A church in Abuja has extended hands of brotherliness to about 800 people, mostly indigent and homeless Muslims in the spirit of the Eid-el-Kabir celebration by providing food to them.
The Jesus Interior Missions Foundation Inc which took this initiative at the weekend in Gwarimpa, said it was moved by the plight of most of the indigent and homeless individuals who hangout and sleep around Buola joint in Bmiko village, located around the cemetery. Most of the beneficiaries were refuse collectors otherwise called (Baba Buola) as well as those who pick scrap metals from dump sites.
Head of the mission, Apostle Mfon Bassey said the church had to feed the people after it discovered that one of its printers died suddenly and the church learnt he was homeless and sleeping around the area before he passed on.
He added, “The president said things would be better soon so we are intervening. We have come with food for them because once the body is fed, the soul can be ministered to.
We also came to pray for the artisans for the Lord to strengthen them, in a few weeks we would come with a medical mission and gifts during the Christmas celebrations.
“We were here during the Easter celebrations and this is Sallah season so we have come to rejoice with them. So, the members of Jesus Interior Missions Foundation Inc with our head Apostle Chucks Wadoka has instituted it that we should always remember our local communities.
“For today, we came with ration for about 800 people. To other men of God, all I have to say is love your neighbours as you love yourselves, if you don’t want to be hungry, sow a seed to someone that is hungry and God would provide for you. Do things that would make the man around you not to lose hope, if we all do these Christians, Muslims and so on, we would have a better society.
“If you come here at night, you would be surprised because around 2000 homeless people sleep around here including on the trees. The graveyard is closeby, people even lie on the graves because they are homeless.”
Bassey also said, “We used to often have corporate social responsibility outreaches and we heard that one of our printers who resided around the environment was homeless and died all of a sudden, it triggered off many reactions from us and we realised it could happen to any of them because we usually come here every quarter.
“The new President is talking about renewed hope and we know it cannot come everywhere so we have to carry the vision because the Bible says pray for your leaders, we have to carry the vision in thinking about the homeless, helpless, physically, emotionally and economically challenged in our midst because putting food right now on the table is something else.”
One of the beneficiaries and refuse collector, 20-year-old Abdullahi Musa, lauded the kind gesture and appealed to well- meaning Nigerians to rescue them from the pangs of poverty as many people can’t feed themselves because of the hardship in the country at the moment.
