Back in June, I suffered the inconvenience of having to fly to Washington DC just to provide fingerprints to the Nigerian Embassy for the renewal of my Nigerian visitor’s visa. On the bright side of the trip, however, I discovered and attended a lobbying event at the US Capitol for persecuted Nigerian Christians.
The featured guest of this event was one of the Chibok girls who had been kidnapped by the infamous Boko Haram terrorists back in 2014. She testified how she and a few friends escaped by jumping of a truck in their caravan as their captors were distracted by mechanical problems with another vehicle!
Congressman Randy Hultgren
Among the concerned Congressmen in attendance was Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-IL 14th), Co-Chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in the US Congress. After the event, I spoke with Rep. Hultgren briefly about HEAL and our mission. He expressed a desire to meet with myself and Deacon Leo to hear our perspective on the human rights crisis in Nigeria.
After Deacon Leo arrived in Chicago last month, I scheduled a meeting with Rep. Hultgren at his Illinois district office for Sept. 10th. In the meeting, we submitted a white paper detailing our perspective on human rights violations in Nigeria. Also, Leo voiced his informed opinion on the root causes of the crisis. Rep. Hultgren listened with great attention, for which we are most grateful!
Please pray for HEAL as we venture into the arena of advocacy! Our focus is forming Servant Leaders (Mt. 20:28) through our humanitarian programs. But, we can’t forget to also stand up for the God given rights of the poor and marginalized rural villagers, widows, and orphans in our care!