All over the world, people experience joy when they form new social attachments. Human beings are inherently social in nature. That is why we react with loneliness and despair when these bonds are broken. People need people. For us Africans, this is especially true, which is why social situations can have such a profound effect on our thoughts, feelings and behavior. And, as a frontier missionary, I have found great treasure in my social network.

I met Dramane in early 2007 at my first practice with the town’s primary soccer team. At the time, my language helper was one of the only people I knew in town, and he introduced me to Dramane and the other players. That day at the soccer field, I became acquainted with a broad range of people in the community—top military officers, other armed-forces men, private and public managers, nurses, businessmen, teachers, imams, accountants, students, etc. Most of these were people of influence, and I made a mental note to keep in touch with the group to gain their support for my work.

Dramane and I struck up a friendship right away. As we got to know each other, we both became curious about each other. I wanted to know why Dramane, a good Muslim, had married a Christian woman. He wanted to know why a Christian was studying Muslim Dendi people. As an economics teacher, Dramane was looking for rational explanations. His field teaches that all individuals are rational egoists seeking their own interests, and he wondered what I hoped to gain among the Dendi. His choice to marry a Christian woman was a rational one, and he argues that it is allowable in the teachings of the Quran.

As we talked, Dramane and I found we had something in common—a strong belief in religious freedom. Dramane told me about his struggle with some right-wing imams who refused to dedicate his first child because of his wife’s Christianity. Dramane finally overcame them by insisting he be treated according to the law of Islam, not according to their prejudices. This is exactly the message we want to get across in our hunger-development strategy. We want our Dendi people to consider the teachings of Islam in the Quran in support of religious freedom.

Dramane has agreed to lead our project’s religious-liberty team. He has even recruited members among the Wahhabis, a strict, puritanical reform movement in Islam. As we share with the community our belief in people’s rights to form personal religious convictions according to their own conscience and to give public expression to these beliefs in worship and teaching, we pray that God will reward those who diligently seek Him.

Thanks for your prayers for the Dendi people and for your support of our mission.

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