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February 14, 2007

Spit on me!

“Adama, spit on me!” came Ousseini’s faint cry behind me just as I was leaving.

Since Adama is my name here, I turned back to Ousseini’s hospital room to respond to the call to spit.

Ousseini
I had been visiting my friends at one of the “tent camps” for the flood victims, some of the people we are building houses for. They had a visitor from Tasmakat, Ousseini, who was lying on a mat on the ground in obvious pain with swollen feet and a very distended stomach. They of course had nothing with which to pay for treatment, so I took him to the hospital, paid for the few pounds of his prescription, and prayed for healing for him in the name of Jesus.

The next day I went to see him. It was then, as I turned to leave the room, that he called me back: “Adama, tuutam!” - “Adama, spit on me!”

Spit and Mission
Islamic religious teachers here are regarded as having healing as part of their role, which usually involves reciting certain Quranic verses, accompanied by light spitting on the ill part of the body (for example see here). So Ousseini was asking me to pray for him again.

I prayed again for healing in the name of Jesus, laying my hand gently on his head. (And not actually spitting in case you were wondering…) And each time I visited him he would hold out his hands and – day by day with slightly more strength – ask me to spit on him.

Today at Gorom-Gorom Hospital
Today I was woken from a well-earned siesta to come and see Ousseini. Gorom-Gorom medical centre was unable to do all needed to help him, and he had to be evacuated to Dori. I came to the hospital and sorted out the ambulance and gave him a bit of money for his treatment when he got there. And prayed for him of course.

The hospital was an emotionally challenging place today. In the next room to Ousseini was a young man crying out in pain, who had apparently been bitten by a rabid dog. Aisha, a Bella lady whose uncle had a distressing-looking fungal growth over a large part of the side of his head called on me to come and look at him. And Amadu, an old man with what looked and sounded suspiciously like TB, also called me in with the now familiar “Adama, come and spit on me!”

Jesus the Healer
The Quran acknowledges that Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead, and Muslims here know that he rose alive into heaven. So it is unremarkable to them that healing should be asked for in the name of Jesus.

Please pray for healing for my friends, and that our Lord would stretch out his hand more to heal in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And please pray that people would see and meet the God of love who is revealed in Jesus, and come to him for fullness of life. Thank you.


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Posted by Keith at February 14, 2007 04:48 PM