The Shumaker Family's Blog

I wrote in the last post that I wanted to share an amazing story.  While in Niger, I met a pastor named Komi.  Pastor Komi is very unique, as he is blind.  Almost all blind people here in Africa are lead around by a little kid as they beg together.  At the age of 9, he became blind because of the measles.  He grew up in the home of an Imam, the leader of a mosque.  His father wanted to send him off as a young boy to an Islamic school, but he didn’t want to go.  He knew that he would be sent in town each day to beg.  That is what the kids at these schools do for most of the day.  They learn some of the Koran and then walk the streets begging for money.  If they don’t get a certain amount they are beaten.

Pastor Komi had a Baptist mission that was close to his house.  He began going to the church.  His father became infuriated when he found out that he was going, but he never stopped.  One day the missionary gave him a piece of candy.  He asked Komi if he liked it.  Komi said that it was very sweet and pleasant.   Then the missionary told him that there is somebody who is sweeter than candy and that is Jesus.  This day he accepted Christ.

He traveled to Nigeria to learn how to read and write in Braille.  A young blind teenager leaves for another country, where they speak English, and he doesn’t even know English.  He learned English and Braille before returning home to Niger.  He had a huge desire to train to be a pastor, but there was no pastor’s school in Niger.  He got on the bus and traveled to Ghana.  I asked him, “How did a blind man make it from Niger to Ghana without help?”  He said that he wasn’t alone; it was him and the Lord.  Amen!

When he arrived in Ghana, all of the missionaries but one said that there is no way we can teach a blind man.  We have never done it.  He can’t keep up.  One of the missionaries said, “What does it hurt to let him try?  If he can’t keep up, then that will be his fault but we have to try.”  Komi told me that he has the advantage anyway. When the lights went out at 10:30 P.M.  he could continue to study.  He didn’t need the lights to read in Braille!

After he finished his training he went back to Niger to start a church in the tribal language Zarma.  It is one of the few churches in this language.  He currently runs about 50 adults.  These people are very hard towards the Gospel.  Niger is very Muslim.  He is also the director of the Baptist mission there.  They currently have about 16 churches.

We went to a restaurant on the way back from Niger.  Pastor Komi had to pass through a particular room in order to get to the restroom.  When he came out, he told me that the room was beautiful.  I said, “Pastor Komi, how do you know that the room is beautiful?”  He told me that the bed was nice, the paint was nice,  the light fixtures were nice, etc.  I told him that he sees better than us.  He might be blind physically, but he sure isn’t blind spiritually.  Physically he lives in darkness but I know that he sees very clearly. He preached for us Sunday and did a wonderful job.  Below is a picture of him preaching.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 17th, 2008 at 9:47 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.