the Gurku International School

To My Dear Brethren in Christ,
Covington Community Church, Covington, USA
Grace to you, and peace from God our Father.
I am writing to you today with tears in my eyes and gratitude in my heart.
Thank you. Thank you for remembering us. Thank you for your prayers, your love, and your
care for us here in Nigeria - especially for the unknown children, mothers, and families in
Gurku IDP Camp
You have loved us beyond words. The church you helped build, the school where our
children will now sit to learn, the hospital that will gives us hope when sickness comes ... we
have no way to pay you back.
But I serve a God who sees in secret. May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you richly, and may we
one day stand together in His kingdom as brothers and sisters who ran the race together.
Brethren, please sit with me for a moment and walk through my brief story.
I was just a child when Boko Haram tore our world apart. I watched lives I loved taken away.
I watched homes burn to ashes. We ran. We had nothing. No food. No home. Only fear ...
and a small hope that God was still with us.
That hope led me to Gurku IDP Camp.
Life there broke me. Young and old were sick every day. We were displaced, tired, and
hurting. We had no church, so we cried out to God under a mango tree. We had no school,
so we watched years pass by while our dreams died.
For a long time, I thought that was the end of my story.
When I finally entered a classroom, it was in a broken building with no roof and no chairs. I
couldn't read. I couldn't write. I didn't know if I would ever amount to anything.
But God ... God did not forget me.
In my darkest place, He held my hand. He taught me, letter by letter, word by word. And today, by His grace alone, I can say: academic excellence is my testimony.
At 14, I had to leave everything I knew. I left the camp. I left my parents. Not because I
wanted to, but because I had to fight for a future —-- for me, for the little ones coming
behind me and the world at large. The only school in the entire Gurku community could not
give me that.
And God honored that sacrifice. I finished school. I went to university in Maiduguri. And by
God's grace, I graduated with a First Class in Computer Science. The boy who couldn't read
under a mango tree... became the best in his class. All glory to Jesus.
For years I have prayed: "Lord, please don't let the next child go through what I went
through."
And God answered. He sent you.
You stepped in. You built. You prayed. You gave.
Because of you, children in Gurku are smiling again. Because of you, hope is alive.
I am nobody. But God put this burden in me to tell you: Your love is not small. It is saving
lives.
Please don't grow weary. Please don't give up. Be strong in the Lord. What you are doing is
eternal.
We love you. We pray for you every day. And one day, in heaven, we will embrace and say,
"We made it together."
With all my love and tears of gratitude,
Resident of Gurku IDP Camp, Nigeria