Welcome to Joy Village
Joy Village, much like Heart Space, is both an inner space and an outer place. It is both the expansive space out of which our creativity, wisdom, and compassion arise, as well as a community in Ebe, Nigeria centered on awakening the inherent capacity within each one of us to love and be loved and to come to know our true Self through compassionate service.
Joy Village’s founder, Father Charles Ogada, was born and raised in Nigeria and began to have unusual spiritual experiences from his childhood. After excelling as a top student at school, he decided to leave a potential career in medicine to pursue his work of loving service to humanity as a Catholic priest. Challenging religious conventions again and again, he brought a unique blend of Christianity and the Advaita Vedanta philosophy of Hinduism, as displayed in his 2011 book The I Am Principle – The Christ Within. In addition to all of these accomplishments, his study of a wide variety of faith traditions combined with deep spiritual insight led him to a personal commitment to interfaith understanding.
In 2010, Father Charles Ogada founded the Spiritan Self Awareness Initiative (SSAI), a non-profit humanitarian organization in Nigeria, with one primary goal: to adopt poor rural villages and co-develop them with community members into values-based caring communities, or Joy Villages using SSAI’s Triple Care Mandate.
The Triple Care approach involves addressing the social, educational and health needs of the community through Sociocare, Educare and Medicare.
Although Father Charles passed away in March 2022, his work in Joy Village continues in the very capable hands of his sister Chidnma and her husband Emmanuel.
If you would like to make a donation, you can do so here. All proceeds go towards the SSAI programs.
To make a one-time donation click HERE. Note that all amounts are in US dollars.
For recurring monthly donations click on the appropriate amount below:
With gratitude and love,
Shira
Click here to make a one-time donation. All amounts are in US dollars.
See the links to the left for monthly donations.
Spiritan Self Awareness Initiative (SSAI) is a non- profit organisation (NGO) registered with the Ministry of Gender Affairs and Social Development, Government of Enugu State (ENS/MGASD/SWD/315), the Ministry of Budget and National Planning Commission, Abuja (NPC/NGO-IC/S.424/1), and with the Corporate Affairs Commission, Abuja (CAC/IT/NO 43828) under the Companies and Allied Matters Act, No. 1, 1990.