Zabolo Bible Training School is in a rural area ("bush") on a main road near
Jos. The school consists of two low buildings with three or four classrooms in each, and
several blocks of "hostel" dwellings. When I visited in November, mounds of
freshly harvested corn lay in the open areas between hostel building. The education is at
the high school level, so the three hundred students are mostly young adults. Many are
married and have children. Illness, especially in the students'
children, is a serious problem.
As I talked with the school principal, I mentioned that we were trying help provide medicine for children in schools like his. I said we know children are prone to many serious illnesses and can become quite sick very fast. Despite my familiarity with the poverty and poor health here, his reply startled me: "Oh yes, you're right. We've lost nine children just this year through illnesses." Nine children dying just this year, from a group of only one hundred! Not in a remote bush village, but right there in the Bible school.
There are several important reasons for so much illness.
Please pray with us for these students and children.
