Deaf Church Fund Closed

November 13th, 2016 Dedication and Consecration of "The Church For The Deaf", Jimeta, Nigeria

This campaign has been working along side of the Deaf Lutheran Danish Church to collect funds for this project. Donations from the United States and this Go Fund Me site have raised 51.1% of the cost of building and equiping the church so far. The Danish Church has contributed 46.4% plus the bell and other items and local individuals contributed 2.4

The foundations were dug in February of 2014 and the church was dedicated on November 13, 2016 by Bishop Amos Yakubu of the Yola Diocese of the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria. We still have a little work to do. The chairs for the pastors on the altar are borrowed, the pastor office only has a desk, the store room needs shelving, and we need a projector screen. Some of the fans will be relocated and the outside landscaping, hardscaping and stormwater control measures are yet to be designed. 

Below are a few pictures from the Dedication and Consecration of the Church, officiated by Rt. Rev. Amos Yakubu and assisted by Rev. Ruth Ulea. Bishop Yakubu named the church "The Church for the Deaf".  I will be creating a blog posting with more pictures later tonight. My blog can be found at https://jayinnigeria2016.blogspot.com.

Consecration of the Entrance.
Bishop Amos Yakubu cutting the ribbon.
Bishop Amos Yakubu beginning the dedication service.

Consecration of the Baptismal Font.

Consecration of the Pulpit

Consecration of the Altar.
Naming the church "The Church for the Deaf" and declaring the church open.
The ringing of the bell to start the service. This is an exact replica of the bell at the Danish Lutheran Deaf Church in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is rung three times in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The first service in The Church For The Deaf was a voiced service. This will probably be the loudest service in this building.

The Dedication Service was attended by approximately 200 people, with 135 crowded inside and 70 outside. Most were hearing members of the Jimeta Cathedral in the adjacent compound but also many Deaf including two deaf preachers from Lagos who took public transportation across the whole of Nigeria to attend.

April 2016





September 2014

September 2, 2014
 I returned to Jimeta, Nigeria on Friday August 22nd. We had forwarded the money for the roof my wire transfer on Monday. When arrived they were already started on the roof. By September 1st they had finished the roof structure and are about ready to attach the long span aluminium roofing panels. The cost estimate was less than the architect's estimate. With money received from Denmark we may have enough to install the doors and windows. The final phase of the construction will be the finishing phase. This is the most expensive phase and is estimated at just under $13,000. The finishing phase will include rough electrical, plastering wall inside and outside, plumbing, connection to the Cathedral water system, waste soak away system, painting inside and outside, installation of lights, fans and other electrical, building the raised Altar area, Baptismal Foint, tiling the floor and installing the acoustical ceiling. What it does not include is furnishings. When the roof accounting is complete we will update our goal to the amount we need to complete construction.

July 2014


I have updated this site to include construction of the roof. The walls were finished with some donations from my church members, some other churches and from Denmark. Now we have to raise money for the roof. The Mill Neck Foundation has given us a grant for $3,500. The Mount Calvary Foundation has given us $3000. Bread of Life Deaf Church in Minneapolis has told me they have raised $500. We are getting close.  We need about $1,100 more to have enough to pay the roofing contractor.

I am sheduled to return to Nigeria in late August to work on some other projects but will also be working with this project and will carry the money over there to avoid bank transfer fees and other bank fees. 

The campaign started with trying to raise part of the money to build the walls. Below is the original page message. The money raised will now be used to put on the roof. The walls got built with other funds. The $1,200 that was donated for walls is now included into the roof funding.

March 2014
The First Deaf Church in Jimeta, Nigeria is under construction. We need your help to finance the building of the walls. We want to raise a little over 1/2 the cost of the wall construction with this campaign. Each concrete block cost about $0.67. Each bag of portland cement cost $12. Each truck load of sand is $62. Each truck load of gravel is $340.

Work continues as long as they have money. They stopped working on the foundation and floors for a couple weeks as we waited on an international money transfer from supporters in Denmark. It has started again I am told. I had to returned to Minnesota before my visa expired. The picture below is where the work was when I left. 

I am hoping to get updated pictures emailed to me after the Memorial Day Weekend.

Jay In Nigeria 2014 Blog, Deaf Church Foundation and Wall Construction
The link above is to my 2014 blog posting about the construction. I will be posting more photos as the work continues. The picture below is the front and back view of the church. The main change is that the doors on the back are being moved to the sides so there is better visibility from the main part of the Mission Quarters for better security.


When I arrived on March 1st they had the trenches for the footing dug. Early the next week the mason hired workers, including two deaf men, to cleaning out the trenches so the engineer can stake them for the footings. The next day they poured the spread footings for the foundation walls. The Bishop of the Yola Diocese Rt. Rev. Amos Yakubu, dedicated and blessed the foundation on March 26th. There is a video of the Blessing on my blog page (http://jayinnigeria2014.blogspot.com/2014/03/blessing-of-foundation-cathedral-deaf.html) 



This is the area they use to handmix the concrete and the mortor to build the walls and floors. 
This is an illustration of what it will look like from the back row of the sanctuary to the Altar. The traditional raised pulpit has been replaced by a wall to wall stage area where the Pastor will sign from and the signing choir will sing from. To make the view visible I had to remove the walls. But this is what it will look like if we do not get enough money to build the walls.

Below is what the church might look like when set up for as a meeting space with tables and chairs.

Blessing of the Foundation

Yola Diocese Bishop Amos Yakubu performed the Blessing of the Foundation on March 26th, 2014. The children in the blue school uniforms are from the LCCN Deaf Centre Primary School.




Above is a 3 minute You Tube Video of the 30 minute ceremony. This took over 2 hours to load onto You Tube. I do not think the subtitles are very readable. I am a better engineer than a video editor.

Pictures of Progress

I have started to take a picture each afternoon that there has been construction and I am not out in the Bush on a water projects.  The first was March 28th.
Below is March 31st, 2014. Pastor Ruth is standing in her future office. At this point construction has paused to allow the concrete to cure and for the money transfer from Denmark to be completed.

April 10 Update: The money transfer from Denmark has been tied up in an Administration problem at the LCCN Headquarters. It is now expected to be transfered to the Deaf Church account by April 27 or earlier if HQ can fix the problem. Until we found received a 100,000 Naira ($600) donation from a local couple and I ,using money I brought with me from Citizens Into Action that was for another project, has advanced $500 to the project.  This money will need to be reimbursed to the CIA from this Go Fund Me campaign when I return to the US. The donation and advanced funds are being used to fill the foundation with laterite. 

On April 17th the last of concrete blocks that had been purchased for the Foundation were used. All of the cement is gone. Almost all of the gravel and sand are gone. The current schedule is that the money from Denmark will be released in 10 days. 


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