Bananzaro's transformation

as told to Elvira Hamm

I, Bananzaro Thioro Calixte, am 39, and I live in Orodara in the African country of Burkina Faso. My wife Noelie and I have three daughters.

I am the first son of a very large family. My father had three wives and 23 children. He first worshipped the ancestors, then became a Catholic for a short time. Finally he converted to Islam when I was six years old.

I followed my father's faith without understanding. At 15, a lot of questions came to my mind about this religion. In order to get answers, I bothered my father, who did not know much; though he tried, he could not enlighten me. I remained unsatisfied, and a growing emptiness and thirst filled my heart.

During secondary school, this thirst remained. I would very often wake up late at night and stay on my praying mat for hours, calling to an unknown god. But the emptiness still was there. I began to doubt the existence of God through studying philosophy and reading authors such as Karl Marx.

In June 1980, I went to university with the same thirst. There I began English studies with some Christian classmates who never stopped talking of "Jesus". At home, too, I lived with a cousin who had studied at a Christian Bible institute. I hated him for the many times he mentioned Jesus. I abused him and called him a fool. Although I was very harsh with him, he never showed any anger. I was very curious about this, and I remembered his words: "Nobody can resist Jesus Christ forever. Your day will come."

I was a brilliant student and found no problem passing my first-year examinations--but troubles began during my second year. When I failed my June examination, I became very discouraged.

My father sent me to one of his best friends, a "marabout" (a Muslim d, I looked around to find the speaker, but I saw no one. When I tried again to open the door, the same command was given, stronger than before. At the same time, one of the people singing at the other end of the room called, "Bananzaro, you can join us if you wish. It is not a secret meeting."

I do not know how I got from the door to a chair among the 12 people at the other end of the room. After the songs, each of them thanked God. Some were thankful because they had passed their exams, but when others thanked Jesus despite their failure, I became very angry. I would have stood up and gone away, but I could not.

Next they asked if people had requests for prayer. When the first requests were given, a big fight was taking place inside me. Finally, I heard what seemed like another person beside me, exposing my whole plan of suicide. As soon as my voice stopped, the leader said, "Praise God!" and the others replied, "Amen!"

He said. "Bananzaro, look, the devil was at work in your life, but the Lord Jesus loves you and will free you if you like. Is that what you want?"

I replied, "Yes."

They all stood up, surrounded me and started praying for me. After a while, I felt as if something heavy was falling from my heart. At the end of the prayer meeting, I felt so light that I hardly felt the chair under me. It was wonderful. My heart was full of joy! Later on, the director invited me into her office and talked to me. I committed my life to Jesus Christ, and she offered me a Bible, encouraging me to read it and worship with other Christians.

When I headed for my house, I did not feel the ground under my feet; I felt as if I were flying like a butterfly. Jesus Christ was now in my heart, which was filled with a happiness I had not known before.

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