Last Sunday morning Boko Haram, the violent Muslim extremists who have declared an Islamic State in northeastern Nigeria, overran Michika, the large district center in the Kamwe area. (The Kamwe Bible translators with whom I work reside in the Michika area.) Many people were killed; there are reports of young people having their throats slit and old people being killed as they were coming out of church. Virtually the entire town has been looted, and the homes of many Christians have been destroyed. Those who survived have fled the town, many of them going up into the mountains or into the bush.

Boko Haram now controls a string of towns along the Cameroon border, all the way from Gwoza in the north to near Mubi in the south. There are hundreds of thousands of Christians in this seventy-mile stretch along the border, and there must be tens of thousands of them living in the open now; their situation is desperate. There is no organized aid for them.

Here is the latest report from the Hon. Titsi Ganama Kwagga, the Kamwe representative in the Nigeria House of Representatives:

“The entire area has been sacked . . . The situation is worsening by the day, the insurgents are now going into the [surrounding] villages killing our people.

“Our people that have been sacked are hungry and helpless. They have no food, no water, no household provisions and medications. They have had to resort to eating up crops that are not yet ready for harvest. The situation is terrible . . . If nothing urgent is done, there could be outbreak of diseases . . . Their situation is pathetic and unimaginable.”

These Christians have lost everything, and their future and that of their children is wholly uncertain. (Many elderly people were left behind in Michika.) In some cases, children have become separated from their families. Communication with many has been lost, as cell phones have stopped working.

Kamwe Christians are asking for our urgent prayer; will you pray for these brothers and sisters?

Roger Mohrlang, Professor of Biblical Studies, Department of Theology, Whitworth University, Spokane, WA 99251, USA

tel (509) 777-4598, fax (509) 777-3274, rmohrlang@whitworth.edu

“I am the light of the world. Those who follow me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (Jesus)

“For me, the whole point of living is Christ—Christ means everything!” (Paul)