Fall 2024 Trip Report: What a long, strange trip it’s been…

By Mike Arnold

Founder and CEO

Jeff Gibbs and I departed for Abuja, Nigeria on Monday, October 21st, flying out of Houston (that’s a long story) aboard Turkish Airlines, with a layover in Istanbul.

This was our third trip there in the past 12 months (my 4th to Africa, counting a January trip to Kenya), criss-crossing the country, as we’ve been deep into our humanitarian work, seeking justice and restoration for displaced victims of Boko Haram, and producing a documentary film to bring the situation to the world’s attention.

Five crazy years, I don't know how many air miles, too many life and death adventures to count… and I am so thankful to announce that we have reached a huge milestone. We just wrapped principal photography for our documentary film. I have to say, Jeff Gibbs is an amazing producer, and a truly brave and good-hearted dude. He’s been the magic behind the scenes to make this all happen.

Still quite a bit more work to do till we have a finished film, but what we have in the can is powerful. It is gripping, emotional, relatable, revelatory and simply explosive. We have seen God’s miraculous direction and provision every step of the way, and have an amazing, world-class team. We believe this film has potential to bring significant global awareness to this issue, and deliver real change.

To be fully transparent, we’ve spent every single penny to get this project this far. It’s definitely been worth it considering what we have uncovered and caught on film. We are forging ahead into editing, etc., on pure faith, knowing it’s what God is calling us to do, and that He will bring full provision at the right time. If you feel called to help us finish and distribute this film, please contact me and let’s talk.

Getting there, getting started

 The week before leaving, we got news that a portion of the New Kucingoro IDP camp was demolished, including the home of Ms. Hanatu, with just four days’ notice and about $12 compensation. We were able to raise some relief funds at the last minute to help these people.

Longtime mission team member and our dear friend Kristian Earle drove from Austin to Houston to deliver us to the airport. The flight there was mainly comfortable and uneventful. First leg was Houston to Instanbul, about 13 hours. Then a 4 ½ hour layover. I have to say, that is by far the most amazing and beautiful airport I’ve been in, and I’ve been in quite a few. Turkish Airlines is high class, too.

After the 6 hour hop to Abuja, we were picked up by Pastors Jed and Uzoamaka D’Grace, who run our ministry there, and taken to our lodging at the very nice Grand Pela Hotel, which is managed by Jed’s brother.

Right out of the gate we were met with great favor. We’ve been seeking to meet with and interview a leader there, Dr. Abel Damina, and were prepared to fly to his town to do so. Ends up he was staying at our hotel, so we were able to meet and film a fantastic interview with him right away.

Relief efforts, and shining the light

After settling in, our first day was spent in the New Kuchingoro IDP camp, where we run a school for 350+ students. We immediately got a handle on the needs of the people, and based on this ordered a large amount of cement, cinder blocks, sand, lumber and roofing materials.

Most had already rebuilt their shanties in another area about 100 yards away, but had issues with rainwater flowing into their structures. We were able to provide concrete to keep water out of their homes and to surface their dirt floors. They also asked for a structure they could share for dry and secure storage. The men of the camp pitched in labor and were able to complete this structure over a few days. We also provided several 50kg bags of rice to those whose homes were demolished.

Those whose homes were destroyed were primarily from the village of Gnoshe in the Gwoza area (they tend to cluster by community in these IDP camps). Ms. Hanatu, whose story inspired all our work there, lost the home she built 10 years ago with her own two hands, from scavenged materials, for herself and her three daughters. (She is now on staff with our ministry as assistant head teacher in our school there.) Two of the affected families had newborn babies less than a week old.

Part of our mission is to shine the light. So after taking care of their immediate needs, we hosted a press conference on the site of the demolition, generating print, radio and television coverage of the situation. I also connected with two fine journalists from TruthNigeria – an excellent outlet – and introduced them to several of our key leaders for ongoing coverage. They have already generated multiple stories about the issues there.

Rachel and Rebecca

While in camp we were introduced to Rifkatu, which is Rachel in her native tongue, and her baby daughter Rebecca. Rifkatu is a beautiful young lady, but I never heard her speak. Rather, she and Rebecca continually cling to each other, very withdrawn, as she fixes her eyes downward.

Ten years ago, Rifkatu was 14 years old, married and pregnant, when Boko Haram invaded Gwoza. They massacred many of her loved ones and destroyed all the churches and schools. Along with many other girls, she was abducted and given a Boko Haram “husband.” She delivered her child and raised it in this environment. I understand they lived in caves for all or part of the time. A couple months ago, as she was nursing a Rebecca – a Boko Haram baby – the Nigerian military attacked, killed her rapist “husband” and others, and set her and her two children free.

She was given very little assistance and then abandoned. She eventually made her way to New Kuchingoro, to be with others from her community. Her husband (prior to abduction) was notified. He came, took the 10 year old child that he’d never met, and left Rifkatu and Rebecca, saying he wanted nothing to do with them. That’s how she was when we met her.

All these IDPs have endured unimaginable trauma. But Rifkatu’s story touched me deeply. She needs more stability and care than be had in the IDP camp. We discussed with some members of our team there, and one of them felt called by God to step up. We are getting a complete medical workup on Rifkatu and Rebecca, and then the plan is that they will move into the home of our team member’s family, and we intend to employ her to work in our school as a custodian. I promised we would do our best to help cover their expenses. If you feel called to contribute to this, that would be awesome.

#RememberAisha

We also heard from one of our camp leaders that they were having difficulty retrieving the dead body of a young woman from the camp named Aisha, which was at a local hospital. It had been weeks since she died there and a corrupt administrator was holding her body for ransom, illegally demanding cash. They showed me a coffin they had built for her in the camp out of scrap lumber, with a carved cross on the lid. Burials are a big deal there, and they wanted closure. I told them we would go the next day and get her.

I’ve learned that when someone tries to shake you down, the only thing you can do is shake them back harder. So we went in strong. Most of our ministry team and school staff, about 15 of us, marched into the hospital upstairs to the chief administrator’s office. We all had phones/cameras out and several were live streaming.

I was calm and professional, and this guy immediately got very defensive. I mean, I understand, but he went overboard. Within moments about a dozen of his underlings flooded into the hallway, and a security guard at the end chained the door closed. To put it mildly, those goons were anything but calm and professional. Uzoamaka was punched in the stomach (she’s ok), Jeff had a camera microphone attachment broken off, and another young man had his phone broken in the ensuing melee.

I stood my ground (with my own camera in the face of the administrator) and he called off the dogs. Over a few minutes, his defensiveness dropped as he came to see that we were the ones in the right, and members of his staff were running a sinister scam on these poor people. Needless to say, he released Aisha’s body … and even offered to transport her to her final resting place for free. She finalyl was buried, and her family able to get some closure.

Afterwards, I realized I didn’t know who Aisha was. I didn’t want to think of her as nothing but a corpse. What I learned broke my heart. Aisha was 25 and had been an IDP for six years, doubly orphaned (birth family and step family all dead), with only a step brother (since age 4) still alive and living in New Kuchingoro. She bounced from camp to camp before landing here two years ago.

Aisha was vivacious and well loved. Remarkable, really. She knew nobody was coming to help them, and so determined to work her way out of camp. And she was well on her way, with multiple jobs, side hustles, and a TikTok page with a growing fan base. In fact, she’d been approached by a potential sponsor.

A few months ago, she came down with a urinary tract infection. With no real access to healthcare, she was going to let it run its course. That was a mistake. She was delirious and feverish, being cared for in Ms. Hanatu’s home, when she fell unconscious. They took her to the nearby hospital. The law is, IDPs like her are not SUPPOSED to pay for care at that hospital – but due to corruption, it rarely works out that way.

The hospital folks gave her just enough care to run up a bill, then stopped and refused to do more till they were paid the equivalent of a few hundred dollars. Tragically, while Aisha had enough in her bank account, she was unconscious and nobody else had access to it. They couldn’t raise the funds, so called around and found another hospital that agreed to take and treat her as they should.

But the folks at the first hospital refused to release her for transport till this bogus bill was paid. Lying there in the hospital, untreated, with a treatable illness – beautiful and determined Aisha died. That’s where the story started three weeks later, with us retrieving her body.

We came to find out that her body had been lying uncovered, on the floor, in the corner of the morgue, tagged by the scammer as “unknown” and “unclaimed” to keep it in the dark.

We have determined that Aisha’s life and death and horrible story must not be in vain. They say one death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic. Well, Aisha’s is one death, and it is truly a tragedy.

But it is also a statistic. Aisha is but one of as many as 9 million internally displaced Nigerians who live and die as victims of radicalism and corruption, ignored and denied by their own government, and unknown to the outside world.

We spent time interviewing her friends, and plan to launch a video and online campaign called #RememberAisha. Because her story is their story.

Oh… and I have learned that to press criminal charges there requires hiring an attorney. We have sought out the very best in Abuja, and are working to engage them to press charges of murder against the hospital staff involved in this scam. This kind of action is unprecedented, but justice has to start somewhere. This will cost funds we don’t currently have. If you feel led to contribute, thank you.

And more

All that was all in the first couple days of our 2-week trip! This update is already getting too long, so I’ll just hit the remaining highlights.

News outlets aren’t covering it, but the Boko Haram insurgency has roared back with a  vengeance. A sizable group of Christians from Gwoza was recently rounded up – the same people our team visited in July (another crazy story) -- and Boko Haram filmed themselves beheading them with dull axes and bashing in their heads with stones. I’ll spare you the video link. One man from our adopted church there was among those killed, and a young girl abducted just like Rifkatu was 10 years ago.

We flew to Port Harcourt for a few days for a leadership conference and meetings with high level officials. We were on local radio and in the newspaper, and got to spend time with our good friend King Stephen Tobins of the Bukuma Kingdom.

At one point, Jeff and I split up for a couple days. I went to Lagos to meet with a former governor and friend who may be a contender for the presidency there, and Jeff went to represent Africa Arise USA at a medical outreach and funeral in the town of Asaba.

We connected with a group that is building a rural farm community to permanently resettle IDPs, finally giving them a safe place to start over. We are connecting them to our leaders in New Kuchingoro, and it looks hopeful that it will work out for several families.

We celebrated the 5th Anniversary of the founding of Africa Arise. 

We have worked with a group of doctors to take over an abandoned structure next to our school in New Kuchingoro, to open the Aisha Philibus Memorial Clinic. This will require us to raise funds for set-up and ongoing operations. It is also an opportunity for healthcare professionals to join us on future trips to serve in the clinic.

Congress – here and there

Throughout this trip, I have been working on a letter to US Rep. Michael McCaul from Austin, who is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee. It is a bombshell of information that few know, and that we’ve paid dearly to uncover.  In it, I make a strong case for conducting an investigation, CODEL trip to Nigeria, and hearings on this situation. I base it on US national security and economic interest, not just the humanitarian aspects. Some pretty high-level folks will be editing this for me, and I will be inviting other leaders in this space to send similar letters.

On the last day of our trip, we met with Congressman Chike Okafor from Imo State. He’s a senior member and part of the ruling party. He also happens to be longtime family friends with Pastor Jed. He vowed to pick up our cause as his own, introduce me to the speaker of the house and other key congressional leaders, and push the issue. He also agreed to help us endeavor move primary funding for our schools from US to Nigeria.

Istanbul

We said goodbye and departed Abuja late on Mon, Nov. 5, for a six hour flight to Istanbul, where we had an 8 ½ hour layover. I happened to catch a promo on the seatback screen for a free tour of the city for those with long layovers, and we signed up for it. So we got a 3 ½ hour guided tour, including breakfast.

We were both blown away by Istanbul. I guess it’s no place I really ever thought about. I mean, I knew the basics of its history – it’s where Constantine the Great built “New Rome” – Constantinople. One side of the city is in Europe, and the other Asia. The Bosporus Strait lies between, separating the Mediterranean and Black Seas. It was a major point on the Spice Road of old. “Crossroads of the World,” they call it. It’s at the same time modern and ancient, and richly exotic. I’d love to spend a month there sometime.

Something I’ll long remember is eating breakfast with Jeff, on the bank of the Bosporus, watching election results come in (it is 8 hours ahead of CST).

After another 13 hour flight to Houston, getting through border security, and riding back to Blanco (thank you again, Kristian!), we finally made it home about 2 a.m. on the 7th. It was an amazing trip.

Slideshow

We are thankful to have so many supporters and folks interested in our work. With a ton of pictures and stories to tell, we’re having a “slideshow” 6-9 p.m. Wed, Nov. 20th here in Blanco (at 419 on the Square). I hope you can join us.

Finally

Nigeria has recently suffered inflation way beyond ours. A tank of gas costs more than the monthly minimum wage. We’d had to raise our staff pay accordingly (we have 15 full time staff, mostly school teachers). But the dollar to naira exchange rate hasn’t changed near as much. As a result, our quarterly payment needed to maintain our schools has gone up considerably. (It has been about $6500 per quarter, now it’s about $10,000). 

We serve more than 500 full-time students with free, high-quality education, and were doing fine till the recent economic downturn there. All of a sudden we can’t keep up – much less finally open our school currently under construction in the Wassa IDP camp. We need help. Please pray about committing to a monthly, sustaining gift of $50, $100, $500 or more. 

This money goes straight to the front lines and is making a very real difference. Children who once knew nothing but violence, victimization and extreme poverty, now have hope, vision and a path out of camp. Instead of wanting to go back, get guns, and kill, now they want to seek higher education, go back, and rebuild. We have a great source of fantastic teachers, a strong and capable leadership team, and LOTS of room to grow. With funding support, in a year’s time we could go from 500 students to 1500 or more.

Thank you

Thank you for your interest in and support of our ministry. Everything we do there is possible only through donations from folks like you. 

We are always looking for opportunities to speak to groups big or small. We gain new supporters every time we are able to share these stories. If you might like to host a gathering, or invite us to speak to your group or church, please let us know.