Stepping Stones Nigeria

Stepping Stones Nigeria is an incredible organization which was created in 2003 by Gary Foxcroft and Naomi Chapple. After spending three months at Akwa Ibom State and witnessing the lack of resources in schools, children sleeping on the streets, and many social issues which were plaguing the children of the region, Foxcroft was inspired to create a charity to assist Nigerian youth. Fighting for quality educational programs and resources, putting an end to the stigmatization, killing and abandonment of "child witches," and bringing an end to child trafficking, this program partners with local community organizations to end child abuse and deliver much needed health care and refuge for at risk youth.

Programs offered by Stepping Stones Nigeria: 


The Stepping Stones Model School provides over 180 nursery and elementary school children with quality teachers and numerous resources. Students who cannot afford the small monthly fee used to provide teacher salaries, attend through scholarships and are provided with free uniforms and books. The Local Government and village chiefs work with the program's supporters in order to create quality curriculum and provide the children with better opportunities. Using synthetic phonics and learning through play, educational toys, books, and games fill the school indoors, while a playground greets children outside. Local carpenters built furniture and supplies for the school with wood from the area.The children are taught sustainable farming practices by teachers and staff on the school's farm, which includes crops such as pineapple, water leaf, pumpkin, corn, cassava, and beans, as well as mango, apple, peach, pear, banana, plantain, and pawpaw trees. The profits from the produce of the farm are donated back to the costs of running the school. 

The murder, abandonment, and trafficking of child "witches" is a grave concern in the Niger Delta. The role of the church in this issue is quite alarming. Using fear tactics spread by "pastors" of some new Penetecostal groups have begun moving into communities and branding children as "witches" for economic and self-gain. Creating superstitious belief that by eating and drinking food and drink laced with "spells" can make an individual house wizards and witches in an individual, these pastors unleash panic and terror within communities. These pastors often convince communities that specific children (picked at random from the community) are the reason for issues in society, claiming that the children are causing HIV/AIDS, malaria, hepatitis, typhoid, cancer, infertility, mental health issues, divorce, and any other misfortunes that may arise within a village. Stemming from religious profiteering, extreme poverty, the disintegration of the extended family structure, superstitious beliefs, and broken marriages, accusations of child witchcraft are allowed to fester within communities and often cause children to become victims of heinous crimes and abuse. These pastors charge villages money in order to rid them of the witchcraft and the children harboring these evils.  These suspected witches range in age, some being younger than a year old. Some children are abandoned, isolated, and casted out of their communities, where they either die of starvation or are trafficked. Others are forced to drink acid, are taken into the forest and murdered, are bathed in acid, are publicly disgraced and murdered for all to see, are poisoned to death, or are buried alive. Others still are brought into churches where they are chained and tortured to extract confession. Through efforts of this group and groups like it, these horrific crimes against children have been made illegal. The group works with organizations in order to educate communities about the fallacies of the claims of witchcraft and pushes to bring families back together and assist the children who were abandoned and left for dead.

Child trafficking is another issue which is all too familiar in Nigeria. According to the organization's website, it it estimated that over 15 million Nigerian children are transported from rural to urban cities to be sold into child labor and slavery, (domestic servitude, forced labor, and sexual exploitation). The group strives to abolish this practice and advocate children's rights through drama groups and other means of educational programs and awareness.

The reach of this organization is astonishing and the work done in order to bring about educational equality and an end to child abuse is admirable. This is an incredibly deserving group which is always in need of advocates to sign petitions, spread awareness, and become actively involved in helping the children of Nigeria. For more information about this group and ways to become involved, visit www.steppingstonesnigeria.org.