ChildVoice is thrilled to announce the grand opening of our new Youth Empowerment Center (YEC) at Malkohi internally displaced person (IDP) camp in northeastern Nigeria. This YEC is a much-needed improvement for the many displaced Nigeria youth living in the camp who are in dire need of counseling and skills training. Our Nigeria team is now much better equipped to provide these services, including training in bakery, tailoring, and basic electrical skills.
While visiting the Malkohi IDP camp at the end of March, ChildVoice President Conrad Mandsager also attended a briefing by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to learn about an EU-funded intervention for the conflict between nomadic herdsmen (such as the Fulani) and farmers in northern Nigeria. This complicated conflict has been escalating, resulting in thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of people being displaced from their agricultural lands.
As part of an initiative to build bridges of peace among communities in conflict, our Nigeria team has brought in a cohort of Fulani herdsmen youth to work with alongside current ChildVoice YEC students, many of whom have been displaced from their agricultural villages by Fulani attacks. It is our hope that as these Fulani adolescents are absorbed into the larger YEC community, they will be able to act as bridges across a cultural divide that have kept the Fulani in conflict with local agricultural villages.
In Uganda, staff and students are celebrating the newly completed office/clinic at the Lukome Center. Thanks largely to the fundraising efforts of the Unger family—and your contributions to that effort—we were able to build this multipurpose building. It houses offices for our staff, therapy rooms for counselling and treatment rooms for our nurses.
Earlier this month, a team of visiting doctors from the U.S. have used it as an area clinic. Working with our nurses, they have treated 991 members of the local community who would not be able to afford healthcare otherwise.
Sandy and Leah Unger, who also visited the Lukome Center in April, said they are "feeling very honored and privileged to be here and see it happen."
As you celebrate the joy of renewal and the promise of salvation this Easter season, please take time to learn more about ChildVoice’s mission. Then, consider joining us in helping war-affected youth develop spiritual resilience as they learn the skills they need to lead new and fruitful lives.
DONATE: The needs of the youth we serve are ongoing. Join us and be a force for good in the lives of vulnerable, war-traumatized Nigerian and East African youth. To partner with us, please go to childvoice.org/makeadonation.
VOLUNTEER: There are many ways to help! You can join a sewing group and help put together THRIVE reusable menstrual pads, or even create your own fundraiser to support ChildVoice’s mission. To learn more, email info@childvoice.org.
VISIT: We look forward to resuming a busy travel schedule for team trips in 2022! For more information, please contact our Team & Intern Coordinator at teamandintern@childvoice.org.
PRAY: Please pray for Ugandan students returning to school, especially those who now bear the responsibility of raising a child. To join the ChildVoice Prayer Network, please email haley.westerkamp@childvoice.org.