Divine Appointment with a Fulani Refugee

How surprised I would have been, a few months back, if someone had told me that one of the highlights of my time in Chicago would be making a Fulani friend! Aisetta is a special woman, and the way God brought us together was one of many signs of His loving care in her life.

Brad & I had been invited to a back-to-school barbeque sponsored by a local church, at a low-income housing complex.  We were hoping to meet Muslim immigrants there.  There were very few Muslims, but we got into conversation with a couple from Uganda, who were Catholic.  As we talked, we mentioned our time living in West Africa among the Fulani, and they told us that they knew a Fulani woman.  In fact, they said, we can give her a call right now!  So they did, and after she had answered the phone they passed it to me and I stumbled around trying to remember bits of language from more than seven years ago.  We switched to English, had a brief conversation, and I told her I would come see her soon.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when my husband and I went to visit Aisetta for the first time.  But when we met and exchanged traditional greetings in the Fulani language, it felt like the ice was broken and we were already friends.  It had been a long time since she had spoken her native language with anyone!

Aisetta is 27 and has been in the US for about two years.  When I asked her why she had come here alone, she told her story.  In her home country, Guinea, her parents had married her off at age 13, to an older man who already had several wives.  She was treated like a slave in his home.  She was miserable and finally decided to run away.

She was able to connect with a few other women in similar situations, and they joined a group with a guide (trafficker) to travel north across the Sahara Desert.  It was a long and difficult journey, during which Aisetta was subjected to further abuse and suffered in many ways.  Finally they reached Morocco, where she was able to make contact with the UNHCR.  She was given housing, medical care, and counseling, and was able to apply for refugee status.  Eventually she was sent to West Chicago to begin a new life.

Aisetta told us that, because of her experiences, she had turned her back on Islam.  She had started going to a local church, but we sensed that she didn’t fully understand the Gospel.  I used the “Jesus Film” app on my phone to pull up the story of Abraham’s near-sacrifice of his son in her native dialect of the Fulani language, and she was delighted to see it.  We talked about the importance of Jesus’ death as our final sacrifice, and she seemed to understand.  We spent some time praying together.  Brad also pulled up the New Testament in her language on the YouVersion app; she had never seen God’s Word in her native language!  She was fascinated, and read several chapters from the beginning of Matthew.

It’s hard to imagine the challenges and trauma that Aisetta has experienced, and how alone she must feel without any family or friends from her own culture.  We are grateful for the coincidences that brought us together to hear her story and support her in prayer and friendship.


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