WMS (Women's Missionary Society)

St. Andrew's WMS meets once a month. You are welcome to attend a meeting to see what the WMS is all about.

Contact our WMS by leaving a voice message on our telephone answering system. Call 905-729-0055. Or send an e-mail to clerkstandrewsbeeton@gmail.com

MISSION IN NIGERIA

St. Andrew's supports a mission in Nigeria.

The program is run by two local sisters, Cheryl and Donna Pridham, who are missionaries in Nigeria. Their program is handled through an organization called SIM (Sudan Interior Missions). The two sisters have been in Nigeria for 26 years and have been in their current location (Samaru-Kataf) for 16 years. They help run a widow's training school and also have approximately 10 school-age children in the program.

Cheryl advised that Nigeria has a population of approximately 180M with a 50/50 split Muslim/Christian. Average age of mortality for males is 46. When a woman marries, she becomes part of the husband's family and is supported through him. When he dies, his family usually no longer wants to support the wife (and often the children) because they are poor and have difficulty providing food and shelter. The wife usually has no training that would enable her to obtain money to support herself and her children. The option of returning to her own family is usually not available. This situation led to the establishment of the School for Widows.

In school, the widows are taught to sew and make crafts which they, in turn, sell at the market. The children are taught English in addition to their other studies.

Both mothers and children can participate in Bible studies.