Skip Navigation

Loving with Rice, Corn, and Blankets

Angela Shuff, Editor

Fulani refugees distribute donated rice and corn amongst themselves

Fulani refugees distribute donated rice and corn amongst themselves

What if the rice and blanket the American missionary gave you were the only things you owned besides the clothes on your back? Suppose your husband was killed right in front of your eyes, and you escaped from the bandits before they could catch you and your child. And so you walked for miles and miles, trying to reach Cameroon—a peaceful place to start over. You can’t trust anyone, because everyone is just doing what they have to do to survive. Your husband used to provide food for you, one of his three wives, but now you are on your own. And you are frail and feeble, and unable to produce milk for your baby who is depending on you. Allah doesn’t seem to be giving you true hope. He is just someone you pray to when the call to prayer sounds from the mosque five times a day.

Aliou is happy to receive his own blanket

Aliou is happy to receive
his own blanket

This is what thousands of Fulbe refugees in Cameroon are facing. As we drove down the long road toward Garoua Boulai on Cameroon’s eastern border, Baaba and Daada Luca described the situation and warned me of the heart-wrenching sights we were about to see. Baaba and Daada, as they are called by the Fulbe, are ABWE missionaries who work in the northwest region of Cameroon. This was their second trip to visit refugees in the east. They and their Fulani friend Ali, who also traveled with us, are part of a local nongovernmental organization. Dave Hamrick was also a part of this team. He and his family are ABWE church planters in Yaounde, Cameroon’s capital city.

Just as Baaba and Daada had described, in the last two-hour leg of the drive we passed village after village where refugees have set up grass hut shelters. Since 2005, 25,000 Fulbe from the Central African Republic (CAR) have escaped from armed bandits in the CAR and are now trying to start new lives and communities border of Cameroon. The numerous problems that this poses are compounded. There are tribal prejudices, struggles for land, and a desperate need for food and clean water. At the nutritional center in Garoua Boulai, we heard the stories. One widow described the killing of her husband and how she and her children managed to escape the bandits. Orphaned children told the story of their long journey to escape the CAR. Fulani men, traditionally cattle herders, told stories of how they were robbed of their cattle, and now, with no knowledge of how to farm, they can’t provide for their families.

For this particular outreach in August of 2007, individuals, churches, and organizations in the United States gave enough money to provide twenty-two tons of food and 1,000 blankets for distribution. From Garoua Boulai, we went out almost every day visiting refugees. At each village we would usually meet first with the chief. He would tell us how many refugees had come onto his land, if the United Nations High Commission for Refugees had already come through and given aid, and who was in dire need of help.

Fulani women are grateful to receive a small ration of rice

Fulani women are grateful to receive a small ration of rice

We would then visit the huts of those in the greatest need, and we would often see people crippled from extreme malnutrition and suffering from various illnesses. Baaba and Daada made arrangements for some of the critically ill to go to the nearest clinic or nutritional center. As we gave out rice, corn, and blankets, Baaba prayed with the refugees and told them that these gifts were from people who love Christ and want to help. “This is God’s people who are doing this because they care,” Baaba said to me one day. “We just drive the truck. We pound the ground hard going from place to place making contacts, trying to find the best ways to help.”

Our team was able to check on the well-being of some refugees who Baaba and Daada met on their first trip two months earlier. One extended family numbered thirty people in June, but when we saw them in August, they were reduced to only eight. Hamidou, one of the little boys, stood in front of us coughing incessantly and wobbling on his thin legs. Because his symptoms indicated tuberculosis, we drove him and his parents to the nearest clinic.

Though stories of tragedy abound, there are stories of hope as well. In June, Baaba and Daada met a group of women along the road and paid for a few of them to take their malnourished children to the nutritional center in Garoua Boulai. When we got to Garoua Boulai in August, we saw these women and they expressed their gratitude. Their children, who were previously unable to walk, were now running around the property.Baaba and Daada are becoming known throughout the eastern province as Christ-followers who really care

Here in the eastern province of Cameroon, I saw the role of compassion ministries within efforts of church planting and evangelism. It is not particularly safe or advantageous to openly evangelize or preach among the Muslim Fulbe without first establishing relationships of trust. Through their demonstrations of compassion, who return to help when they promise to, and who have a hope within them that the Muslim Fulbe don’t yet understand. When Baaba, Daada, and Ali enter these villages, they are joyously welcomed by the chiefs with hugs and handshakes. One village leader commented, “Islam only gathers us together to pray, but refuses to give even five francs to help. We know that God is with you, because you care and have come to see with your own eyes how you can help.”

These children refugees are at a local nutritional center

These children refugees are at
a local nutritional center

There are thousands of refugees right now in Cameroon who are dying of physical hunger and dying without knowing the Savior. And it takes much grace, patience, and wisdom to start genuine churches in an environment of multiple challenges: extreme poverty and illness, illiteracy, a polygamous family structure, persecution, and a culture tightly tied to Islam. It is tempting to be discouraged and immobilized by such overwhelming needs. In some ways, relief work seems to just stick a little band-aid on a gaping wound of socio-economic and political problems.

But in the midst of crisis and pain, children of God reflect the grace and mercy of our loving Father and compassionate Christ. ABWE missionaries in Cameroon are pressing on in the knowledge of biblical truth, letting their light shine before men, that these refugees may one day praise the Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16). And they need help. Right now this ministry is a short-term project to take aid to the Fulbe refugees. But the need for follow-up is tremendous. As this compassionate work continues, the first seeds of the gospel will be planted in hearts of the Fulbe, and we pray that in God’s time He will draw them to a spiritual understanding of His hope and plan for their redemption.

Needs of the refugees

  • housing
  • food
  • water
  • latrines
  • medical care
  • literacy

Opportunities for Full-time Ministry

  • evangelists/church-planters
  • nurses
  • agricultural teachers
  • nutritional instructors
  • agriculturalists
  • doctors and nurses
  • teachers

Short-term ministry opportunities are available for those who know French.