Dispatches

by Fr. Peter Abue

April 2007

Dear Friends of CORAfrica,

Greetings from Nigeria!

In my last dispatch, I raised two fundamental issues. One was the need for us to revisit the question of a Community Education Center (CEC) in the Ipong-Obudu area and the other was the issue of clean water supply for the community. In my judgment, these two issues are still burning and I would like to share with you, friends of CORAfrica, my ideas about a way forward in this regard.

Based on the enthusiasm of our youth and children, as I visit and associate with them on a daily basis, there is an urgent need for us to start our own project that is basically anchored on community ownership. Though the Ipong community has established a few schools and a community clinic located within the area, I have increasingly found a severe lack of output efficiency in these institutions. That’s the story all over Nigeria! Communities build, government establishes, yet the people see little or no change in the lifestyles of children. It is time for CORAfrica to set an example by initiating a project that is started by the community, funded by the community, managed by the community and owned by the community, as this will most certainly affect the lives and future of children. Recently, in the parish, we asked all youth groups and children to cultivate a farm within the church premises and the response we got from the youth groups was amazing. Youth groups went to work to invest their talents on what they love to do best; work. A Community Education Center is surely a project that the youth of Ipong are all ready to embrace, because through such an avenue, they will all be working to turn their lives around.

Youth standing behind their church farm

I have observed that though the community members are quite ready to give their children basic education, they do not have the means to leverage themselves towards attaining such education. For example, daily in Ipong, parents who wish to ensure a better future for their children transport their kids on motor bicycles to nearby urban schools, exposing them to road hazards, with the hope of attaining a better education. This can happen in the villages. A good education center that caters for both the present and future needs of children has to be conceived. CORAfrica is hoping to make a difference through building such a center. A Community Education Center will educate children to remain in the community and give back to the community what they have learned. This recycling process will bring about a viable rural sector that will ensure the future of Africa. We strongly rely on our friends and supporters far and wide to realize this dream.

CORAfrica emphasizes, however, that such a community education center is not just a traditional school because it involves both students and community in an ongoing process of community development. This kind of involvement benefits the entire community, for example, when a Community Education Center ensures that villagers are provided with some of their basic needs, like clean water supply. Who will maintain such a project? How will the community benefit? How can it be sustained? CORAfrica purports to answer these questions by encouraging key community members to be involved in our CECs. Recently we selected a 12-member committee to discuss the need for a borehole and water tank project in the community as part of our preparations for a future community education center. The special project committee members have since come up with details that will ensure clean and drinkable water supply to all of the villages of Ipong in the near future. Hitherto, this community has suffered from acute water supply. Thus we tie education with community needs together, while educating our children to be aware of the real issues that ensure livelihood and sustainability for our communities.

Project community members at a meeting with Fr. Peter

In St. Joseph School and Orphanage in Idum-Mbube, the ball has already been rolling. Last week, the institution celebrated its Arts week. Children were proud to exhibit several artistic materials that they themselves took part in creating. Not only is conventional education taking place in this center, there is also vocational learning. When children learn from community members how to make pots, mats, hoes, as well as instruments that will be used to make traditional items like garri, akpu, brooms, baskets; they are learning about their future. This is the education that we in CORAfrica are calling for through viable Community Education Centers. Alone we cannot do it, and that’s why we call for the collaboration and cooperation of all our friends to come and help us start Community Education Centers, especially in Ipong – Obudu in the first instance.

Children in traditional Classroom: How will they transgress into vocational artists?

Let me seize this opportunity to thank you for your friendship and for your willingness to listen to our yearnings and aspirations. Keep being part of our dream to make life more meaningful for our children.

May God bless all of you, well wishers of CORAfrica

Fr. Peter Abue