Volunteers hear the same story over and over again - young Nigerians are being left to sort out their lives without input from parents.

In each secondary school they visit, volunteers hear the same story. It is almost always girls and occasionally boys. They have been raped in their own homes by uncles, family friends, relatives, both men and women. They never tell their parents.

“Parents are not there for their children emotionally and morally. We are saying to parents, don’t just pursue money to provide better material possessions, also care for your children’s emotional and moral lives,” explains international coordinator Tassie Ghata.

“Talk to them about homosexuality, rape, sex and other serious issues so they know how to respond and how to get help.”

Volunteers find these students often believe rape is a punishment they deserve, because this is what the perpetrator tells them. It isn’t until they hear our Grace & Light talk that they realise they are victims and have done nothing wrong.

During July, the Jos team visited two secondary schools, sharing the gospel with 520 students and testing 351 (67.5%). Of these, 206 (40%) rededicated their lives to Christ and 76 (14.6%) made a first commitment.

Please pray for more schools to open their doors to Grace & Light volunteers now the new term has begun. We’ve visited fewer schools since February as most closed during the elections and then spent the remainder of the school year focused on catching up and covering the syllabus.

We also cancelled our annual teachers’ conference, planned for June, because teachers were unable to take time away from their classrooms.