Pray that our children will return to us

Over the past three years, Boko Haram has abducted at least six Christian children in the Far North Region of Cameroon. The children were taken during separate attacks between 2022 and 2024. To date their families have received no news, and don’t even know if they are still alive. The parents have reached out to our local partners and asks if you will stand with them in prayer.

“Since I started working in Mayo-Tsanaga in 2014, I have not heard of any Muslim children being abducted. Every time, it’s just Christian children…” says Pastor Jean of the evangelical church in, Mayo-Tsanaga division of the Far North Region where the children were taken.

One the kidnapped children is 10-year-old Joseph. His family lived in Goldavie when Boko Haram took him. “It was one Wednesday in May 2023 at about 8 pm; I can never forget that day”, his mother, Médéké (pictured above), who is in her forties and has five children, shares. Joseph is her 3rd child.
The boy had the habit of sitting with his father every evening as they waited for their evening meal. “He sat on his father’s leg, I could hear them laugh while looking at my husband’s phone. It did not take a long time for the Boko Haram men to surround the village and start with the gunshots.”

No one saw the men coming, but the gunshots in the air were enough to know they had to run away. Médéké explains that usually in such situations, the villagers will run to the mountains to hide. “So, I started running to the mountain. When I turned around, I saw Joseph holding my husband’s hand. Both were also running to the mountain…”

In the chaos, Joseph lost sight of his father and decided to run back home to look for him. “A neighbour explained that he saw the young boy run back home and shouting his father’s name everywhere, but when he [the neighbour] tried to tell him [Joseph] to run, one of the men carried him away”, Médéké shares with tears in her eyes.

“I came down from the mountain and waited for all my children with my husband to come back, but Joseph did not come back. I even thought he was with a neighbour. That’s when that other neighbour came and told us that he was kidnapped.”

“I have waited for a call for ransom till date, but no one has called me. I don’t know what has become of my son. I feel so much pain whenever I think of him”, Médéké told OD partners.

After the attack, Médéké refused to eat for three days. She kept hoping that her son would somehow return. “I fell sick, very sick. The pain was unbearable, but I needed to hold on. I prayed and asked God to strengthen me and I had little strength. Sometimes I ask God what I have done for You to let them take my son away. But I get no response from Him. I can never forget what happened to my son…”

“Sometimes, I wake up at night, and I weep… I can’t forget. Please pray for me!” Médéké pleads.

The six children abducted between 2023 and 2024 are between the ages of 7 and 18. Like Medeke, their families remain in pain, yet continue to hope for their safe return someday.

Pastor Jean is the head of the Evangelical church in the area where Joseph was kidnapped. He shares that “since 2014, till date, if I count the number of children abducted by Boko Haram, from us Christians since 2014 till date, it’s more than 14 children. We have 3 in Mozogo, 1 in Korsamba, 1 in Goldavie, 1 in Gabass, and the others, I do not know exactly… and in Kiriwa-Mafa, they were children of Christians that were kidnapped”.

“We want peace in our hearts, in our village, in our country… till date, we don’t know where our children are. They don’t call us to ask for money (ransom); they do not call to say here are your children. Till date, we do not know, no news, no trace of our children. Yes, right now, we are asking for prayers that you will pray for us”, he pleaded.