Improving Children’s Futures


Dear Friends and Family,

Over the years, I have shared with many of you the impacts of Missionaries in my life and the lives of my friends.  Early in the 1930, a young woman, Ms. Eva Sanders, of Norfolk, VA, graduated with a degree in Nursing, and joined the Baptist Church Mission in that State. Subsequently, she was sent to Lagos, Nigeria in 1932, and ultimately to my town, Iree, in Southwestern Nigeria. She was the only white person among my people for many years, until joined by two other female Missionary nurses. The love and care they dispensed during their tenure were immeasurable.

With limited knowledge in construction, architecture and design, Ms. Sanders collaborated with the Nigerian Baptist Convention to build an elaborate Baptist Medical Center that included a Midwifery School for young women, a one-of-its-kind Baptist High School, a Chapel and a K-12 school for the children way back in the mid-forties. She evangelized the community, trained young women to become Midwives, and delivered over 38,000 babies before she retired and returned to the USA in 1968. I was one of those babies she delivered, and she took special interest in me as a shy tongue-tied boy. I remember with nostalgia how all of us children would gather at her private home on Saturdays for special treats: candies, baked beans, powdered milk and more, as she joined us for soccer, horse-play and other games in the expansive lawn in front of her home. I remember how we would wave and run endlessly after her 1953 Chevrolet car for many blocks, and the wonderful Saturday Bible studies to cap the day. She was our angel, and a lifesaver to Iree and the neighboring communities.

I tried to locate her in her hometown in VA in 1996, but she had transitioned to be with the Lord shortly before my visit.  I still have such a huge hole in my heart for not having the opportunity to tell her THANK YOU for what she did for me, my peers, and our town.  She was truly a loving mother, and a God-loving caregiver. She was given the highest order of recognition by the Queen of England before she left Nigeria, and I have unsuccessfully written to the last two US Presidents to award her a Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously. I will keep trying.

I was shocked on my last visit to my hometown in Nigeria two years when I saw the High School Ms. Sanders labored to help build so dilapidated and completely deserted of care. Students of the school, who were the same age as I was back there in the seventies, now practically sit on the floor to learn, using books with many relevant pages missing, and they are so far removed from the technological advancements of computers and other key learning aids!  It was a terrible sight!  I had to hold back tears.  At that moment, all I could think of was that these are God’s children, and they are our future leaders who are learning in the most untoward circumstances.

There were many reasons and excuses for the School’s conditions, and unfortunately putting Government in charge of anything hardly works anywhere let alone in Africa. At some point, some politicians promised free education for all, took over the school from the Nigerian Baptist Convention, but later dumped the school to fetch for its own after elections were over.   I cried out that something must be done in appreciation and memory of Ms. Sanders.   I became very determined that all her good deeds for me and my people should not go waste.   I cried that someone must do something about the situation. I have personally awarded several scholarships to the needy and bright students of the school, and many of my friends have taken upon similar charities.  However, they really have no decent and safe structure to learn. I have asked why wouldn’t somebody do something to renovate the school and memorialize Ms. Sander’s name?   Then I heard a voice telling me “...Remi, you do something…”.   The voice said it takes a village to raise a child, and that you (I) have many caring and God-loving friends and families to support this project.

After an extensive study of what it will take to bring the High School back to its former glory and provide a better future for the present and future students in my ancestral community, some like-minded alumni arrived at an estimate of $150K for the works to be done.   We plan to build a standard library, buy book shelves and furnitures , stock the library with books, and supply desktop computers so the children can connect to the rest of the world and participate in STEM.   Beds and foam mattresses will be purchased to house and comfort these students (I lived in one of the Boarding houses as a student), we will recruit top University graduates to teach key subjects, we will renovate  and retrofit the structural damages to the buildings, and we will institute  erosion controls to the school roads and landscapes. We also plan to update the school Chapel, and provide more merit-based scholarships to qualified students regardless of religion or tribe.   I see a very bright future for these kids.

You are receiving this long note because you are a Mentor, a dear friend and/or a family member who I believe share my passion of one-world for all God’s children; and that service is our price for living. This is a tall task that my friends and I cannot execute alone. I am pleading that you support me (us) and these children by donating to this cause.   It will be appreciated as well if you would be kind to share this campaign with your networks of friends and families alike.   Transparency is key, every dime will be accounted for, 100% of all donations will apply to this project, progress reports on the facilities will be made available quarterly.   We will post monthly the project’s progress, detail the competitive bidding process at every stage, and release funds on a graduated basis to the successful contractors.  Withdrawals will be made by me, and expenses will be approved by me and other executives of the alumni group in the USA.  We have a certified CPA among us working with the local current school’s Principal on the project, and our Project Manager is a trusted Engineer. Funds will be released locally for the project upon the signatures of the two authorities above, and only once approved by me and the USA Chapter of the Alumni. Any donor can request and inspect all aspects of disbursements and project’s progress anytime.

I am hoping that some of you would  even consider becoming mentors remotely for these children along the road.    We are who we are today because of the generosity of God-loving and caring souls.   A wall of dream-makers will be created in the proposed school library to honor all donors, regardless of the amount contributed.  I believe in the reality of this dream because the Lord has blessed me with wonderful and caring people that are receiving this invitation.   Attached are some  pictures of the school in its current condition, some pictures of late Ms. Sanders from a small autobiography of her based on her short notes of her experiences in Nigeria, and more especially in Iree. Though this was a first person note, many of my friends are also behind this project. Thank you in advance for your generous contributions.


Truly Yours,


Remi Kajogbola

For the Baptist High School, Iree, Oshun State, Nigeria, Renovation and Scholarship team.