In Nigeria

Inspired by the stories in Voices of Hope, the Giraffe Heroes Project's anthology of heroes around the world, fourteen students in Oporoza, Nigeria have formed the “Giraffe Service Club International." Their purpose is to "serve humanity." That's their teacher, Job Bebenimibo, at front row left.

Not long after these photos were taken, the village of Oporoza was razed by the Nigerian military. The surviving villagers fled into the bush, where there was no medical aid and no food. Days later, Mr. Bebenimibo managed to get an impassioned report of the attacks out via satellite so we knew he was alive, but he wasn't sure how many of his students had survived.

A report we did on the attacks got the attention of Senator John Kerry, in his role as Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee—he promised to look into the matter and soon met with Giraffe Joel Bisina. For the latest updates please check in here where you can also join the call for a halt to the violence and for aid to the survivors.

Update: We've since gotten word that Mr. Bebenimibo and most of his students survived their time in hiding and have returned to what is left of Oporoza. They've asked for and received new materials from us so they can resume their Giraffe service in their now devastated community. For updates on Sweet Crude, a documentary filmed in the Oporoza area, check here.

Some of the students’ ideas for service involve research and reaching out to the world; learning computer skills is part of their action plan.

Mixing high and low tech, the students aren’t forgetting the simple stuff—here a committee works on maintaining the first-ever library in Oporoza. It was built last year by a team of Nigerians and visiting Americans, including Giraffe Hero Joel Bisina and Mary Ella Keblusek, Associate Director of the Giraffe Heroes Project.

To fully appreciate what these young people are doing, check the news coming out of Nigeria. Oporoza is in the Niger Delta, an area that supplies a good percentage of the crude oil that fuels the industrialized world. Despite the Delta’s rich resource, the people of villages such as Oporoza are desperately poor—and living with increasing violence as warring factions battle over who will control the money that’s pouring in—little-to-none of it reaching the Delta’s people.

In the midst of all that, there’s a blue-roofed library in a Delta village that’s never had books before. There’s a school full of eager young learners, computers and a satellite dish connecting them to the world-at-large. There are young people and their teachers opting to be of service to humanity. Despite everything, there is hope.

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