Jos volunteer team has eight additional members following new volunteering training during May.

Organising this training caused both despondency and joy for international coordinator Tassie Ghata and the headquarters team. Twenty people, much fewer than usual, booked places on the course and then the week before 12 of them cancelled.

“They had different reasons, but fundamentally it is because the Nigerian economy is doing very badly and they needed to find ways of earning money to support their families. They need to be working rather than volunteering,” said Tassie.

“They wanted to join our volunteer teams but can’t afford to; it is a sign of what is going wrong in the economy at the moment.

“The eight who did complete the training are committed and mature Christians who are already visiting local churches on Sundays. We were able to give them lots of personal attention because the group was small.”

This four day training programme ran at our Jos headquarters between 8-12 May. During the training, participants explored in depth the scriptural basis for social righteousness, which underpins all we do.

This includes our response to HIV/AIDS, medical and societal aspects of the disease, counselling, care and support, team work and relationships, how to contact churches, preaching, establishing voluntary savings and accountability groups and action committees that administer Grace & Light activities in each church.

They also learnt how to share Grace & Light’s four key social righteousness focuses – poverty and wealth, work and corruption, sexual and gender-based violence, and the politics of righteousness.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for:

• The eight new volunteers, that they will remain faithful in visiting at least one church each month over the next two years
• Churches in Jos will continue to welcome Grace & Light volunteers into their Sunday services to preach, counsel and test for HIV/AIDS
• The many people falling into poverty and debt as a result of the economic situation in Nigeria.