Profile of ECWA Guest House Kano
CWA Guest House, Kano, was formerly known as the SIM Rest Home, located within the same compound with the Eye Hospital (mission compound), situated opposite Kano Pillars Stadium, Kano.
Based on the information gathered from SIM international archives, this Guest House was established by the SIM missionaries in 1933. It was located on the site of the first mission in Kano, built by Rev. and Mrs. C. Gordon Beacham, the first SIM missionaries who stationed in Kano. The missionaries applied for a forwarding station which was approved by the Northern authorities (but with conditions). Their plan was to build a mission station with a Church on their verandah. That is where the present “Kano House” as it was called from the onset, is located.
Below is the picture of the approved building showing the top with the spires, according to the condition given by the northern authorities so that the building would look like one of their traditional flat – roofed houses in Kano City.
Some activities were being organized by the SIM Missionaries within the mission station such as getting the gospel preached through the regular Church services, the dispensary and eye hospital work, the blind, Bible and elementary schools, youth for Christ work and village visitation.
The mission station also served as transit camp for missionaries whenever they arrived from overseas or were travelling outside the country. The missionaries coordinated their activities from there to the various SIM mission stations across the country.
The management team for the ‘Kano House’ as it was called has over the years been a mixture of both foreign missionaries, married and singles alike, with few Nigerians among them as staff. There has been a good and cordial working relationship among the missionaries as seen in the way and manner they discharged their duties with humility and respect for one another. It was also called ‘SIM Rest Home’
In the early 70s the name was changed from ‘SIM Rest Home’ to ‘ECWA Guest House’ as a result of the transition from SIM to ECWA. More staff particularly Nigerians, were recruited but the missionaries maintained the management until the early 80s when Mallam Lawani Karoni Ibrahim was appointed to undertake the supervisory work for a few months before Mrs. Hannatu Audu Maikano took over as the substantive manager until her demise on active service in 1993. Several other individuals served as Managers after Mrs. Maikano.
The building referred to as the SIM Rest Home had very few building at the initial stage. But the missionaries made efforts and added more structures and improved on the available facilities almost on a yearly basis.
In October, 1933, one of the SIM missionaries, Mr. Oisen, built two blocks in addition to the existing ones. In 1938, an additional block of four rooms, with improved conveniences, were constructed by A.O. Helser. These buildings are still in use and renovated regularly to keep them in good shape.
In 2001, some of the structures were gutted by fire, including the hall, but no record of the precise structure.
In 2002, Mr. Isuwa Y. Sarki took over as the manager and the Lord used him to rebuild some of the structures gutted by fire. Block A-D was partitioned with cement blocks to replace the wooden partitions. Tiling of the old SIM blocks were carried out too.
Following the decision of the Guest House central Board in 2004, to erect a modern structure, the then management secured a loan facility of thirty five million naira (N35.M) from ECWA Staff Investment Scheme (ESIS) to be paid back fully with interest. The payment of the loan is still ongoing up till now (2018).
This loan was used to construct a two-storey building, popularly known as ‘new building’, made up of 28 rooms which was formally dedicated on 24th June, 2006, by the then ECWA General Secretary, Rev. Ezekiel Mipo Dadang.
As at 2018, there were forty eight (48) guest rooms in the ECWA Guest House Kano, with five (5) offices, two (2) changing rooms, one mini conference hall, a kitchen and restaurant.
Below is the list of past and current managers of ECWA Guest House Kano from 1984 to 2018 and the number of years they served:
