Safiya during her studies.In the Kano state of northern Nigeria, a Muslim state on the edge of the Sahara desert, women and young girls struggle in extreme poverty and sub-human rights conditions. These are among the most vulnerable females in the world. They are not exposed to formal education of any kind and not even taught to read or write. Without rights in the society nor economic opportunities of their own, young girls in Kano are forced into marriage, often by age twelve, to serve and live in a husband’s home.

This is the life five-year old Safiya was born into. Her father is a desert farmer, who, due to serious water shortages, plants his crops only four months of the year. He has two wives and twelve children. The family lives in severe poverty: all fifteen share a total income of less than one dollar per day. With so few resources available, Safiya, the family’s second youngest, stood no chance of being counted worthy the investment of education. It’s likely that as soon as possible she would be married off to any man who would take her. For girls like Safiya in Kano, it is not unusual to be quickly discarded by the first husband and to be married twice even before age nineteen.

But God has intervened in Safiya’s life. Last year a pastor living in her area discovered this young, vulnerable girl. Pastor Haruna Yole, who works with Hands at Work in Africa and the Kano Mercy Initiative’s literacy village just six miles from Safiya’s town, knew the life destined for Safiya and pleaded that Safiya’s father might allow the girl to attend the literacy training program beginning in January, 2008.

After much prayer on her behalf, Safiya was released by her father to attend the school, and now she is busy with her studies, hoping, praying, and always saying that she would like to continue with her education, move to the city and become somebody relevant in the society. She is specially endeared by the staff of Kano Mercy Initiative, who call her “SAFIYA MATA SAFIYA KANO”, which means ‘SAFIYA – a girl, a prominent person in Kano!’

About 60 such children drawn from various desert villages are receiving free education at the Hands at Work Kano Mercy Initiative Literacy Village every 4 months. It is a holistic training site in extreme rural Kano providing basic life skills to vulnerable women and children. Hundreds more must be reached immediately. Please pray for resources to expand the overfilled facilities.