aimed at spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ through the “word” and “humanitarian” services. Any corps member who
has served without having an experience of Rural Rugged could have been said to miss a great deal.
The just concluded Zamfara State Rural Rugged is an exception I need to share among folks. The evangelical trip which
was proposed to kick off on the 30th day of August to 1st September 2012, became a reality when corp members across
the state came together in love; irrespective of qualification to embark on the long-awaited Rural Rugged to DOKA… This
is a remote village whose inhabitants are mainly subsistence farmers. The road from MADA to DOKA was full of
undulating contours and pathway waters. The truck that conveyed us was an old one that if not for the grace of God, I
don’t think we would have escaped mechanical faults because of the terrain of the road. The trip became so stressful to
the extent that none of us was able to sing praises; all that echoed time-to-time was JESUS! FEAR of accident became
paramount. But in the midst of those dark moments, God’s light was able to guide and protect us to DOKA. When we
arrived DOKA in the still of the night (12:23am), we thought the settlers were already asleep, unknown to us they were all
eagerly awaiting our arrival. As we passed, we greeted them in their native dialect, “INA YINI” which means, “GOOD
EVENING” and they all answered “LAFIYA”, which also means “FINE”. After a short while, we were taken to our respected
huts which served as temporary accommodation for the time being.
DOKA is an Islamic settlement where the message of Islam is only accepted. Imagine! But God still instructed us to go
there for mission work. I still remember vividly the two Islamic slates we met in the room we slept called, “KADUNA
ROOM”. Still, that didn’t scare us. We ate our meal and slept off in that room till day break. On 31st August which was
the D-DAY, we all assembled in one place and later went on a prophetic match to the local chief of DOKA. The chief
(HAKIMIN DOKA) and his entourage were so pleased to have us in DOKA. He welcomed us and he gave us the go ahead
to accomplish our mission in his town, after which ZM PAPA also thank the HAKIMI and promised to help his people by
rendering humanitarian services. Papa also assured the local chief that the school NCCF Zamfara has already started
building in DOKA will soon be completed. About two hours later, the humanitarian services kick off and the dwellers
trooped out to benefit from the initiative which includes, free medical care, barbing and plating of hair, distribution of
clothes etc.; all these was done because NCCF ZAMFARA saw a need in DOKA.
The exercise was rounded off that day and we all left DOKA on the 1st day of September, 2012 to our respective zones.
But there is something I wouldn’t like to forget as part of my experience during the Rural Rugged… I trekked from DOKA
to a town called MADA, for 3 hours! On a normal day, I won’t have trekked because of my health condition, but God gave
me an unusual strength that day. Praise GOD!
VotaPwa G. Elkanah
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