New Shoes, by Will Reed, Back2Back Nigeria Staff

Imagine walking over a mile to school everyday. When you get home from school, imagine walking everywhere you need to go. Now think about what that would do for the shoes that you wear. If you are a child in the Kissahyip Village outside Jos, Nigeria, you are wearing sandals everyday and the shoes that you are wearing constantly are worn with the straps coming off.

Through donations from Back2Back’s Gift Catalog, we were able to purchase new shoes for all of the students at Back2Back’s Education Center through a local shoemaker. You can imagine the excitement among the students when we announced that all of them would be receiving new shoes!

Proudly wearing his new shoes from the gift catalog

Everybody loves the feeling of new shoes. No matter how many pairs of shoes someone owns, no one can deny the excitement of putting on new shoes for the first time. For the students, new shoes means the ability to stop wearing the old, tattered shoes and know that they will not have to worry about getting their sandals fixed before school in the morning so that they can attend that day.

Something I love about serving here is seeing when ministry areas overlap. SSE (Self-Sustaining Enterprises) works with a Max, a man who lives outside the Kisahyip Village. SSE has come alongside Max as he has started a shoe business. He makes different types of shoes completely by hand. He gives one pair of shoes to a child in the village for every ten pairs of shoes he sells. We love his vision.

Max measured all of the students’ feet and then came with the completed shoes a few days later. They students were thrilled to receive the shoes and run happily home from the Education Center in their new shoes.

Give a gift of hope this Christmas!

This Christmas, give a gift of hope to an orphan in need. Choose from dozens of items in our gift catalog to help the children that Back2Back serves in Mexico, Nigeria and India! Your gift will bring hope to an orphan this Christmas.

View it here.

Give a gift of hope this Christmas!

This Christmas, give a gift of hope to an orphan in need. Choose from dozens of items in our gift catalog to help the children that Back2Back serves in Mexico, Nigeria and India! Your gift will bring hope to an orphan this Christmas.

Look for the gift catalog in the mail this month or you can view it here.

Give a Life-Changing Gift to an Orphan in Need

This Christmas, give a life-changing gift to an orphan in need.  Choose from dozens of items in our gift catalog to help the children that Back2Back serves in Mexico, Nigeria and India!  Your gift will make a lasting impact in the life of a child this Christmas.  This is a great way for individuals, families and churches to celebrate the true spirit of the Christmas season!

If you did not receive our Christmas gift catalog, please contact us at 513-754-0300 and we will be happy to send one to you.

Provision through Donations, by Corrie Guckenberger, Back2Back Nigeria

As many of you know there was a large crisis that happened here in Jos in January and then again in March. In the wake of those two specific crisis, there is a hole of need for those who have been left behind.

Many, many children have been left with no earthly possessions, no clothing, some have no more families and some left with no homes. Not only children, but adults as well. A woman named Lydia came to my gate last week. She had lost her husband and her eldest son as well in the crisis in March. She was asking for work because she is now a widow with three other children, a ten, an eight and a five year old. She was not asking for a handout but she was asking for work. Not only work, but prayer. Before she left I told her I would keep my eyes open and we prayed together as I was under the realization that there are now three more orphans in the world, according to the United Nations definition of orphan, “a child who has lost one or more parents.” Our ministry had the privilege to join in with other ministries to donate to those left behind in this massive wake of destruction. The pictures above and to the left are some of the items that we were able to contribute to help this need. I really want to thank those of you who gave to the Christmas catalog, especially for mosquito nets. As you can see from the picture, we were able to buy them with that money and then hand them to help create some shelter for these specific children.

I am actually in awe as God, knowing all things, was able to prepare us as a ministry to be able to have much needed items to be able to give to those within our ministries reach.

Then, we found out late last week, that the house of a man on our SSE borehole team burned down. So, again, we were able to help this man “get back on his feet” by providing some basic provisions.

It does not look like much, but he was grateful and so were we, as we realized these donations were never ours, nor did we purchase them, we were just able to hand them to those in need. Thank you again to all of you who support us and the ministry in finances and prayer. It is not in vain and it is meeting many, many needs.

Please have a blessed day as you may come to realize as well how fortunate we all are and how much we have been given.

Chicken Dinner for Families in Need, by Corrie Guckenberger, Back2Back Nigeria

This past fall, Back2Back sent out a Christmas gift catalog, in which people could sponsor “gifts” in various ways in different areas of ministry within Back2Back. India, Nigeria and Mexico were all represented and one of the opportunities was a chicken dinner for those in need in Nigeria.

We have two people here from Riverview Church, Ryan and Sara, and yesterday they were able to be a part of handing out some of the chicken dinners that were bought from this catalog. Now, probably people picture a nice cooked chicken with cooked rice and beans and presented on a table for dinner. That is not quite how these dinners get done here, especially in the village where refrigeration is not an option. Here are some pictures to show it all unfolded.

Every person who received a chicken dinner received, one live chicken, bouillon cubes, beans, rice and a liter of oil. All the makings of a delicious chicken dinner (for at least two maybe three meals). For this moment, we chose to take the meals to the village doctor because he is the one who cares for those in the village (and sometimes outside the village as well), the orphan and all those in need in the Kisayhip area. Not only were meals given, but the staff and Ryan and Sara prayed for each patient there, for wisdom for the doctor and healing for the patients. It was good and right to care for those who were at the moment in even more need. They were grateful for each gesture and gift given.

Below is the village doctor’s son, Moses (who is currently in school for medicine), with Ryan and John as afterward they all took him to a local pharmacy to purchase much needed medicine to better and further care for those who are under his dad’s supervision. We are so grateful to all who helped make “care for today, hope for tomorrow” happen in this little village in Jos, Nigeria.

Back2Back Christmas Gift Catalog: Give a Gift to a Child in Need

Celebrate the true spirit of Christmas by giving a life-changing gift to an orphan in need.  Choose from dozens of items in our gift catalog to help the children that Back2Back serves in Mexico, Nigeria and India!  Your gift will make a listing impact in the life of a child this Christmas!

View the gift catalog online and choose an item by clicking here.