Pray for Kafountine

Kafountine is more than a big village, but seems less than a little town. For me, it is really hard to describe the place. It is on the coast so you can find a few tourists there (and all of the things that come with tourists who visit rural Africa) and there are even a few Toubabs (white folks) who live there. You can find some bars there (one with a life-sized wooden statue of Elvis out front), a few restaurants, and all along the beach you find dozens and dozens of pirogues (wooden boats that resemble large canoes) with mile after mile of racks of fish drying in the sun or being smoked over smoldering fires. 

For me Kafountine is a place like none other, and not necessarily in a good way. Kafoutine always reminds me of the bar scene in Star Wars Episode 4 on the planet Tatooine: a place filled with people who come from many different places, all seeming to be a little suspect, with an element of danger mixed in (remember that Han Solo does shoot Greedo in that scene!)

We have been to Kaufountine a few times over the years that we have visited Senegal, met a few people, and given away a few Bibles there. A few years ago there was even an attempt to begin a church there by a Senegalese church planter from the north, but we heard that the work was abandoned after less than a year because it was so difficult. We have, however, heard that a group of Ghanaians (people who come from the West African country of Ghana) have a small church there where they worship together. 

Last Sunday we spent the afternoon in Kafountine as we attended a baby-naming ceremony there. The brother of one of the believers here in Diouloulou recently had twins and Sunday was the day that he was to announce their names: Adama and Awa (Adam and Eve in English). Traditionally here you name twins after Adam and Eve.

As part of the ceremony there was a griot (a traditional singer) who sang and announced the names of the babies as well as the history of the parents and their family. We also ate together, drank tea, and the girls spent a lot of time holding the babies. In keeping with tradition, we gave the father a small amount of money to help with the expenses of the ceremony, we gave the mother several bars of soap to help in washing the children and the clothes, and we also gave the father a Bible. Their family is Muslim, but after discussing this with his brother we felt that he would be open to receiving the Bible. We wrapped the Bible in paper and placed it in a plastic bag with the soap so as to not put him on the spot publicly, but as we left I explained to him that we wanted to give him something special as he began his new life as a father; something that could make a real difference in this life and in the life to come.

Be praying for this man, his wife and his young family. Pray for the people of Kafountine who need to hear and understand the Gospel. Be praying for God to call people to Himself and to a relationship with Him through His Son Jesus Christ and then to call those new believers to go and announce the Good News. Be praying all Senegal for Christ!