It’s May! Where has the time gone?

TOMORROW is our annual fundraising banquet. Are you coming? We hope so! Saturday, May 9, at 10 a.m., we will hear more about what’s been happening in Nigeria with African Hope Ministry. Please join us at Southtown Baptist Church (2600 W 82nd St, Bloomington, MN) for some tasty food, music, and updates about all that is going on. Also, bring a friend!

Remember, our goal is to raise enough funds to finish the girls’ dormitory and get a vehicle to use for the ministry, too. We originally said we needed $20,000 for the dorm, and we are down to $16,986.80, but this estimate was made several months ago. According to our quantity surveyor/engineer, the cost of fuel in Nigeria has skyrocketed, and inflation is just messing with costs. For example, cement, which happens to be a major building material, has significantly increased in cost due to this inflation. We were told this week that we should expect to spend an additional 25% to complete the dormitory, meaning we will probably pay an additional $4,000. Therefore, we still need about $21,000 in total. But the good news is that we have a donor who has given $5,000 in matching funds for this fundraiser, and we’ve already had $1,500 donated toward this purpose. Therefore, to achieve our fundraising goal for the dormitory, we need a balance of $14,500. We thank God for the generous donations so far and believe Him to help us achieve this goal. 

Similarly, the used vehicle we are planning for will cost $10,000. For now, our target is to get a used pick-up or cargo van that will enable us to convey our harvested farm produce, food from the market, and haul things around. This is especially needed as we approach a new school year, when we will need to move additional furniture to our site. Together, we can achieve these goals! Please consider making a donation towards these projects.

Meanwhile, on May 1, a small team of volunteers went out to harvest a portion of our cassava. The harvest was bountiful, praise the Lord!! A truckload is now being processed into Garri, a common local food, that our students and staff can enjoy. As we continue with the harvest, we plan to preserve the cassava produce and possibly sell any excess to raise additional funds for the ministry. This is only the first load; there is more to harvest! We have also started a new planting season. (Check out how long that cassava is, I thought it was a walking stick!)

Thank you again for your prayers and support. We are beyond blessed by every person who prays for this ministry, and those who have given of their time, energy, and money. Thank you for giving to the Lord! We hope to see you next Saturday at the banquet, by God’s grace!

Happy weekend! How are you doing? We are excited to share some updates on what is happening with African Hope Ministry over in Nigeria!

The students of Hopeful Academy finished their second term last week and have gone home for their spring break. (This photo with parents/guardians is from when they were ready to head out!) They have about 3 weeks off and will return at the end of April. It was good to see that they are improving in their grades and overall learning. For student sponsors, we will send a copy of their grades within the next day or two so you can see how your individual student is performing. 

We are looking for more student sponsors for 2026-2027. We will need 30 sponsors for the coming school year. Right now, we have 9 committed. For those who sponsored this past year, please let us know if you would like to continue. For anyone new, please join the party! Thanks to those who have just joined our student sponsorship recently! Sponsorship has been $30 per month ($360 for the year), and that can continue. If you can make it $40 per month ($480 for the year), this will help with inflation. However, if the extra $10 a month is not convenient, please join us at $30/month. Thanks!

Thank you again for your prayers and support. We are blessed by every one of you! You are bringing smiles to the faces of our students, parents, staff, and others in need within and outside the community we serve. God is good!! We hope to see many of you at the banquet in 4 weeks. 

Happy weekend, friends! We thank God that things have continued to go well in Nigeria with the ministry and Hopeful Academy.

Our dormitory project is still ongoing. We’ve raised over $ 3,000, so we are still trusting God to provide the remaining $17,436.86 to finish the girls’ dormitory. Our prayer is that this can be completed by July 2026 so that, when we admit more students by September, the girls will have their new housing ready, freeing up their current living space for its original purpose.

Also, we have recently hired two security men who patrol our property 24/7. This just adds an extra peace of mind that extra eyes are aware of what is happening in the area. We have therefore spent the last week getting the roof on the security house. These men are happy to have their own secure place to sleep. The building still needs electricity and plumbing, so those pieces will be completed in the weeks to come.

On Saturdays, our students partake in a music class and have recently started learning the recorder. They really enjoy this weekend activity!

In addition, we have officially established a partnership with the Social Ministries Department of the Nigerian Baptist Convention. We believe God to use this relationship to strengthen the body of Christ and support the needy in various communities.

Further, we have a new volunteer working as our account manager in Nigeria. Toyosi has stepped up to the plate to continue ensuring our records are kept in order and that money is spent correctly. Thanks, Toyosi! 

Happy Sunday, friends! It’s a snowy day here in Minnesota, but it’s beautiful. Hope you are doing well. Here are a few updates from Rescue the Hopeless Mission, Nigeria.

Construction on the dormitory has moved forward this past week. Last week, they filled in part of the foundation and packed in the dirt. The total money we are raising for the girls’ dormitory building is $20,500. After more donations the past few weeks, we have raised $3,063.14! That leaves us with $17,436.86. Praise the Lord! The construction will continue as soon as we have more funds.

Meanwhile, Hopeful Academy students returned to school two weeks ago. Learning has commenced, and everyone is happy to be back. We are excited to see what God does in their lives the rest of this school year.

For those who made donations to African Hope Ministry in 2025, Tax donation information is on the way to your mailbox. Once again, thank you for your prayer, generous donations, and overall support in 2025.

In August we held two separate testing tests for potential students to fill out entrance exams for our school. A total of 74 students came! That means 74 students showed enough interest in our school to not only fill out the application, but to show up to the exam. God is amazing! After completing the exam, students also went through an interview process. We want to ensure we are truly meeting and serving the poorest of the poor, those who really need our school. Therefore, the team took time to go over their entrance exam scores, the interview, and their application paperwork and narrow down students who appear to be a good fit. Several students who applied showed “deceased” for one or both parents, and most showed parental jobs that were menial or jobless. The team went to visit the students who were shortlisted to meet them and learn more about their living conditions to make sure they fit into our mission and vision.

We have invited 16 students to join us for the upcoming school year! They will be starting 7th grade. We have sponsors for 12 students, so if are interested in partnering with us and getting to support a student, please let us know. It is a one year commitment of $30 per month. https://www.paypal.com/donate?campaign_id=LA8RUJ2Q6Z7V6

We have also hired full time teachers, part time teachers, and dorm parents. Please pray for them as they prepare for the upcoming school year, which starts on September 15, 2025.

A lot of progress has been made this month. Thanks to so many of you for your prayers and financial support. Things are moving!

Thank you to all those who have agreed to sponsor a student! We have 12 students sponsored for this first year of the middle school. Praise the Lord! We are still praying for 20 sponsors total, but however many God provides will be how many students we educate this year. We are going to close the opportunity for sponsorship by the end of July so we can plan well. If you’ve been meaning to say, “I’m in and ready to sponsor a student,” please let us know this next week. If you’ve agreed to sponsor a student and have not yet sent any funds, we’d appreciate that first payment to come early August so we can be prepared for the first day of school in September. Thank you for blessing our students already!

Students started applying for the school last week and the application process will close by the end of July. At that point our staff will review those applications to see who really fits our admission criteria, administer an entrance exam to help us understand their true academic level, and participate in an interview as well. This will help us ensure we admit the poorest of the poor, those without hope of getting an education, and not those trying to weasel their way into something not meant for them. 

One adjustment we should let you know about is that we’ve decided we have to allow for some boarding students. This was our original plan, but we sort of dropped the idea for a while due to lack of facilities. Yet as we discussed things further, the kids who really need the help we are planning for don’t all live in our neighborhood. They live in other parts of Ibadan and beyond. We have students applying from other states! We have to house them somehow. If they can afford transportation to school, they aren’t meant for our school. So we are planning for the possibility of as many as 16 of our students coming from far enough away to need housing. This is a change, this will increase our costs, but we feel it’s the best and what we need to do to stick to the vision and ensure God’s children have a chance at the education we can provide for them. The house we’ve been renting will become the boy’s dormitory, and the large fellowship hall in the school will be temporarily reconfigured for the girls. We aren’t changing our monthly sponsorship plan, $30 a month still takes care of most needs, but along the way we might need some bonus cash to help pay for some extra meals. Please be praying for these students, and the dorm parents who will help care for them outside of the school day.

Over the last two weeks, we’ve also hired a few teachers. God has provided some quality teachers who are excited at the prospect of knowing and loving these students no matter what level they are at academically. They will start work mid-August in preparation for the first day of school mid-September. Please be praying for them even before they get started. We will introduce you to these folks soon!

It has been a busy month at African Hope Ministry and Rescue the Hopeless Mission. Buckle up your seatbelt for this update!

From June 9-18 we had a team from Southtown Baptist Church in Bloomington, MN make a last minute trip to visit Rescue the Hopeless Mission in Ibadan. They were originally supposed to go to another part of Nigeria, but due to security concerns, they came to us.

They had an amazing trip, visiting the site, helping with some landscaping, and seeing the progress of the building. They helped with a medical outreach, food and clothing distribution, and times of sharing about Christ. Over 3 days, 400 people received medical care, and over 650 people participated. 13 people came to know Christ through the events! They had a very busy week, but were blessed and were a blessing to others. They also had the chance to meet many people, join a radio program, and so much more.

As you may recall, one month ago we had our fundraiser with the goal of raising $13,000 to finish plumbing, electricity, doors, windows, tiles, and painting the walls. Well, God is amazing! As of last week we had received donations of $7,968. Then we were informed that a VBS wanted to raise funds for our plumbing (you know, toilets are important!), and those kids raised $4564.50 in a week! That means we have raised $12,532.50 in one month. We are only $467.50 from our goal. Praise the Lord!

The second thing we were raising support for was sponsors for our free middle school. For just $30 a month, or $360 for the year, one student will get an education (including lunch daily). Our goal is to have 20 students this first year, and right now 11 of them are sponsored. We are over halfway there! Several of you have already paid in part or full for that student, and we can’t wait to share more about them. The student admission process will start in a few weeks and once we know who they are, we will start sharing. (In the mean time, we’ve started interviewing teachers, so you can pray for wisdom as we search for the right people to join our team.)

The “burglary proof” is complete

Thank you for being a major part of this vision and ministry. May God Almighty reward you greatly on earth and in heaven. As disciples of Jesus Christ, let’s continue to use every opportunity to be a blessing to lives out there.

God is good!

On Saturday we held our second annual fundraiser for African Hope Ministry. Thank you to all who made it! If we counted well, we had around 34 people there, with many people apologizing for not being available this weekend. Thank you! 

To the glory of God, we raised over $2,000 toward the $13,000, with a few more gifts promised in the weeks to come. We also found additional sponsors for our students, and have officially reached the halfway point of 10 out of 20 students being fully sponsored for the 2025-26 school year. Praise the Lord!

Agriculture is Coming

Happy May! 

The ceiling is well on its way to being completely dried by now. It needs about a month, and it’s been two weeks already. Soon we will be able to remove all the supports. We had a few funds left, so the deposit has been made for all the exterior doors. This will be the first thing to install to help secure the building. Second will be the iron “burglary proof” that will go over the windows.

The agriculture project is moving along. Praise the Lord! The volunteer team has been out a few times to plant and tend our crops. So far we’ve planted cassava and field corn, and after accomplishing some weeding, potato and melon (different than what we eat in the US) should be going in.

We have hired a Marvel Angulu to take on the roll of Advancement and Project Manager in Nigeria. He will be overseeing projects, ensuring they are moving along. He will also help build a donor base in Nigeria and find partners who want to contribute to our ministry. He will help prepare the tuition free middle school for opening by September, and ensure all the pieces are ready to go. We are excited to welcome Marvel Angulu to our midst.

Happy Easter! 

We are so happy to report that the ceiling has been poured!! Over the past few days they got it done. Now it needs a month to dry and cure before they remove all the supports.

The next stage is to finish all the interior. This includes: 

• 3 exterior iron doors, 
• windows and interior doors, 
• electrical, 
• plumbing, 
• plastering the walls, 
• flooring, 
• and painting. 

It is estimated to cost $13,000 to complete all these pieces. We have decided to move on as fast as we can so that we can be done by July, knowing that time flies! We want to be setting up the school classrooms by August. Therefore, we can start buying doors and windows, toilets and sinks, and all these pieces so they are ready to install once we can safely enter the building.

We are thankful for each one of you who have supported this project with your prayers and financial support. God is so faithful, and we couldn’t have done it without you.