Emotimi Nicky-Cleopas, a second-year UUMS student and candidate on the Ordination Path, is in the midst of a devastating flood in the region of Nigeria where she lives. Her family has lost their entire crop and they have been forced to move in together until the flood waters recede. Emotimi shared her situation with fellow classmates in Rev. Carole’s Advanced Metaphysics class. Here’s what she wrote to Rev. Carole:
My Dear Rev Carole,
Thank you so much for your patience, understanding and support. I had planned to write to you about my challenges, but yours came first. Thank you so much Ma’am.
I have submitted my week 9 assignment not long ago and I am working on week 10, hopefully I will submit it before the deadline.
A lot is happening at my end, apart from the challenges in my place of work which I mentioned in some of assignments the big one now is that we are flooded. More than 80% of my State is submerged, 27 out of 36 states are flooded and my own state (Bayelsa State) is worst hit as it is the Niger delta region–the outlet of the major rivers to the Atlantic ocean.
Luckily my own house is not flooded, but it has been turned into a refugee camp, as we are accommodating family and friends to manage through this period. My small cassava farm is gone, the current was so strong, we could not keep up to harvest all of it. Life is the most important thing now; we can always plant again.
I cannot even go back to my family now for the roads have been cut off. I am in my place of work in a neighbor state (Rivers State). I shuttle every weekend, but I can’t do that now. There is so much hunger, so much pain in the land, but I look beyond the flood, and I see light at the end of this experience.
This is the second time in my life that I am experiencing this kind of flood, the first was in 2012, but this is the worse. It will take 3 to 4 weeks before the water recedes.
My apologies for this “so long a letter” for I just wanted to share. “A problem shared is half solved” I am very much relieved.
Please keep on holding us in prayer. Also, pray for my country Nigeria. Our general elections are coming up next year in February 2023. I work with the election management body and our elections are always riddled with violence and insecurity. Let us bless the elections with light, peace—that it is free, credible, and acceptable.
Thank you for reading and praying with us.
Light and love
Emotimi
In another message to Rev. Carole on October 18, this is what Emotimi had to say:
“My colleagues and friends are like a lot is happening in your state/place, but you look like it does not affect you? I will just smile knowing I do not have the power to control the flood or direct its course, but I can appreciate the fact that I am alive to witness it and bless the situation instead of complaining and grumping. My attitude is as a result of my shift in consciousness for I see good even in the flood.”
Here’s her response to my email:
“Thank you so much for holding everyone in the light, Ma’am. It is a good feeling knowing that others are holding me, my family, and my country in prayers. We are looking to 3 to 4 weeks for the water to recede and have well adjusted to the reality on ground. So, we are okay.
I invite all of our UUMS family to join together in holding the high watch with Emotimi, her family, their community, and the entire region.
Rev. Sandra