The many broken shards of Munah’s life reflect Christ’s greatness
Munah* is a slender woman of very dark complexion. She wears an emerald-green dress with a matching head-covering. She is too scared to show her face because she comes from a small but staunchly Muslim people group in arid East Africa and she is one of only a handful Christians among them. Her family’s choice to forsake the ways of their culture to follow Christ, came at great personal cost.
Munah is one of five children. The family came to Christ through the compassionate ministry of missionaries. When her grandfather was sick, they prayed for him. When her father needed support, they helped. When the children needed school supplies, these missionaries again showed generosity.
God used these efforts to save several members of this family. To Munah, it’s all rather simple: “When Jesus saved us, we left everything of our tribe and culture. And now we are in Christ.”
This salvation may have been free, but it was never cheap. To their fellow tribespeople, their decision was unfathomable.
“So many people isolated us. They said we no longer belonged to the tribe. And since we did not have a tribe to belong to anymore, people looked down on us. We were told that no other tribe can take us to be part of them.”
The challenges they faced because of this isolation were extreme. “They forbade their children to come to our place. When we went to their place, they would forbid them to play with us. …if they found their children around our place, they would beat them and chase them home. Even children would abuse our religion. So, it was like that.”
She continued, “When we left the compound, they would let their animals into our crops. They also tore our clothes, cut down our trees, etc. They often did that.”
Personal crisis
Munah was experiencing a deep personal crisis: “We asked ourselves whether we were not equal (to the others) or whether we were any less human? It disturbed me. But my father gave us hope. He told us that even though we face challenges here on earth, we will have a place in heaven. He said that Jesus was persecuted on earth too, but He is now in heaven.”
His words did not really help Munah much at the time, because she could not get her head around the animosity and loneliness. In a small village where people depend on each other in the big and little things of life, the treatment they received was discouraging at best and life-threatening at worst – as they were soon to find out.
Things were getting so bad that Munah and her family feared for their lives. “We moved away. We thought we might be killed at any time.”
The unimaginable
But one day, the unimaginable happened, things that are almost too painful to talk about.
While her parents attended fellowship and left them at home, a relative found Munah in her bedroom and raped her. “I was unable to defend myself,” she weakly explains.
“My sisters were also at home. We yelled, and a neighbour informed my parents, who took me to hospital. I was hospitalized for one month before being discharged.
“My uncle was beaten severely then arrested and taken to jail. After two years in jail, he died.
“…I am fine, but I still have pain at times.”
Help
ServAfrica partners visited Munah’s family and then invited Munah to trauma care training.
“After attending the training, I learnt that those who trust in the Lord pass through challenges, but through all the challenges God is with them. I learned that if you share your problems, you get encouraged.
“Initially I had stress. I could not go to school… I had headaches. I wondered why I was alive.
“But after the training, I was healed. I thank God that I continued healing gradually. I started eating (again).
Since then she has gone through advanced training and are now able to help others who face similar problems.
- Pray that my people get a better life than this one.
- Pray for me because of my life, so I can live a better life, get educated and get a job so I can help other people.
The challenges Munah is facing are not uncommon for young people who live as part of a Christian minority in their localities across the globe. Youths are on the forefront of persecution, and need urgent prayer.
Read more about the persecution faced by youths in this article.
*To safeguard the individual’s identity, a pseudonym has been used.
