Stefanos Foundation
HISTORY
Stefanos Foundation is a human rights advocacy, relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction organization based in Nigeria. We are against violence, marginalization and discrimination of ethnic and religious minority people anywhere in the World. Stefanos Foundation is a peace building initiative motivated by a non-violent approach to conflict intervention. The organization was birthed through the activities of Release International in Nigeria in 2001. Release International is UK based organization founded by Richard Wumbrand with the aim of bringing the suffering of the persecuted to the notice of Christians.
Who we are
Our vision
Visiting the persecuted in their affliction
Our Mission
Stefanos Foundation is dedicated to making the voice of the persecuted church heard as well as giving practical care and support in the most desperate situations.
Our Inspiration
We are inspired by the scripture, “remember those as if you yourself were their fellow prisoners, and those who are ill-treated as if you yourself were suffering”. –Hebrews 13:3
Our Purpose
To enable Christians survive persecution.
Our Foundation
Stefanos foundation is a human rights advocacy, relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction and organization based in Nigeria. We are against violence, marginalization and discrimination of ethnic religious minority people anywhere in the world.
Our Aims & Objective
Showing God’s Compassion
Serving God’s Church
Sharing God’s Love
Spreading God’s Word
Speaking as God’s Advocate
Ministry Involvement
Showing God’s Compassion: Providing for the needs of the families of martyrs and prisoners of faith.
Serving God’s Church: Enabling them to survive persecution and its effects.
Showing God’s Love: Helping the persecuted church win to Christ those who are opposed to the gospel.
Spreading God’s word: Supplying Bibles and Literature to meet the need for growth and evangelism.
Speaking as God’s Advocates: Being the voice of the martyrs and the oppressed.
What we do
MITIGATION
Intelligence Gathering: we are involved in gathering and reporting accurate rumour/intelligence of impending attacks to relevant security agencies of Government for appropriate actions to avert the incident.
Awareness: we create awareness both locally and internationally on persecution of Christians and also network with concerned bodies to surmount the challenges. Such relevant bodies include the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Northern States Christian Elders’ Forum (NOSCEF), Christian Legislators Corporate Organizations, Traditional Leaders, and other Christian Ministries.
Leadership Training: we sensitize and train leaders on preparedness to understand the times we are in.
Media Engagement: We are involved in spreading God’s word, publishing and disseminating information on persecution, its effects and how best to respond to it. We also distribute literature to enable Christians understand the mindset of the persecutor, and educative literature on how to love them for Christ.
Advocacy: our advocacy work on human rights and justice is to enable Christians and non Muslims live and survive well in the face of the current ethno religious violence bedeviling Nigeria.
EMERGENCIES
Basic Response: Our medical help program has so far treated over 1000 crises victims in designated reputable hospital in Kano, Plateau, Kaduna, Bauchi and Abuja.
Relief: In areas where crises have been experienced, we give relief materials to the victims to meet their immediate needs of food, clothing, medicine and temporary accommodation. So far over 10,000 individuals have benefited from our relief project.
IDP Camp (Temporary Shelters): We have provided transit camp and settlements for internally displaced persons (IDPs). We have registered over 470 households in our camp in Jos giving rise to a total of over 4,000 individuals. On the other hand over 500 households have been registered in our Kubwaru (Nassarawa State) settlement totaling over six thousand individuals.
REHABILITATION
Education & Child Welfare: children of the martyred and orphans emerging from crisis education is of priority to us. We carter for their educational needs to enable them continue in school and have a future.
Convert Care: converts from Islam and other non-Muslims facing persecution are taken cared of through our collaboration with other Christian Agencies in discipleship training schools.
Micro Funding: petty businesses belonging to Christians that are destroyed in crises are helped to restart. Over 300 petty businesses and self-supporting businesses have been helped in Plateau, Bauchi, Kano, Jigawa, Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States.
Trauma Healing: Trauma healing workshop provides a platform for psychological first aid that enables people who have experienced suffering and loss to express their pain, accept it and grieve the loss by bringing their pain to Christ so that those feelings are not buried alive inside them. As they experience Christ healing, they are enabled to forgive those who have hurt them. Through this process, they are better able to rebuild their lives, their communities and become resilient. Stefanos Foundation organizes trauma healing workshops to help treat these wounds. Over 1,000 individuals have benefited from our trauma care.
About our area of focus - NIGERIA
Nigeria is a huge country and the most populous in Africa – a nation of over 140 million people, predominantly Muslim in the north and Christian in the south. Hundreds of homes and churches have been torched, and Christian men, women and children terrorised, macheted or shot. Government miliitary forces provide little or no protection and are increasingly complicit in these attacks. In the North-West, victims are not eligible for relief funding if they are Christians. Our aim is to help victims of aggression and those suffering discrimination simply for being Christians. By supporting Stefanos Foundation you help us provide funding for widows and orphans, work for justice in the courts, and bring the attention of world media to what is happening here on our doorstep. In recent times, the church in north and central Nigeria has fallen victim to discrimination, intimidation and dreadful violence, fuelled by Islamic terrorism and expansionism.