Two weeks ago a team of eight westerners including myself and six Nigerians headed 10 hours north to the Nigeria/Niger border for a week long outreach. We spent six days in three different villages on the fringe of the Saraha Desert.
During the week we offered free medical care and played games with the kids. We used this as tactics to build relationships with members of the community in hopes of creating avenues to share the gospel.
Here some stories and pictures from our journey:
Village 1
Wada is a Fulani convert that joined our team at the last minute, which I must say was a God thing. Brief background...Fulani's are the largest nomadic people group in the world and are 99% Muslim. By nature they're a very closed people group and untrusting of anyone who is not Fulani.
At the first village Wada immediately connected with the only Fulani within the community. Shortly into their conversation this man shared with Wada that he'd never met a Christian Fulani and didn't even think you could be Christian if you were Fulani. He mentioned that he enjoyed some of the teaching that he heard from Chrisians within the community but never felt comfortable enough to take it to the next step.
After just a few hours of the two talking one on one he decided to take the next step and give his life to Christ! Wada spent the rest of the night and the next morning talking with the guy. Upon leaving we were able to share the good news with the pastor of the community who agreed to disciple him after dark to prevent persecution.
Villages 2
The second village we went was a stones throw away from the Niger boarder. In fact, one of the first things Stefan (western teammate) and I did upon arriving was made the short trek through a dried riverbed into the neighboring Niger village to greet the chief.
After getting settled in, we set up for medical care. Within minutes women were lined up by the dozens.
One of the more difficult things you see in the north is the oppression these women are under by a male dominated culture. In fact, men and women don't interact publicly. This happened to work in our advantage as the women who came to see us for medicine felt free to speak openly with some of the ladies on our team about Christ. More than one mentioned they had heard of Christ on a radio program but never talked openly about it due to the consequences they may face. They asked a lot of questions and almost all asked to be prayed for...it was amazing!
Village 3
Our final two days were spend in a village in Kano state. For the first time during our journey, we ran into some difficulties. After spending 3 hours greeting local & district chiefs (proper protocol), we were told we didn't have the approved stamp from the commissioner of health. This was an indirect way of letting us know we were not welcome, even though all the drugs we were handing out were nonprescription and could be bought at any drug store in a major town.
Although frustrated with the situation we prayed and decided as a group to take a different approach. With obvious oppression from local leadership, we decided to spend the rest of our time loving and encouraging the local church body. A few ways that we did this was by providing a meal of rice, beans, and yams for the church members and handed our soccer jersey to the youth of the community. Even though our time didn't go as we had planned God used it for His purpose of serving His church.
We are such a small part of this world, and he chooses to use us to be His vessel to carry the message of Jesus Christ from neighborhoods to around the world...What a privilege!
