THE VILLAGE CHURCH - Journal of a Rural Evangelist

Friends with large Hearts After the visit to the village by my friends and colleagues, we got back to the office and they asked me “what do you think the village needs urgently?” Many thoughts, many suggestions, and many ideas were racing through my head at the same time. I thought of the women giving birth at home, surely a proper maternity and labor room where obstetrics could be taken would be fantastic. I thought of children falling sick hence upgrading the village health center and employing a doctor that would show up twice a week would be a great idea. But all the above would be capital intensive. One image that never left me since I got to the village is that of the little boy with guinea worm. When I read about the disease, I found out that the best way to prevent it was through having clean portable water. Consequently, it was easy for me to suggest to my colleagues that sinking a borehole to provide clean water for the villagers would be the best as this would be a sort...

Well like I said two editions ago, I sat down to calculate my next move after I was told the best way to get support from people was to bring them to village for onsite experience and assessment so they could appreciate the herculean task I was saddled with. My first target, naturally were my colleagues in the office. We had just started collective prayers online which we did using a WhatsApp group. At a point we discussed we should do a charity work as a catalyst to our prayers. I seized the opportunity to mention the village and painted the picture of the guinea worm infected child and the sorry sights I’d seen. They asked what they could do and I suggested they visit the village with me. We fixed a date in December! Preparation was grand. My colleagues were so passionate about this. They suggested we should not go there empty-handed hence we contributed money to buy gifts (palliatives as it is now known). Anyway, the things we bought ranged from bags of rice, household deterge...

On a Sunday morning we were in Sunday school treating a topic on Heaven. I taught the villagers how beautiful heaven would be and the wonderful things believers would enjoy if they make it there. All these were according to the Sunday school manual of the church. The manual mentioned that there would be no sorrow, sickness, poverty, worries and all travails of the earth when we get to heaven. Also, according to the Bible, there will be no marriage in heaven as Christ would be the Bridegroom and the church would be the Bride. “ For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven .” -Matthew 22:30 Joint Service of All Christian Denominations at Gbaukuchi Village In my usual charismatic manner, I taught the topic with so much passion, narration, description and drama that I expected the whole church to be enthusiastic and desperate to make it to heaven. However, I noticed one man was not happy all through the tea...

On one of my first few days in Gbaukuchi Village, I came across a lady carrying a kid less than two years old. Well as a lover of children I called her to play with the kid and noticed the boy was in pains. I asked her what the problem was and she responded that the baby had a wound on his leg which they were treating. I checked out the wound and I inadvertently let out a wild scream. For the first time in my life I actually saw someone with a guinea worm infection. The worm was actually creeping through the boy’s right foot! I could not stand the sight. I dropped all the cash I had which was less than five thousand naira and quickly called a woman who was a nurse in the main church to assist her and ensure the baby saw a doctor. Thank God the treatment was not expensive and the baby recovered quickly. I made it a point of duty to investigate the reason for the guinea worm infection. I was baffled by what I saw. There was no water in the village but a couple of compound sank well...