry with a number of Nigerian Church leaders, which led to the foundation of City Ministries.  The work started in one location in the centre of Jos, but has now spread to several bigger premises.  The City Ministries vision has now spread to other cities in Northern Nigeria.

1. •Please pray for Peter Fretheim and the leaders of City Ministries that they may effectively minister to the street kids, sharing God’s love with them.
   

Mission Africa has been able to support this work by sending out personnel as well as finances.  We have had several gap year missionaries working with the kids over the past few years.  We have also sent short term teams to work with City Ministries over the summer holidays.  For more information on short term opportunities see www.missionafricago.org.uk

1. •Pray for the Street Kids of Nigeria, that each of them will find a safe, Christian environment to grow up in.
   

2. •Pray for the Mission Africa gap volunteers who are working at City Ministries.  Pray that they will be able to speak into the lives of these kids, showing them the love of Jesus.  Pray For the STEP teams which go each summer that they be able to make a positive impact during the time they share with these kids.
   

 

“I had the privilege of spending twelve months in Nigeria working mostly with street kids; sometimes teaching, sometimes building, and a lot of the time playing football with them.  I went out with ideas of what it would be like and what to do, but I had to change my plans as God showed me where He wanted to use me.  Watching God work outside of my life, in a different culture and on a different continent was one of the greatest blessings He has given me.”

Mission Africa Gap Volunteer