We travelled two hours to reach a very remote tribal village surrounded by mountains, very close to the Cameroon border. This was the main mission station where Biturs and Monica lived for 6 years. They started a school, pastored a church and trained people in basic literacy. Bitrus and Monica are very pleased with the ongoing growth of this mission station. Some of the original children have gone on the attend the bible school and have now returned to the station to be teachers at the primary school. We visited grades 1-6. The children in grades 5 and 6 are taught in English. Some of the children walk long distances to get to school. Two tiny girls, ages 7-8, walk 4 km each way (up and down the rugged mountain) to attend school. Many girls are not supported by their families but CMO has a support program for girls who desire to have an education. Even some very young children will take menial tasks to support themselves with school fees. The fees are about 4oo naira paid three times per year. This is about 8 dollars per year.
Pastor Bitrus asked the classes if they had seen a white person before and about half of the children had not seen a Caucasian before. They certainly did look at us very intently.
About 200 villagers are attending the local church........many parents are illiterate so the oral tradition of learning is very important.
At this location we also saw a well which had been dug by hand to a depth of 90 feet. A man was lowered down and filled a bucket with mud........very tedious work.
This was also the location of another seminar with about 200 people attending. This was more than the capacity of the church but everyone just crammed in. Outside temp was 43-45 degrees and the inside temp was HOT!
continued...............................
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