Burkina Faso Christian Women Widowed by Islamists

1/2/2025   (VOM)

Alimata’s husband, Yacouba, was the assistant pastor at a church in Kounla. On August 25, 2024, Islamic terrorists came to their house looking for Christian men. They forced Yacouba and another man, bound and blindfolded, into the church at gunpoint. As militants hunted more Christians, Alimata and other women fled with their children. As they ran, they heard gunshots. “I knew that they had killed my husband,” Alimata said. While hiding, a woman named Fadima also heard the gunshots that killed her husband and 27 more men inside the church. “Please pray for me as I am in trauma,” she said. “Pray that I will keep my faith in Christ. I can’t even remember any Bible verses now.” Another survivor saw the militants leave. “The terrorists came out of the church and yelled and laughed a lot,” she said. “They shot their guns in the air in celebration that they had killed Christians.” The women are receiving emergency housing and emotional care.

Please pray…

• Pray for Alimata, Fadima and all the women whose husbands were martyred by the Islamic terrorists, that the Lord will comfort them and heal them of their trauma.

• Pray that the Lord will strengthen them and help them not to lose their faith, and that the encouraging Word of God will arise in the hearts of each of these women and sustain them.

• Pray for His Presence to be strong and real with them and their children, and that the Lord will provide for their material needs.