BEATEN FOR GOING TO CHURCH: Eight Year-Old AICHA’S BRAVE FAITH STORY

Aicha was only eight years old when her choice to follow JESUS became dangerous.

“My father’s older brother and my mother’s younger brother used to beat me because of my faith,” she shares. They were particularly keen to stop Aicha going to church and would lie in wait for her on the path. “One day, I dressed up to go to church, and on the way my uncle met me,” shares Aicha. “He beat me then forced me to go back home.”

But Aicha was determined to keep going to services. “Despite the trials, I persevered because I wanted to follow and serve the Lord,” she says.

Her parents kept asking their wider family to stop attacking Aicha, but because Aicha was the first Christian in her family, other relatives were not happy with her choice of faith.

Image: Aicha with her children’s Bible

How Aicha met Jesus

Like approximately three-quarters of the population of Burkina Faso, Aicha grew up as a Muslim. Her mother and stepfather, Asseta and Idrissa, and their extended families followed Islam.

As with many communities in the country, Christians and Muslims live alongside each other, often peacefully. And that’s how Aicha met a local preacher called Pastor Steven. She was captivated by what he shared about Jesus. She told him: “I would like to give my life to Jesus, because I heard that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.”

Now a follower of Jesus, Aicha started attending church with her neighbours and their children. She quickly began to see significant changes in her life and character, and that of siblings, who also started going to the church. Asseta soon noticed too.

The changes in Aicha intrigued Asseta, but she wasn’t ready to explore Christianity for herself yet. That began to change when Idrissa became very sick.

AICHA’S MUM AND DAD FIND JESUS

“They started treating him with traditional medicine, to no avail,” she remembers. “The more they treated, the more he got worse. My family had no more money to continue the treatment.”

Asseta was encouraged to take Idrissa to be prayed for by the local pastor, but she refused, not wanting to get Christians involved in the situation. But one night, God spoke directly to Asseta.

“I heard a voice that spoke to me, saying: ‘Go to the pastor and you will find the solution,’” she recalls. “The voice repeated this three times.”

Even though it was midnight, Asseta responded to the call immediately. “I explained our problem and the pastor followed us to our house,” she says. “He led my husband to give his life to Jesus, then prayed for him.” Idrissa’s health improved, though he wasn’t fully healed. But he and Asseta received something much more precious: Jesus.

“We all started our Christian journey,” says Asseta. “And this was when our persecutions started.”

Image: Aicha with her mum and siblings on the way to church

Rejection and hardship

While Christians and Muslims live alongside each other in relative harmony in their community, that doesn’t mean there isn’t any persecution. The most widely reported form of persecution in Burkina Faso is violence by radicalised jihadists, but for converts like Aicha and her parents, persecution can come from wider family. Leaving Islam is seen as deeply shaming to the other relatives, and new believers are likely to face extreme pressure to return to their old faith by their families and communities – even when they are as young as Aicha.

Now that children and parents were all believers, their wider family cut them off totally.

“When we were still Muslims, we used to get support from our families,” shares Asseta. “After we received Jesus, everything changed. From that moment, they completely rejected us and never supported us again. We had many trials just because we gave our life to Christ.”

Help and hope

When Open Doors local partners heard about the persecution Aicha and her family were facing, they were keen to help strengthen and encourage them, and give joy to those who had already experienced so much hardship for the gospel.

“The ministry [Open Doors partners] supported us tremendously,” says Asseta. “Through the ministry’s support, my husband was able to get medical care. Before that, my husband was staying at home without effective treatment.”

As well as this vital assistance with medical bills, Open Doors partners have given Aicha and her family food support – bags of rice, corn and oil. Having been cut off from their wider family, these essentials are a start in helping these courageous believers keep going and see joy in their faith, rather than being overwhelmed by anxieties and fears for the future.

A message to you

Asseta has a message for Open Doors supporters: “Thank you so much, and I pray that God will bless and reward you. I also ask God to continue strengthening you in this great work you have been doing. Our whole family is so glad today, thanks to the support that gave us hope and made us more confident for standing firm in our faith.”

With your ongoing support, Aicha can have joy and hope for the future. When she’s asked what she wants to see in the years to come, she is clear about her passion to share the gospel. She says, “My hope for the future is that I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, so I can go around and tell other people about the gospel of Jesus.”

Send joy

Christmas is a time when young believers are often particularly isolated and vulnerable – and yet it is still a time of celebration. “The main message of Christmas is that Jesus the Son of God was born to save the world,” declares Aicha. “No matter the life you live, come and receive Jesus as your Saviour. Jesus loves you and He will save you from your sins.”

This Christmas, will you pray for children like Aicha?

“I wish you Happy Christmas,” says Aicha. “May the peace of God be with you all!”

*Names changed for security reasons