The Eku School of Nursing buildings were finished in 1959 and the Students and Staff were moved to Eku to operate the school. In 1960 it was time for the Dedication and once again, the occasion was very festive. There were sounds of Joy, with lots of Cultural Drums, Dancing, and Great Thanksgiving for God’s blessings for the people of Eku !!! Dr. Ayarinde, from the Nigerian Baptist Convention in Ogbomosho, came and spoke at the dedication. There were many Kings in the area, Governors, and other dignitaries, all in their finest festive robs, filling the whole Hospital and Nursing School compound – What a marvelous sight !!! This was a long time from 1945 when my Mother, Eleanor Katharine O’Haver Howell Started training the first two nurses in Eku. How good God has been !! – Mr. Darocha Olokpa became the first Nigerian Principal of the Nursing School and I remember Many stories of going through the wards with him, making rounds, as he was teaching the nursing students what and how to do their assignments. What a great man he was !! The School of Nursing, however, brought with it some financial burdens on the hospital. It was the responsibility of the hospital to pay for the part-time services of the nursing students, but it also led to a great expansion and modernization of the hospital. In those days neither received any grant-aid from the government, but by the Baptist Mission & some from my Mothers’ old nursing school, in New Orleans, where she graduated. This was to maintain a good standard of excellence. In later years, many hospitals all over the world, including America, wanted graduates of the Eku School of Nursing to be on their staff, because of their Compassion and Excellence !!! Today, we ask agreement in Prayer, for a Miracle, so that the Eku Hospital and Eku School of Nursing, “WILL Live and Not die, TO declare the works of the Lord Jesus” !! God has been so faithful in His Great Love for the precious people of Eku !!! I BELIEVE that “what He began, He IS Faithful to perfect and complete” & that the “latter Will be Greater than the former” for the Glory of the Lord, in Jesus Mighty Name, AMEN ! Oghene e love una ooo !!!
