Are you interested in paying forward a small part of the blessings and help you have received in your life? We have developed a program you may want to consider supporting.
Over the past 4 months, we have had a life-changing experience. Our church has a pilot program where we have been helping young missionaries from the Lagos, Nigeria mission transition into the next steps of their lives.
With a one-time $350.00 (or smaller) donation, you will enable one returned missionary to achieve educational or occupational goals that will be life-changing.
Please read below to see how easy it is for you to have a huge impact on someone who has just finished 18 or 24 months of dedicated voluntary service in sharing the gospel and now desperately wants to improve their own situation.
Our goal is to provide assistance to the 80 missionaries who will return from the Lagos, Nigeria mission during the 1-year duration of our assignment. We want to do this in such a way so that these 80 will then be able to benefit 80 more missionaries who come home 2 to 3 years later.
Some facts about the young people we work with:
1) The church is growing rapidly in Africa and all the missionaries we work with are native to Africa with home countries in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, and Nigeria.
2) Many of the missionaries are the only members of their families and consequently don't have the benefit of the help afforded to most missionaries making this transition.
3) Almost all of these missionaries face difficult economic situations when they return home. Some aren't sure where they will live. One of our missionaries had been living in a room that is now a chicken coup.
4) The church has many online programs such as BYU Pathway that can provide educational opportunities, but these missionaries don't have access to a computer to take advantage of these educational resources.
5) Many of them would like to learn a trade but can't pay the fee for this training. One of the zone leaders we worked with couldn't find work for several weeks. Finally, he found a job that paid $3 per day. Another got a job as a cashier that paid $2 per day.
6) A few of them had to leave school after 6th grade to work to help support their families.
7) Without viable employment the possibility for marriage is limited due to cultural customs.
This might sound pretty bleak but the upside is that a relatively small amount of money can have a huge impact on these returned missionaries' lives and their future families.
$350 is enough for you to help purchase a laptop which is the major resource needed to pursue a college education.
$350 is enough for you to pay for a 1-year program to get a certificate as a welder or to pay for training and a sewing machine to become a tailor/seamstress or other similar trade.
Your donation will absolutely be the enabling force to changing a young person's life for the better and we would like to invite you to join us in this effort.
We have started two programs:
Laptop Scholarship Program
We can pay for the first 10 laptops for this program but the need is 4 times greater than this as we want to provide an opportunity for at least 40 of these return missionaries to develop their educational potential. With your help, we hope to be able to bless many more returned missionaries who have a dream of obtaining a college degree and pursue professional careers. They want to become accountants, hospital managers, human resource officers, software engineers, IT professionals, and business owners. This will help them provide for their future families and also be in a position to provide service and leadership in the church going forward. Recipients will pledge to donate back into the Laptop fund when they are financially able.
Pay it Forward Occupational Training Grant
About half of the missionaries we work with want to learning a trade but would need to save for two to three years before they would be able to pay the fees. So far we have funded grants to 4 returned missionaries and plan to do 6 more ourselves. With your help, we hope to provide 40 grants. These grants are set up as a loan with the recipient paying for a future returned missionaries' training once they are making sufficient income who would then pay it forward in a similar manner. Each Pay It Forward Occupational Training Grant has the potential to bless the lives of many returned missionaries via this Pay It Forward approach.
Williams Lavalie, from Sierra Leone, started his welding training in September and will finish in one year.
Udeme Sunday, from Nigeria, and is training to be a seamstress.
Esther Livingston, from Liberia, is get training as a baker and pastry maker with plans to start her own business.
Onyinyechi Monday, from Nigeria, was able to pay for her own training as a seamstress but now has the funds to purchase the required sewing machine.
Our goal is to ensure each of the 80 missionaries returning during our term of service has an opportunity to pursue further education via Pathways or to get the occupational training that they need to be able to reach their potential, become self-sufficient, and be in a position to bless others. Your help can make this possible. These 80 will then provide means for the next 80 from their mission via the Pay it Forward principle. (the "next 80" will be those who come home 2 to 3 years after them)
We recently received this photo and note from Prosperity Peter of Nigeria, our first laptop recipient, after he attended his first BYU Pathway class:
If you are in a position to make a $350 or a smaller donation please contact us and we can provide you more information. Contributions can be tax-deductible.
For more details:
- Review our FAQ for donors google doc including how to make a contribution.
- Visit the Pay it Forward Lagos RM Facebook Group announcement page for terms and conditions.
- Visit the Pay It Forward Lagos RM Facebook Group for current postings.
- Email payitforward.lagos.rm@gmail.com
- Text Merritt @ +1 505 401 1499
* These programs are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
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