Visitors last Sunday

Mai and children and a Plymouth HotRod

Mai is a friend of the Lighthouse of many years and was visiting with her children from Hong Kong.
The Big yellow car was not theirs. We think it may belong to the guy who owns the tyre shop.

Embarrassed to be British

My dear friend Professor Haruna and his wife have been denied visas for a three week visit to the UK by morons working for the UK Government.

It is alleged they did not have enough funds for the visit even though the plane tickets had been booked, I had given proof of my financial means as a “sponsor” and we had jumped through various obstructive hoops which seem designed to keep Nigerians visiting Britain at all.

They were due to stop by in the UK for a holiday before he attended an academic conference in Cologne.

This decision was decided on paperwork alone without an interview by an agency to which the Borders Agency has “outsourced” the processing of visas. How very “New Labour”.

We all know there are tens of thousands of “illegals” in Britain who do not even bother to fill in all those complicated forms. How does denying entry to a respected academic help to solve that problem?

As my son said after moving back from Tokyo, “No one in Britain does their job properly”. And I would add “particularly our civil servants”.

Izibeya, Chimuanya and a happy wedding day

Chimuanya's parents with Izi and Chimuanya

Last Saturday was a joyful time in God’s presence followed by a fun celebration. Even the weather celebrated the happy day.

I was really glad that Izi wanted to get married at the Lighthouse – the church he grew up in – and delighted to hear the happy couple’s vows.

Doug Hypolite – resting in Christ

Our dear brother, Douglas, died Friday 24 April and his funeral is at the Lighthouse Baptist Church at 2pm Wednesday 6 May.

He quietly served in the Lighthouse since his conversion and baptism nearly twenty years ago. We will miss him but will be able to trust him to the same God Whom he trusted.

Congratulations Professor Haruna!

My dear friend and brother, Dr. Andrew Haruna has just been made a full Professor at University of Maiduguri. This is a matter for celebration and thanksgiving to God. It is richly deserved (indeed over-deserved compared to some of the political, religious and ethnic “professorships” granted in the past) and it is based solely on his widely recognised academic standing.

He is more handsome without glasses but I think a Professor should wear specs, somehow.

Andrew is used by the University and Teaching Hospital as a contact man for visiting academics and doctors (completely unpaid, by the way!) since he has such cross-cultural and organisational expertise.

The University website has a Google malware warning so I won’t post a link to it but you can see a few things on my Bature blog.