WAS IT REALLY A CHIMP?
July 26, 2010
by Dena McMaster
"A chimpanzee ran off with Suuti's son, Sana," yelled Fadau.
Missionary Hans Jensen jumped on his motorcycle and gave
chase. He soon found that some young men working in a peanut field outside a Nalu village in Guinea had run after the chimp and rescued the 6-year-old boy. Sana was left with a chimp bite on his cheek and Hans rushed him to the hospital for treatment.
"News of the chimp attack spread quickly," Hans wrote. "Initially opinion on the issue seemed divided with some people believing the chimp was a real animal behaving badly. The majority, however, were certain that it was a sorcerer in the guise of a chimpanzee.
"Sana's uncle went to a distant village to ask the medicine people there the meaning of the attack. They assured him that indeed it was the work of a sorcerer, one of the little boy's aunts. These medicine people also told him that the sorcerer wasn't really after Sana but rather his older brother Seku. On hearing this, Seku's father, Suuti, immediately sent the boy off to Conakry."
The team of missionaries ministering to the Nalu people continues to study Nalu culture, hoping that they will be able to present the Word of God in a culturally relevant way.
Though the "chimp incident" occurred several weeks ago the people are still fearful and trying to ward off the danger from the sorcerer who masquerades as a chimp.
Pray that God will soften the hearts of the Nalu people and that they will listen to the Gospel message. Pray also for the Jensens and the other missionaries who minister among the Nalus.
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