What is God Doing in Senegal?

Senegal           

Population: 10.6 million

Capital:    Dakar

People Groups:   58

Main Religion: Islam 92%

All Christians:    4%

Through the intervention of the gospel, change is coming to a remote village in the West African country of Senegal. In this isolated place, immorality and sexual bondage held sway for generations. Tradition required that girls between the ages of 11 and 13 years become pregnant - whether or not they were married. Girls serving as housemaids had no chance of marriage. The divorce rate for women was 70 percent, and females who survived their spouses were viewed as witches and treated accordingly. Into this village came Lucia, a local woman who had received Jesus Christ through the witness of an African mission assisted by Christian Aid Mission. After two years of discipleship and training, Lucia returned to her roots to bring the gospel news of grace and redemption. At her first meeting, nearly 100 villagers expressed a desire to trust in Christ and follow Him. While Lucia and her team travel to other villages and minister in this village only once a month, they have discipled a group of converts that continues the evangelisation, training, and discipleship of its adolescent women. As these young women mature in their walk with Christ, they will be equipped to disciple the next generation. Missions Insider, February, 2004

"Life in Senegal has always been hard, but it has got worse in recent years because the water table has sunk dramatically in many areas of the country. A decades-long drought has brought salty seawater far into the country up the few rivers. Even wells bored well away from the sea are now so salty that the water is almost undrinkable, and large numbers of people have to walk for miles to fetch drinking water, which is often a job for women and girls. In one town with some 5,000 inhabitants, the only deep well which had given good water had finally also become salty. A Christian church in the town had a small area of land, and some of the townspeople suggested drilling a well there. Most considered it a waste of time, because a well had been dug there some years before, and had brought only salty water. The Christians prayed, and had the impression that they should drill the well. They hit water only 6 meters down, and the water so sweet that the first people to try it shouted that someone had put sugar in it. Some consider it to be the best water they have ever tasted. Every morning, 300 women wait to draw water from the well. When all 300 are finished, the well is empty - but the next morning, it is again full. In Senegal, people are well aware of the symbolic nature of events: the townspeople go to a Christian place to receive what they need to live. Every one of the population is convinced that this is a miracle performed by the Christian God, and even in Dakar, the capital 100 miles away, people are speaking about the 'Christian miracle well'."   David Maranz, Wycliffe Bible Translators, January 1999

David Maranz, working with the Bible translation movement "Wycliffe" sent us the following report from Senegal in West Africa: "Life in Senegal has always been hard, but it has got worse in recent years because the water table has sunk dramatically in many areas of the country. A decades-long drought has brought salty seawater far into the country up the few rivers. Even wells bored well away from the sea are now so salty that the water is almost undrinkable, and large numbers of people have to walk for miles to fetch drinking water, which is often a job for women and girls. In one town with some 5,000 inhabitants, the only deep well which had given good water had finally also become salty. A Christian church in the town had a small area of land, and some of the townspeople suggested drilling a well there. Most considered it a waste of time, because a well had been dug there some years before, and had brought only salty water. The Christians prayed, and had the impression that they should drill the well. They hit water only 6 meters down, and the water so sweet that the first people to try it shouted that someone had put sugar in it. Some consider it to be the best water they have ever tasted. Every morning, 300 women wait to draw water from the well. When all 300 are finished, the well is empty - but the next morning, it is again full. In Senegal, people are well aware of the symbolic nature of events: the townspeople go to a Christian place to receive what they need to live. Every one of the population is convinced that this is a miracle performed by the Christian God, and even in Dakar, the capital 100 miles away, people are speaking about the 'Christian miracle well'."    David Maranz, January 1999

Jay Jenkins, brother of well-known American author Jerry Jenkins, working as a Wycliffe Bible translator in Senegal in west Africa, sent us the following report of an event which he and a number of missionaries experienced: "As we visited a nearby waterfall, a man threatened us with a gun. After ordering us around for five hectic minutes, he fired several shots directly at us, some from very close range. Miraculously, nobody was hurt. The robber and an accomplice then stole all our luggage, including cameras, some money and two laptop computers. We thought that they had been shooting at us with dummy ammunition, so started after them. When the bandits saw us, they dropped everything, including the automatic rifle, and ran into the forest. When we inspected the gun, we were shaken to discover that the bullets in the magazine were real. We're not sure whether the shots fired at us were real bullets or dummies, but one thing we know: the next bullet, and all the rest, were real. God protected us miraculously. After hearing our report and inspecting the gun and bullets, the local police chief summarized his impression with the words'God exists!'"    Janey DeMeo, February 1999