The Genesis of Arewa Aid

I still remember the announcement in 1985. One of my teachers, Keith Parker, was going to the Bahamas in 1986. I thought, "He'll let me go hang out on the beach." Little did I know that we were going to be out serving folks in abject poverty on the streets of Nassau. After that 2-week experience, Keith asked me how I felt about the experience. I replied, "I think that I want to do this the rest of my life." This led me to Nigeria, Scotland, Zimbabwe, India, and Kenya. Yet, my heart felt the greatest burden for the receptive masses of West Africa especially near the Sahara Desert.

In 1998, I was serving in a work that focused on the poor metropolitan communities of Long Island, New York. At a singles retreat, I bumped into a young lady from Pennsylvania, Jennifer Becker, who talked about her interest in serving the poor in Ghana. Her father had traveled to Ghana and returned with an African doll in 1975 which planted a seed of service. Thus, after Jen and I had been married for a couple of years in 2000, we traveled to Nigeria exploring options for potential service. Northern Nigeria emerged as the location with the greatest need for expatriates with a heart to serve one of the least-developed regions of the world.

As Jen and I began serving the people of central Nigeria in 2001, our favorite work was among the villagers in the rural countryside. These were the places with no electricity, no pipe-borne water, no tarred roads, no clinics, and no schools nearby. As I served in religious education along with the University of Jos, my burden became greater to serve the poorest of the poor. Week-long trips into remote towns of northern Nigeria kindled a greater desire to serve among the most educationally backward. Jen and I began to wonder how the scope of our service could shift to a more humanitarian-based work.

In 2004, the executive director, Clement Iornongu, of the International Centre for Peace, Charities, and Human Developent (INTERCEP) approached us in central Nigeria. His idea was to offer me to serve as INTERCEP's International Development Director in northern Nigeria. As we began surveying which state to locate an INTERCEP branch office, northeastern Nigeria emerged as the most suitable environment. Borno State was known all over West Africa as the "Home of Peace" in Nigeria and Maiduguri was it's capital with a reputation for inter-tribal harmony. Thus, in 2005, the Blake family relocated from the Plateau highlands of Jos, Nigeria to the semi-arid sandy soil of Maiduguri to open a branch office for INTERCEP.

In 2006, our INTERCEP office in Maiduguri was approached with a parcel of land to develop for some indigenes of Borno State. As a significant amount of money was raised to erect a perimeter wall around this field, we were encouraged to create a 501c3 non-profit organization in the USA. This created the dream of Arewa Aid as a humanitarian organization to help disenfranchised communities of northern Nigeria.

"AREWA" means "NORTH" in the Hausa language of northern Nigeria but really embodies a culture. When someone in Tennessee says "The South" they're not talking geography but Cracker Barrel, SEC football, and the Grand Ole Opry. This is what "AREWA" means to someone living in northern Nigeria: Islam, Hausa language, wearing kaftans (long dress), eating tuwo (corn meal mush), singing with the algaita (flute).

Board members from Arewa Aid were recruited from Tennessee, Texas, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, and Washington. On July 25, 2007, Arewa Aid was granted official non-profit status by the US government increasing the legitimacy of our fund-raising efforts.

The Blake family serves with INTERCEP in Nigeria and AREWA AID in the USA to create strategic partnerships to develop the poorest African people starting in northern Nigeria. Our humble beginnings have mobilized that abandoned Maiduguri field into a thriving drip irrigation farm growing vegetables in the dry season. Our 2008 goals involve supplementing this booming vegetable farm with livestock to create a balanced ecosystem. Our objectives beyond agriculture include a skill acquisition center, rural mobile clinic, and primary education for the poorest children. God is writing our story and we invite you to participate in helping the world's poorest people beginning in northern Nigeria.

Acquiring an All-Star Agronomist

The Cleveland Cavaliers have LeBron James. The New York Yankees have Alex Rodriguez. The New England Patriots have Tom Brady. Golf has Tiger Woods. Tennis has Roger Federer. All of these men have 1 thing in common. They are all-stars in their respective sports and highly sought after for commercial advertisements. To bring them into your organization is to raise the level of productivity beyond any previous expectations.

INTERCEP (Intl. Centre for Peace, Charities & Human Dev.) needs Ebenezer Udofia to run our farm operations in northeastern Nigeria (Maiduguri). Ebenezer is the son of a retired proclaimer of the good news from southeastern Nigeria. Ebenezer currently runs the RNT farm operation in Damaturu, Yobe State which is 1 1/2 hours west of Maiduguri. The RNT farm operations consists of guava, mango, orange orchards, thousands of broilers, and thousands of layers. RNT farms breeds cows, horses, chickens, rams, goats, sheep, fish, mills grains, squeezes fruit into juices, and grow numerous vegetable crops.

Ebenezer has completed a graduate degree in animal production technology and has written a book on "A Guide to Raising Rabbits." He is currently being pursued by the largest commercial farm in northeastern Nigeria owned by a state governor who is promising to pay him more money that he could imagine. The RNT farm that Ebenezer manages is 1.5 miles by 1.5 miles giving him the responsibility of managing 30 workers in fruit, livestock, milling, and vegetable operations. Ebenezer is a committed believer but those who are seeking his skills could care less about his religious orientation because he can generate enormous revenue. For the past 2 years, I have visited with Ebenezer at assemblies in Damaturu causing my interest to grow as his gifts and humility are obvious.

Recently, Ebenezer assisted INTERCEP in Maiduguri with a proposal to Healing Hands International (HHI) for 100 broilers, 100 layers, rams and rabbits to enhance our current vegetable production through drip irrigation. Dave Goolsby from HHI was so impressed that he recommended that INTERCEP hire Ebenezer away from RNT farms to serve in Maiduguri. At first, I wondered how in the world that INTERCEP could afford one with Ebenezer's talent when we barely can afford to pay a secretary and farm caretaker. I set up an appointment to meet with Ebenezer for lunch in Damaturu and explained to him how we needed people of his caliber. When I first mentioned the possibility of Ebenezer serving as the administrator of the INTERCEP farm, he was obviously thrilled.

However, nothing could prepare me for his response after I asked him concerning his salary need. He replied: "Brother Brad, there is no amount of money that you could pay me to work for God. I know that I will receive double my reward in heaven for doing this work. Don't worry about the money. God will provide. If it is God's will, I will work to see that the INTERCEP farm in Maiduguri is producing enough to satisfy everyone for God's glory." Arewa Aid will labor to pay Ebenezer's salary through INTERCEP until the farm is self-sustainable and we would be blessed through your partnership.

Arewa Aid in Nigerian HIStory

When I began studying sociology at the University of Maiduguri in 2006, I realized how little that I knew of Nigerian history. The coming of Islam through Arab traders to the Kanem-Bornu empire around Lake Chad in the 11th century was ground-breaking. The "jihad of the sword" from the Fulani (nomadic tribe) Emir, Usman Dan-Fodio, against the dominant Hausa tribe in the early 19th century revived Islam. The invasion of the British into northern Nigeria in the early 20th century was strategic as these colonialists left the Islamic emirate system intact. When the United Kingdom finally gave Nigeria independence in 1960, there was little preparation for the transition from the colonial to post-colonial era.

In the 1960's, northeastern Nigeria was one of several "regions" governed by the federal government in Lagos. The northeastern Nigerian provincial capital was Maiduguri which made it strategic to the northeast and crucial for cross-border trade with Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. By the 1970's, the northeastern province became Borno State offering this new state government more freedom of action. This was the period of Nigeria's greatest oil boom from the southern coastal reserves but this revenue never seemed to create political stability. Through the 1980's, a cycle of civilian rule and military dictatorship began escalating that would re-define the heights of corruption in Nigeria.

The 1990's was the decade when Nigeria's global reputation as the international corruption capitol became a by-word. However, the sudden passing of General Sani Abacha in 1998 renewed the hope for democracy. In 1999, Olusegun Obasanjo was sworn in as Nigeria's first democratically elected president since 1979 reviving everyone's eagerness for change. After 8 years of Obasanjo's top-down approach to democratic government, Nigeria was still without stable electricity, potable water for everyone, and a network of motorable roads free of potholes. When Musa Yar-Adua was elected president in April of 2007, hope re-emerged for a leader from the Arewa to rid Nigeria's government of it's innate graft.

How do organizations like Arewa Aid fit into Nigerian history to encourage integrity, transparency, and trust? Thankfully, our family was invited to serve with the International Centre for Peace, Charities, and Human Development (INTERCEP) in 2005 to encourage the progress of Nigerian history. Since 1999, INTERCEP had been encouraging peaceful resolution to religio-ethnic conflict in the central Nigerian highlands of Plateau State. For years, INTERCEP had been operating a micro-credit loan plan for poor market women to increase their quality of life. After a half-decade, INTERCEP had conducted numerous workshops to reduce the stigmitazation of infectious diseases like AIDS, tuberculosis, and leprosy.

Arewa Aid was formed in early 2007 to enhance our family's ability to establish INTERCEP as a viable entity in Maiduguri. Our hope is that by approaching the Nigerian people from the bottom-up that the citizenry will be empowered to chart their own course. Drip irrigation farming with composting as a central component is one way we seek to lift local Borno people from dependency. Our future plans for a skill acquisition center is another means to assist the Maiduguri people in becoming self-sufficient. We invite you to join us at Arewa Aid in catapulting the indigenous people of northeastern Nigeria as they write a brighter chapter of Nigerian history to honor God.

A Dry and Weary Land

I like hot weather. Since I developed sinus problems in my 20's, I always seem to function better when it's hot outside. Since my parents moved from Canada to Memphis, Tennessee when I was 4 years old, I've always looked forward to summertime. In contrast, my wife, Jen, grew up in Hanover, Pennsylvania and loves the changes of season in north America especially autumn or the falling of the leaves. Therefore, when our family first moved to the central Nigerian city of Jos in 2001, the highland climate of Plateau State was cool most of the time and pleasant for Jen.

When Jen and I decided to move from Jos to Maiduguri in 2005, we knew that we would have to adjust to a climate change. However, we had no idea exactly how hot that the semi-arid climate of northeastern Nigeria would be. We arrived in the middle of the rainy season which was a bit deceiving as the problem in Maiduguri appeared to be flooding because of a lack of drainage. Yet, when the rains ended in October, we began to understand what every Nigerian talks about when they point to Maiduguri as the hottest spot in the nation. From 7AM to 7PM, no one would be caught out "under the sun" without an umbrella, long clothes for protection from sunlight, or a small plastic bag of "pure water."

Jen and I quickly noticed that all of the green leaves, green grass, or any green foliage was rapidly turning brown. It was as if all of the ground had become sand in only 2 weeks from the conclusion of the rainfall. We hardly saw any open-air market stalls where locals were selling fresh vegetable produce. Big, tall trees that provided shade were few and far between and those few refuges of shade were always occupied with people under their canopies. We began to empathize with the plight of the semi-arid farmer as we planted flowers only to see them wilt away.

Nevertheless, I don't think that anything could have prepared us for March, April, and May in Maiduguri. Immediately when the harmattan sandy winds from the Sahara ceased in February, March brought bitterly scorching days of 120F+ daily. We felt like we were walking around in an oven every single day with no refuge because we had could ill afford to buy diesel for our generator to power our air-conditioner. At night, it was difficult to sleep because we would toss and turn in our own sweat longing for a breeze. The March to mid-April heat was dry while the late April to May heat was humid progressively becoming more muggy each day.

After constructing our water reservoir at the INTERCEP farm in March of 2007, we noticed a unique phenomena. The water hauled in via tankers from a commercial water company would dry up as soon as it was unloaded into the reservoir. As we raised plant beds at the INTERCEP farm in April of 07, any water released through the drip irrigation tape had to be applied by 6AM or 6PM, otherwise, it would quickly evaporate. Our struggle to water the vegetable crops from March until the first rains of June of 07 was unbelievably arduous. Thus, when the first rains arrived in abundance by July of 07, it was a time to celebrate God's provision.

God has blessed us to see his abundant mercy in a dry and weary land as people are able to grow vegetables in the desert through drip irrigation. We would be blessed by your partnership in bringing the water of life!

Where on Earth is Safe?

As far back as 1989 when I would visit southern Nigeria, I expected to encounter crime. I had heard so many stories about missionaries, foreigners, and expatriates being robbed. At night, I would lay awake at night listening for any possible sound of a thief rustling around the perimeter of the house. Out on the road, I fully expected to be stopped by an armed robber at some point and mentally prepared for it to happen. However, when I first crossed over into northern Nigeria, something put my mind at greater ease.

The most obvious aspect of northern Nigerian (Arewa) culture is the pervasiveness of Islam in all of life. Also, the culture in the Arewa is much more traditional causing people to greet longer, practice hospitality, and exercise greater patience in a traffic accident. Our entry in the central Nigerian city of Jos was an appropriate introduction to the Arewa with a strong Muslim minority. Nevetheless, any illusion of innocence was shattered during the Jos riots from September 7-12, 2001. This tumultuous time gave us unique insight into the way that "Christians" in Jos were willing to kill to "defend their land."

During our 4 years in Jos from May 2001 to July 2005, we witnessed a continual increase of organized crime. We initially were comfortable with our German Shepherd and Rottweiler for security at night. However, the more that our friends, neighbors, and acquaintances were being attacked we increased our security team to 7 dogs. Jos was a cosmopolitan city inviting the best and the worst of people from every corner of Nigeria. It was geographically a part of the Arewa (northern Nigeria) but culturally had become more like the busy, frenzied, and quick-tempered society of southern Nigeria.

As our family moved to the northeastern city of Maiduguri in July of 2005, we immediately noticed the slow pace of life. In Jos, we could go to the open-air market and get almost anything any day of the week during daylight hours. In Maiduguri, our market days were limited to Tuesday through Thursday because on Friday through Monday there was little availability of goods due to Islamic Friday prayers, weekend rest, and the arrival of all imported products on Monday. Our first Maiduguri neighborhood was a close-knit community where the roads were bad but criminals had no easy access. On occasion, we would hear the vigilantees gun's at night to protect the community but hardly heard of a break-in.

On Sunday morning July 21, 2007, my worst fears were realized when Ibrahim (my 5 year old son), 2 friends, and I were stopped by armed robbers on the road close to the Cameroon border. Nonetheless, these north African robbers who spoke only Arabic only wanted money and items of value. They did not touch us, threaten us, or terrorize us but simply told us to "bring money" and open the back of the car to search through our bags. Ibrahim and I sat down on the road waiting for these masked men to finish rummaging around. When it was all over with, Ibrahim, my 2 friends, and I thanked God for his protection during the robbery.

We have learned to trust God because there is no place in this fallen world where there is a guarantee of "safety." The Arewa (northern Nigeria) has called us to serve people in need and we invite you to join us.

Drip Irrigation Promotes Big Dreams

When the Blake family moved to northeastern Nigeria (Maiduguri) in July of 2005, we immediately felt the August vegetable scarcity. We had lived in central Nigeria (Jos) for 4 years enjoying an abundance of sweet corn, green beans, lettuce, green peas, and broccoli. God blessed Jason Williams to visit us in August of 2005 with my mother, Carolyn Blake. Immediately, Jason perceived that Maiduguri would be a ripe candidate for a drip irrigation project through Healing Hands International. Jason went back to the College Hills church and Healing Hands preaching the need for growing veggies in the desert.

I was eventually invited by Healing Hands along with two believers in Maiduguri to attend a drip irrigation conference at Dakar, Senegal in March 2006. When we got back home to Borno State, we started composting at a piece of abandoned property. We began to secure that forgotten propety in western Maiduguri throughout 2006 with a perimeter wall. God brought $10,000 into that project to "build the wall" around this 2 1/2 acre sandy soil plot in 2006. This set the stage for our 2007 project to turn at least half of the field from a desert into a beautiful garden.

Our 2006 compost heaps were well-preserved providing a foundation for us to begin envisioning plant growth. In 2007, we began raising plant beds to test the viability of composting and drip irrigation. Parcels containing various types of seeds began rolling into our post office box allowing us to experiment with the compost and drip method. This set the stage for a bumper harvest of zucchini, squash, sweet corn, cucumber, and sweet corn in July of 2007. As our first food security workshop was launched for the Borno State Agricultural Ministry, they were deeply impressed at what could be done.

The Nigerian NGO (non-governmental organization) under whom we serve is INTERCEP (International Centre for Peace, Charities, and Human Development). INTERCEP in Maiduguri is now known as the organization impacting people at the grassroots with sustainable farming. Farmers have depended on rainy season crops like sorghum, guinea corn, millet, peanuts, and watermelon for centuries. This always proved risky because the rains only fall in northeastern Nigeria for 3 months a year at best. Now that the word is out on the street that vegetables can be grown in the desert people are excited.

Arewa Aid is our USA-based 501c3 non-profit organization that provides INTERCEP in Maiduguri with the tools that it needs to progress. Phase 1 of our vision is to help promote a sustainable agricultural project for local poor farmers. Phase 2 of our dream is to initiate a skill acquisition center that will train local unemployed youth with marketable skills like sewing, auto mechanics, electrical work, plumbing, and masonry. Phase 3 of our long-range plan is to mobilize a rural clinic on wheels that will travel to the poorest villages in northeastern Nigeria with primary health care. In phase 4 we foresee that a primary school targeting the poorest children with options in arts and computer skills will bless children with no options.

Would you become part of the Arewa Aid family in providing humanitarian empowerment to those the people of northeastern Nigeria?

A Few Thoughts on Water

I remember as a kid being reminded by my parents not to use too much water for my bath and to turn the tap off while brushing my teeth and such. As Barney says it so well these days “While I’m brushing my teeth and having so much fun, I never let the water run. No, I never let the water run.” I know some of you can sing right along!
However, I have never been so conscious of the use and conservation of water as I am now in this stage of my life. Living in the edge of the Sahara where water will sometimes flow and sometimes not has caused me to appreciate the essentiality of life sustaining water. I have also thought many times about the day to day life of people who survive with far less water than I have.
I thought it might be interesting to some of you for me to share some of our daily life experiences which are sometimes eye-opening, sometimes mundane and sometimes funny. First you should understand that because of our African culture and way of life and because of the design of our house, outside elements are very much a part of our indoor life as well. Wind, dust, rain, gardens, flowers and trees all come inside. And water is almost always used for multiple tasks before being poured out.
We have several courtyards in the center of our house. Two adjoining courtyards are just outside our children’s bedroom doors and each kitchen (I have two) has a small courtyard for outdoor cooking and cleaning grains and various food preparation tasks. In these courtyards we are growing trees, flowers, tomatoes and beans. This is most often the place our water ends up after all its other purposes have been exhausted.
When our children were a little younger I would set a large basin in the courtyard and bathe all three of them there, in the same water, of course, before pouring the water on the plants. Now that our kids are a little older I turn on the shower and tell them to run inside simply because this is easier and less work for me. But I do feel guilty about all that water going down the drain.
One day I was washing Musa’s bottles in a basin of water. When I finished I noticed how dirty my feet were so instead of wasting the water, I sat down and gave my feet a good scrubbing. After all, I hear milk baths are great for the skin! Then onto the flowers it went.
Our bathtub drain is set up so that it runs into the yard instead of into the suckerwell. To take advantage of this we have planted shrubs outside of our bathroom and channeled the water to reach them all. We pour a few buckets of water down the toilet each time we bathe since our water pressure is not strong and the toilet doesn’t flush with much force. If I notice our bathroom floor needs mopped I will do this with my bathwater as I get out of the tub. I will also sometimes carry buckets of bathwater to other thirsty plants in the house or yard.
If our water level is especially low we are in the habit of taking bucket baths. What that means is you have one bucket of water and a small dish. You use the dish for pouring water on yourself, soap up and rinse off. You get real good at estimating just how many dishes of water you can use to wet down and rinse off so that you aren’t left standing all soapy with an empty bucket.
We wash dishes in basins. One for washing and one for rinsing. Once the wash water is too dirty it goes onto the plants or onto the compost pile. Then the rinse water becomes the wash water and the cycle continues. A basin of water can start out as rinse water for dishes, become washing water for dishes, then be used to wash feet, move on to the mop bucket and finally end up as a flush for the toilet. We are not casual about water here.
I often think of the words to a song of which I cannot remember the name. “If just a cup of water I place within your hand, then just a cup of water is all that I demand.” A cup of cool, clean drinking water in this place is no small deal. And even if one cup of water is all you have, if your neighbor comes asking, you do not deny him. That is the heart of hospitality here. In fact, even as I write this I have sent our girls out with buckets on their heads in search of water from a neighbor who may be fortunate enough to have some.
I am grateful to have these experiences so that my heart is full of appreciation for God’s abundant blessings.
I love you all, Jen