A Great Woman

Greatness. A word defined by culture, subject to the whims of individual perception, in danger of becoming extinct as the standard drops.  Despite these limitations to this word, I still use it in reference to a woman who said as I left with Lydia on my back from her bedroom where she now spends most of her days, "I have children from many cultures."  Yes, Igye Ruth is a great woman.

She has lived in the United States, taught at a local technical school, invested in the lives of children, and been an advocate for the preservation of her language and culture.  She has weak knees but a strong heart.  She is raising many children that are not her own, and has helped me feel Nigeria is home.

She is the first person to offer me food in a real kwariya (gourd bowl) though everyone invites you to their "kwariya" no one has ever fed me from a real one.  That's her!  The real deal, sincere in all she says and does, offering you what she is, a great Nigerian woman full of love for God and others.

Please pray for Igye Ruth and her generation who long to see the Bible translated into their language.  She speaks Kuce, and they have yet to have a single book of the Bible published, though it has been over 20 years that they have longed for it. May God fight on their behalf and help the leaders of the language community move together in unity.