07/04/2019 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – The terrain seemed luscious and rich in Adamawa State, wind-swept and dotted with villages. Babies were wrapped around their mothers in colorful clothes, boys and girls played in the fields, and everyone tended the land. It would be impossible to guess from the smiles on the villagers’ faces that they had been brutally attacked just months before.
This past March, we traveled across Nigeria, visiting ICC’s projects and field staff in various locations and meeting with the tribal rulers and religious leaders.
The first place that we visited, Adamawa State, is the meeting place of the two twin evils of Nigeria, Fulani militants and Boko Haram. From the west, Fulani militants cut across the Middle Belt in Adamawa, kidnapping women and children, stealing land, and burning Christian villages. From the northeast, Boko Haram spills out of its homeland, Borno State, forging a path of carnage. Both groups have rampaged through farms and property owned by Nigerian Christians for generations.
The leaders of Adamawa State feel helpless, overwhelmed by the great need for food, medical supplies, shelter, and clean water. They are unable to police the armed, migratory groups that ravage their communities, and the government is unwilling to send protection.
But God has not abandoned his people in Adamawa. Marice Giduel, a Christian Nigerian woman, shared her story with us during our visit. Her son was slain by Fulani militants right in front of her, and she lost three fingers in the attack. A botched surgery left her in chronic pain.
Tears brimmed up occasionally as she shared her story, but her tears were from her pain, not her sadness. Despite everything that happened to her, Marice is able to provide for her family because she is one of the thousands who benefit from the Nigeria Farm Project, launched by ICC in 2018.
Stay tuned for Part 2, coming tomorrow.
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