How can a young boy profess faith in Christ and yet want to grow up to be an Islamic master beggar?
I had to face this question after reading a field report from a partner ministry leader in Mali. The report told of Aalim, a boy who participated in the June 2021 gospel outreach. At first, it sounded like an amazing story of God’s grace. Aalim had suffered great hardship. He’d been abandoned by his parents to beg in the streets, where he endured daily hatred and abuse. Yet he was eager to tell anyone who would listen how much God loved him.
But when he talked about his future, the story became murky.
Aalim’s only thought about his future was his desire to become a marabout.
A marabout is a Muslim teacher who leads a band of young beggars (known as garibous). By day, the marabout sends his garibous door-to-door begging for food. By night, he teaches them to memorize the Quran.
Meet Aalim. A young boy, and a garibou.
Every evening, he brings the fruits of his begging to his marabout, who takes the lion’s share of the scraps— and gives Aalim a severe beating if he returns empty-handed.
Then late into the night, Aalim is taught the Quran.
Aalim sees no way of leaving this system. His only hope is rising to the top of the pack, becoming a marabout with his band of street beggars.
How can this be? How can someone profess Christ, and want to teach a false religion? How can Aalim want to perpetuate the very system of abuse and dependency keeping him and so many other young boys trapped?
And as I read more about the situation in Mali, I realize that this is not as unusual as it might sound.
The career options for a boy in Aalim’s situation are severely limited. Unless God works in radical ways— there are two options:
- Marabout
- Child soldier in a terrorist group
Aalim is simply caught in a situation without hope.
But—aren’t these hopeless situations where we are most likely to find Jesus? Aren’t these the kinds of people who are most willing to receive him? And whose lives are most powerfully transformed by Him?
Lepers. Paralytics. Blind beggars. Samaritans. Jesus went to the outcasts, the dirty rejects clinging to the fringes of society. Wherever He went, He changed lives forever.
And He hasn’t stopped.
Where Christ went is where Christ’s body needs to go today.
That’s why we’re working with partners to share God’s love with children in Mali. By ourselves, we can do nothing. Nothing to change a single soul, let alone help Aalim (and others like him) escape the society-wide oppression holding him down.
But we’re not alone. We have our Lord Jesus Christ, who has walked this road before us, who suffered and died to redeem us. And we have the Holy Spirit, the helper whom He sent to us.
We have our field partners, courageous men and women who know firsthand what Christ can do, and who are intimately acquainted with the cultures they minister to.
And we have you, who hold us up with your prayers and financial support.
I don’t know how God will use Aalim. I don’t know how God will make inroads into Mali— a country where 91.5% of the population remains unreached by the gospel.
All I know is that when He does move— when He brings hope into the most hopeless of places— I pray that He lets me be part of it.
-Byron Garmo
Thank God! Because of monthly supporters, we recently launched our first outreach to evangelize and feed 120 street boys in Mali, Africa, where it’s less than 1% evangelical Christian. Aalim (above) was one of those boys.
Your monthly gifts enable Hope Bringers in countries like Mali to evangelize, feed, and disciple children through strategic outreaches.
Hope begins with you today.
