Source: World Watch Monitor, October 19, 2020
The disproportionate presence of ethnic Fulani among Islamist militants wreaking havoc in the Sahel and West Africa has led to a stigmatization of the Fulani generally, says a Protestant pastor from Burkina Faso.
“There is not a very good view of the Fulani,” said Adama, himself Fulani and a pastor in central Burkina Faso. “They are regarded as militants taking part in jihadi attacks, causing trouble in the Sahel region. But that is not all that there is to it. Not all Fulani are terrorists and not all terrorists are Fulani. We, the Fulani, are also the image of God and one first needs to see that,” he told World Watch Monitor.
Adama studied theology in the UK but returned to Burkina Faso in 2008 to serve among his own people. “Things are not the same as they were,” he said. “Burkinabe people are under increased pressure. We have got to watch our backs all the time. What we are dealing with is a far more serious challenge than Covid-19.”
As a result of the violence, many churches and schools in these regions have closed and people have fled to other parts of the country.
Pastor Adama has been trying to help those who decided to stay as well as other vulnerable communities. A training center in a village in central Burkina Faso offers skills training and people can take what they have learned back to their villages: “Now many of these villages have shops, restaurants etc.—things they did not have before.” His ministry also organizes quarterly “community health days” in which doctors are invited to visit communities to avoid people having to travel to the nearest city for healthcare.
“In the midst of stigmatization and the terrorism agenda which brings violence, we bring peace and transformation into these communities,” he said.
» Read full story. According to a recent study, Burkina Faso leads the list of countries Americans say they’ve never heard of, at least countries with more than a million people (Statista, via Brigada Today).
» From elsewhere in Africa, read about how Christian broadcasting is offering hope to isolated, unmarried women in Algeria who are trying to live out their faith amid great restrictions (SAT-7).