September 26, 2014
By now, many of you have heard of Moise Mamy’s tragic murder. We grieve his loss and mourn with his family and community.
Moise was a friend and partner to CAMA since 1990. He was a cofounder of Hope Clinic and eventually became the executive secretary of Eau de la Vie, the non-government organization formed to administer the clinic. Moise was a fervent evangelist and the district superintendent of the Mano churches, the Alliance-affiliated churches that minister to his ethnic group in Guinea. He was instrumental in founding quality schools and providing teachers to Guinea’s forest region. He had a heart for the lost and for his country, and he was known as a man of peace in the area.
Watch a video of Moise sharing his vision for Hope Clinic as a place where people could be healed spiritually and physically.
Since the outbreak began earlier this year, Moise was determined to help stop Ebola. He, along with CAMA, created an awareness training team to teach people how to prevent the spread of the virus. The team always distributed soap and chlorine to the villagers.
When the team went out to teach, many places accepted their teaching. Some villagers, however, had heard a rumor that chlorine, which kills the Ebola virus, was actually the virus itself. In one village along the border the team was attacked and had to leave.
On September 16 a delegation of government health officials, journalists, and Moise went to a village called Womey. They were attacked and taken hostage. It was soon confirmed that Moise and seven others had given their lives.
Jon Erickson, CAMA worker and Moise’s closest friend, shares some of his memories of working with Moise:
In the early 1980s Moise heard an audible voice tell him to go home to his village and become a Christian. He and his wife accepted Christ as their Savior later that year, and Moise promptly cut down the family worship tree. This tree was where his father, mother, uncles, cousins, aunts, and other relatives made sacrifices to appease their gods. There had been other believers among the Mano people before Moise, but never anyone so brave and bold as to go against family traditions and tribal culture in this way.
The Mano had a belief that all newborns needed water along with breast milk to be healthy, so they force fed their infants water and many of these babies died. Moise and his wife Nowei (pictured at right) listened to a health teaching on the radio encouraging them to give their babies only breast milk, and Moise told his wife they needed to try this. His mother screamed that they were going to kill her grandchildren, but they persisted and their last two babies were the healthiest of any their other children.
One day, a fellow missionary, myself, and Moise were holding a service for children when the devil society decided they were going to kill us. After throwing bricks, stones, and sticks at us for an hour and never hitting us, they realized that angels were protecting us and quit. Moise preached during this whole hour telling them to repent and come to Jesus.
Together, we established many churches among the Mano, three schools, and, with a great team, Hope Clinic. Moise encouraged the Mano church to send out and support a Mano missionary to the Kono people. He was the director of Eau de la Vie (Water of Life), an organization that is dedicated to bringing water wells, community development, and health teaching to Guinea.
Moise sacrificed for his community throughout his life, offering compassion to those around him. He was not afraid to share his faith; rather, his main goal was that others would know God’s love and salvation. Ultimately, he sacrificed his life to show God’s mercy to others.
With that in mind, let’s carry on where Moise left off. Reach out to those in your community. Help someone in need, bless someone with an act of service, or use Moise’s story as a bridge to share the gospel. It may take some sacrifice on your part.
Finally, please join us in continuing to lift up Moise’s family and community in prayer as they mourn their loss. Pray for the churches, schools, and clinic that now need to carry on the work without Moise’s input and encouragement. Pray that many will come to know the Lord through this tragic circumstance. And rejoice with us that our brother, while deeply missed, is now worshipping in the presence of the Savior he loves.
—from the most recent newsletter from Mike Sohm, President of CAMA; Video courtesy of Doug Odegaard