Survived five Boko Haram attacks, she still clings to Jesus
There are no people in the Far North region of Cameroon who have not heard about the carnage of the Boko Haram terror group. Fadi Zara is a young Christian woman who has fled five times, from one village to another, running for her life from Boko Haram. Open Doors visited her in the camp where she lives with thousands of people, who have also fled, and are trying to survive.
“Living in the village of other people is very difficult,” Fadi tells Open Doors. “We don’t have farming to do there, to get something to eat.”
Though Boko Haram largely makes the most headlines for its brutality in northeast Nigeria, the devastating influence of Islamic extremist groups is not only felt in Nigeria. The brutal violence driven by radical ideology also disrupts the cross-border communities of Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
The region’s open and remote deserts—like the place Fadi lives—make it especially vulnerable to extremist groups bent on crippling the church. Open Doors has registered more than 41 attacks against villages located in this area that has now been designated as a “red zone.” And as this group stakes their footholds even deeper, Christians who rely on their crops to survive face increasing danger of individual assault or kidnapping while they work their farms.
The violence and climate issues, including torrential floods, have also created severe food shortages. Experts estimate that 900,000 people in Cameroon’s Far North face food insecurity—an increase of almost 100,000 people since 2021.
Source: Open Doors
