Good Friday Gift

Creating a Home for Traumatized Orphans in Northern Nigeria

Every Good Friday, Resurrection collects a special gift for a global partner.

This year, we are partnering with Abp. Ben and Mama Gloria Kwashi to expand Zambiri House in Jos, Nigeria, where they have welcomed 500
orphaned children into their love and care.

Your gifts will help expand the capacity of Zambiri House to provide housing, meals, schooling, clothing, and healthcare for 1,000 children.

Select “Good Friday Gift” in the fund dropdown. 

The Story

Abp. Ben and Gloria Kwashi live and minister in Northern Nigeria, where terrorist attacks and regional conflicts have killed thousands and displaced millions. God laid it upon Mama Gloria Kwashi’s heart to care for orphans left behind in the wake of this violence.

The adoptions started with a trickle: a small school nearly 300 kilometers away was closing and 20 orphans needed a home. So Mama Kwashi brought them to Zambiri. A few weeks later, the Kwashis gathered in 10 more. In less the six months, they had 60 children, formerly orphans, living at Zambiri. The Kwashis don’t fund and staff this enterprise alone—since they belong to a large diocese with many churches, the larger community has joyfully joined them in this incredible ministry.

Most of the children had experienced unspeakable trauma. Here’s one fairly typical “case history.” After Laraba’s father died of AIDS and her mother contracted AIDS, a man in her village raped and infected Laraba with HIV. She was only nine. Then her mother died, leaving Laraba to care for her seven-year-old brother, Bitrus. The siblings were shipped to a local orphanage where caretakers abused them again. When that orphanage closed, Mama Gloria gathered Laraba and Bitrus into her family at Zambiri.

The Kwashis have a simple ministry philosophy: Christ can heal the most profound trauma and loss, but that healing occurs in the context of a loving Christian community. More specifically, healing from trauma happens when broken people are immersed into a real Christian family, a place where a mom and a dad, an entourage of spiritual daddies and mamas, and a band of brothers and sisters embrace you with love and surround you with safety.

As Mama Gloria says, “Orphans’ greatest needs are parents, parents, and parents. It was the loss of parents that made them orphans.” And so for Mama Gloria the solution is simple: root them in a new family with a mom and a dad.

Today, they care for 500 children at Zambiri House with the help of their church community. 

“I came to Zambiri because my father and mother were both killed in a crisis, along with my three brothers and four sisters. I was the only surviving child.”
—Samson, adopted son of the Kwashis
a new family for vulnerable orphans

Welcome to Zambiri House

Every single day, the Kwashis provide what moms and dads have always provided—three meals, clothes, medical care, schooling, a safe place to sleep, and lots of hugs. 

Select “Good Friday Gift” in the fund dropdown. 

Your gift will enable

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