Manassah's Story (1 of 4)

Photo by Evan Wilson

Look how happy he is.  Manassah is his name.  You've met him in earlier blogs, but I only recently got the privilege of hearing more of his amazing story.  In this picture,he's standing on the future site of his new house and new chicken farm. For Manassah, it seems like life is treating him well.  But things haven't always been good.  He turns 20 this year and, in his short life, he has experienced and endured many trials.

The land where he will soon build his new house is on a few acres of land just outside Nalerigu.  The few acres sit amidst many acres that were once owned by his father.  His father was, at one time, a successful Christian farmer with his wife, Fati and his two children.  Apparently, his father had something like asthma and in 2000, he had a bad breathing attack.  Manassah's cousin was working and did not take the man to the hospital so he died at home.  Manassah was just 9 years old.

As in Bible days, when a man dies, his possessions -- and family -- go to the man's brother.  Manassah's uncle and cousin took all of Manassah's father's land and sold it.  Then they essentially abandoned Manassah and his family leaving them in severe poverty.  Manassah recalls going to his cousin and saying, "We have no food.  Can you give us some food."  His cousin replied, "I don't have any food to give you!"

From that point Manassah had to work to provide food for his family.  He recounts going to work with various farmers when they would have work to do.  At the end of the day, whatever the farmer cooked for his family, they would give some to Manassah for his family.  He says that life became so hard for him that he would ask himself, "Are you Manassah?"  His life had taken such an unexpected turn that he didn't even think it could be real.

He always did well in school though.  That is, until he dropped out in the 6th grade because he couldn't manage school and work at the same time.  While he was in school, others recognized something special about Manassah.  They called him a "prophet" and gave him a white uniform to wear.  Apparently, he was recognized as naturally smart and a natural leader.  They treated him with honor and even waived the usual school fees.  But it wasn't enough to keep him in school.  His burden for his family was too great and the hours in a day too short.

Manassah's mother, Fati, beside Manassah's door

His uncle and cousin have allowed Manassah and his family to continue living in the house that was his father's, but it has not been easy.  Although Manassah's immediate family is Christian, his uncle and cousins are not.  They "worship the pot" as Manassah says.  They adhere to some of the local traditional religious practices that involve animal sacrifice.  I think I have mentioned in an earlier blog that they will sacrifice the animal right beside Manassah's door and often even poor the blood on his door or house in ridicule of his Christianity.  The "pot" that they use stands on a crude tripod stand just outside Manassah's door as you can see in the picture at the right.

Sueba cooking

As if life was not already hard enough for him, several years ago Manassah's sister and her husband were shot and killed leaving 2 orphans for him to raise.  Now Manassah is responsible for his mother, Fati, his niece, Sueba and his nephew, Haadi.  He loves them dearly and the children call him their father.

Inside one of their mud huts.

Through all his hard years, Manassah has stayed faithful to his LORD.  He has persevered through hunger, exhaustion, humiliation -- like Jesus.  The door to his house has a testimony to where Manassah's trust lies.

He trusts that God will fight his battles for him and God is proving faithful.  Over the last 2 years, Manassah met Greg and Wendy Nyhus whom I have spoken about fondly in several blogs.  They befriended Manassah and got him started with the chicken farm.  They also gave him love and encouragement that he so desperately needed.  They have also, in conjunction with their church in Missouri, raised money to build Manassah's new house that will be big enough for his mother and "children".  There will also be a new chicken house built that will be the new home for the chicken farm that will continue to support the orphanage as well as Manassah's family.  Ground has been broken and construction will hopefully begin very soon.

He meets regularly with some young guys for prayer.  They have even started a prayer ministry in some of the schools in Nalerigu.  I wish you all could meet him.  He is an inspiration. We are blessed by him and are so thankful that Greg and Wendy introduced us to him.  He still "struggles" (as he calls it) with being able to provide food for his family and he often goes without to make sure they are fed.  We don't always know when he is in need.  He is a close friend of Evan,  and one day they were doing some work in our yard.  Evan said he saw Manassah go to our trash pit and eat some stale bread from it.  When Evan told us, we almost could not bear it.  Have you ever thought about someone actually eating your trash?  It's a most humbling experience.

The story does not end here with this exceptional man of God.  Stay tuned to more exciting and inspirational stories about Manassah as we tell about how he came to be a farmer himself (not just working for a farmer) and how God is continuing to show himself faithful to "fight for" Manassah and his family through this weeks harvest.

You don't want to miss the next chapter!

Following . . . .