Impossible Hope

February 15, 2013

In 2003, Compassion and Mercy Associates (CAMA) staff established Hope Clinic in one of the world’s poorest countries, Guinea, where about 85 percent of the population adheres to the region’s predominant religion. Jannebu helps with translating and teaching at the clinic; she often prays with patients and shares with them the hope she has found in Christ.

Updated December 19, 2013

“‘Who can be saved?’” Jesus was asked. “‘‘What is impossible with man is possible with God’” (Luke 18:27, ESV), He responded. Jesus was talking about people like Jannebu, who recently told her “impossible” story to a visiting doctor at Hope Clinic.

Jannebu’s father is a powerful “medicine man” who serves on behalf of Guinea’s predominant religion. She is also Fulani (Fula). Of the more than 4 million Fula in Guinea, a Hope Clinic worker reports, about one half of 1 percent are Jesus followers.

When she was growing up, Jannebu was frequently ill. She saw doctor after doctor, but none could help her. One day she met a Christian who invited her to church, telling her that the church family would pray for her healing.

Initially she resisted. But weary of suffering from mysterious ailments, Jannebu called her friend. “I’m ready to go to church now,” she said.

A Dream

When the pastor prayed for her, Jannebu immediately felt better. She began to realize the church people “had the truth.” Wanting to be certain, she pled with God: “If you will reveal Jesus to me, I will commit my entire life to Him.”

One night Jannebu was praying and remembered that she had a Bible in her room. After struggling to read it, she gave up and tucked the Bible under her head as she fell asleep. Immediately, she remembers being transported to a house made of glass with large windows.

She tried to enter the house but couldn’t. When she looked through a window, she saw a man with His back to her who had hair like silver. His robe was sky blue, and He wore a gold sash. When He turned toward her, His eyes pierced her like fire before 12 men appeared carrying a throne to Him upon which He sat.

When Jannebu awoke from her dream, her whole body was shaking. She said to the Lord, “If that is really you, can you make that happen again?” When she had the same dream that night, she knew that the Lord had revealed Himself to her. She immediately dropped to the floor and committed her life to Him.

Snakes and Fire

Jannebu’s family saw the changes in her and confronted her. After she admitted that she was a Christ follower and refused to return to her family’s faith, her father attempted to kill her with snakes and burn down her house. When he sent the police to arrest her, the Christians who had led her to the Lord abandoned her, fearing the authorities.

Because everyone she knew was afraid to take her in, Jannebu became homeless and was forced to find shelter in abandoned buildings.

In her desperation one morning, she pleaded with the Lord: “Either show me a place by this evening where I can stay, or take my life!” That day she wandered the streets.

When evening approached, she passed a church. Spotting Jannebu’s ragged clothes and filthy countenance, the pastor thought she was mentally ill. “You are Fula, aren’t you?” he called out.  When she answered “yes,” he asked her in.

After she had told her story, the pastor called Kalidou (now the administrative director at Hope Clinic). A Fula, he spoke to Jannebu in her language and offered her a place to stay.

New Hope

That was six years ago. Since then, the people at the church Jannebu first attended have repented of their fear and taken her in. She has completed three years of Bible school and now supports herself as a seamstress.

Jannebu believes she is being called to evangelize the Fulani people. This woman of God—impossibly saved, touched by hope, and tested by fire—is responding to the fields “ripe for harvest!”

CAMA staff workers set up Water of Life, a nongovernmental organization run by nationals, that replaced CAMA’s administration of the clinic in May 2013.