In the Land of Sabba Njowra

Greetings to all of you, today I have come from the land of Sabba Njowra. For those of you who not know about this village, it has been now deemed to me as the land of absolute beauty, and land where time slows down. I have only been gone for a couple of days, but it feels like I have been gone for weeks.

View from the house.

Sabba Njowra is a village where electricity, and the modern day comforts do not exist. Sabba Njowra is a town filed with probably the kindest and the most gracious people I have ever met. Sabba Njowra is the village where Faadi has grown up her whole life. To her, this kind of extreme living is normal. Her day is filled with gathering water and wood for cooking, and cleaning the house. Sadly, because the people in Sabba Njowra are devout Muslims, they are fasting for Ramadan, so we were not able to see their “usual” kind of living. For Ramadan they only eat when it is nighttime, so they fast all during the day. Because they are fasting and are deemed as weak, they do not participate in their usual activities. For Katelyn, Kathleen, and me, that meant that we pretty much had the day to ourselves. Luckily, this is where the Jacksons have left their horses when they were on leave, so we spent majority of the days hiking, riding horses, and sleeping.

The three of us decided that because we are considered “adults” in the village, we would join them in fasting. For me, I had a totally different reason for fasting. The Fulani people, like I mentioned before are fasting for Allah, but for me, I took this time to fast and pray for the Fulani and for their faith. It was really challenging for me to see these beautiful people praying to a false God. Here they are restricting from food during the day and worshiping a god who is fasle. It was really hard to see this, so I decided to fast for their faith. Every hour, I would take the time to pray and cry out to God. I prayed that as Faadi is living with the Jackson’s, that she would find the one and only Jesus Christ, and acknowledge him as her savior. I prayed that she would be used as a tool for the Fulani people in Sabba Njowra to come to Christ. I also prayed for all the unsaved people around the world that they too would fall to their knees and find the one true God. As the three of us girls were riding and exploring, I would pray that the land would be fruitful for the Fulani people, and that they would be blessed.

The area where they keep all of their pots.

When nighttime would fall, the Fulani of Sabba Njowra would gather in the main house, which is Faadi’s house, and they would serve amazing, tasty, and fresh African food. They would use flashlights to see around the house. They stack all of their decorated pots in the main house as well, so you are not only surrounded by wonderful people, but beautiful hand decorated pots as well. It was the first time I have seen stars in Africa, because it is the rainy season, it is usually cloudy when looking up at the sky..but for the first time we saw the stars. It was really beautiful and amazing to think that here I am looking up at the night sky, and some of my friends on the other side of world may be looking up at the same set of stars (that is if it was dark in the states as well.) It was just kind of a magical moment for me personally. I have looked up at the stars so many times in LA, in Grass Valley, and other places around the States and the world...but here I was in this Village who lives traditionally, and here I am looking up at the same familiar stars. It was pretty spectacular.

View from the bedroom window.

When it came time to go to bed, which was around 8:00 PM (it is said that when you walk through the Fulani gates, you get sleeping sickness because you are always tired.) and tired we were. Because again it is Ramadan, they get up at four in the morning, eat breakfast (before the sun rises,) and then they pray to Allah as the sun rises. During this time, hearing all the prayers being made, I was really crying out to God. It was so sad to hear the prayers and worshiping being made to a god who does not even exist. It was really heavy on my heart, here these people are casting off prayers and chants into the wind, and on the other end, there is no god listening to them. I was crying out to God, and tearing up really in sadness. I have never been around anyone who is Muslim, so it was interesting to see how devout and dedicated they are. Us Christians live life and many only turn to God when we are sad, or in bad circumstances. We know the true way to Christ, and I feel like at times we abuse God, we do what we want. However, we have a very patient God, who allows us to fall and run right back into his arms. In the Muslim world, they are always praying and turning to their god. To think if they ever became followers of Christ, they would be so devout and on fire for HIM, they could really change the world. I will continue to pray for the rest of my life for the Fulani people and for their faith. I encourage everyone reading this blog to pray for them as well, pray that God would soften their hardened hearts, pray that he would use Faadi, who hears the message of the true Christ everyday over here at the Jackson’s, to teach others in her village about HIM, and also that Christ would use us to change their hearts as well.

To get to the village, Chris was kind enough to drive us there, but our journey back to Bamenda was a slightly different story. To get back home, you take a motorcycle taxi, they would then drop you off at this market, and you would take a regular taxi back to the house. This I was okay with, however, when we woke up this morning to leave, it was pouring down rain. Sure, it doesn’t seem like such a big deal to ride on a motorcycle in the rain, when the roads are actually paved…the road leading from the village back to civilization is dirt, and not just regular dirt you would find in the States, it is slippery red clay! Yay!

The area where they keep their goats!

Luckily, when the taxi’s came to pick us up at the village, it was misting. Katelyn and I took a motorcycle together, and Kathleen went by herself. Because Kathleen was just her, she took a few of our bags. And we were off! Ya-Ya, Faadi’s father, called and had the safest drivers come and drive us down the mountain. The taxi Katelyn and I were on only fell a couple times, (none of us were hurt, I only was burned from the exhaust pipe on one of the falls, yay Katie, we both now know the feeling of being burned on a motorcycle!) During the whole entire ride I was praying that God would keep us safe, it kind of got scary in a coupe situations, but we were all kept safe! This was definitely a crazy adventure, I am so glad to be back in Bamenda and to have an actual bathroom with a toilet and shower; yes they have the squatty potties and outdoor shower. I took a long steaming hot shower and was just amazed to think that people still today live in a world not revolved around modern technology. To think you live your life only knowing that showers are taken outside, and to go to the bathroom you go outside and squat. It is just so crazy to think like that. Here I was able to explore it for a couple of days, but honestly that was all I could handle. It is a very challenging and difficult way to live life. But the Fulani people are very strong, and this is the way they want to live life.

cookhouse and bedroom.

 So, that was kind of the excellerated version of the couple of days we spent is Sabba Njowra. The people have chickens, goats, cattle, and horses. They make a living by selling the cattle, so they are experts in that world. They dwell in the rolling hills of Cameroon. It is land with beautiful waterfalls, and beautiful vegetation. It was such a peaceful time, and I am so thankful that I was able to experience this world. For those of you who know me well, I have always wanted to go into indigenous tribes and explore their way of living, I have always wanted to explore tropical forests, and well, this was what I got to experience. I enjoyed every second of it; it is just so amazing to know that there are still people out in this world who strive to live traditionally, and to not follow the rest of the world who live fast busy lives swamped down by technology. It was really amazing to explore and see what it is to live a life like that.

If you have any questions regarding my time with the Fulani people, please feel free to send me an email, or find me on facebook! I would be glad to answer any questions!

-Sarah 

The walkway to the bathroom and showers.