Republic of Niger

By Kassoule Zakari, and JoAnne Lafever

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Kassoule Zakari

JoAnne Lafever is currently retired with Beecher in Redlands, CA, after 27 years overseas with the Seventh-day Adventist church.

First Published: January 28, 2020 | Last Updated: May 2, 2024

Republic of Niger is a developing and landlocked country in West Africa which covers 1,267,000 square kilometers.

Historical Background and Overview

At the end of the 19th century, the French occupied the country and they made it their colony in 1922. Niger became a republic on December 18, 1958. On August 3, 1960, the country became independent, with French as the official language and Niamey as the capital city.1

About 80 percent of the land in Niger is part of the Sahara Desert. More than half of the population belong to the Hausa ethnic group. The second largest group is Zarma Songhai, living in the western part of the country. Farmers form the majority of the population in Niger, but the lack of rainfall makes farming very difficult.2

Niger, the largest country in West Africa in terms of size, is surrounded by Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Tchad, Libya, Mali, and Nigeria,3 with an estimated population of more than 22 million inhabitants.4 The country is predominantly Islamic, as 90 percent of the citizens are Muslim, mainly Sunni Muslim, while the remaining 10 percent are Christian or adherents of indigenous religions (Animists).5 Religious freedom is respected in Niger. There are no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in the country. Prominent societal leaders take positive steps to promote religious freedom.6

Beginning of Adventist Work

In the mid-1980s, the African India Ocean Division officers, AID-President R. J. Kloosterhuis and Wally Amundson, ADRA director, saw the vastness of West Africa and how few of those countries had an SDA presence. In early 1985, Wally Amundson was sent on a mission to Niger to get permission to install ADRA in Niger as a non-governmental organization (NGO) performing humanitarian activities. $30,000 USD in funds were approved for each of the three countries for ADRA start-up costs.

In early 1985, Director Amundson flew to Niamey, the capital of Niger, which was a very hot and dusty country with absolutely no Adventist presence. He finally found the proper government official in the Ministry of Development office. Wally explained ADRA and its worldwide focus to help people, and he also presented him with some ADRA brochures. The official then told him to go home and that they would send a MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) to him in Abidjan. Amazingly enough, within three weeks the MOU arrived. Immediately, the African Indian Ocean Division officers began looking for a qualified person to serve as the ADRA-Niger Country director.

Kevin and Christine Beckett, with their three-year-old daughter Laura, arrived in Niamey, the capital city, in May of 1986 to set up an ADRA office to do development and aide work with hopes of starting an SDA church eventually. Regrettably, health issues cut short the term of service for the Becketts.

ADRA in Niger

In September 1986, Beecher Lafever, with his wife JoAnne, and two daughters Jill and Mindi Lafever, arrived in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, to prepare to teach children of missionary families. Because of the beginning of an ADRA presence already in Niger, six days after arriving in Abidjan, AID-President J. J. Nortey and AID-Treasurer Keith Heinrich invited Beecher and his family to assume the position as ADRA-Niger director effective immediately. Both Beecher and JoAnne had been trained in Public Health. A Toyota Hi-Lux truck for ADRA work had been ordered with the start-up funds. However, no ADRA-Niger office or housing for the family was officially set up.

While waiting in Abidjan to move to Niger, Wallace (Wally) Amundson, African Indian Ocean Division ADRA director, over the course of the next several weeks, made many phone calls to Niger to make arrangements for housing through a French Construction Company in Niamey to rent a temporary apartment for the newly-arrived family. In early October, Mr. Amundson flew with the Lafever family to Niamey to help them settle into Niamey. After a few days, Amundson returned to Abidjan.

Beecher and JoAnne were on their own and began the rounds of government offices to introduce ADRA to the Ministry of Development and to see how ADRA could be of help in that country. At the time there were no Adventists in Niger. The thinking was that it would take many years to start a church in Niger and also that many development projects could be done by ADRA. The opposite proved true.

The family lived two months in the small apartment rented from the French construction company until a house with an attached office became available. Mr. Lafever began the process of accounting and planning how to continue the ADRA work in Niger.

The Niger Republic, at that time, was suffering from long-lasting drought. The rains normally came in the winter but had been scarce the previous few years. Many families struggled with malnutrition, and many of the wild animals or “bush meat” had been eaten. The then-current president of Niger, President Seyni Kountche, was well respected by the people since he personally helped distribute aid to the villages. The streets were safe at night, and there was no corruption in government. Unfortunately, he developed a brain tumor and died in November of 1987 not long after the Lafever family arrived. A new president, Ali Saibo, was elected president of Niger. The SDA Church did not have permission to evangelize or officially start an SDA Church work even though ADRA was registered with the Niger government. ADRA-Niger was free to work anywhere in the country doing humanitarian work.

Niger was, at that time, a very forward-thinking country. The government had already invited project proposals from each village as to what projects they felt they needed to be provided with foreign funds. These project proposals were complete with plans and everything needed was well thought out. All Mr. Lafever had to do was go to the Ministry of Development where these projects were available and pick the ones that ADRA could fund.

There were many NGOs in Niger with large amounts of money to spend on large or small projects. Because of the time it took to get the project money through the ADRA channels to GC headquarters and back again, Mr. Lafever was fortunate to be able to find immediate funding through different embassies that had discretionary funds they were happy to give to help village small projects.

ADRA-Niger was able to complete latrine projects, build wells for women farmers, and build a shelter for women who came to a well-baby clinic and had no place to sit out of the hot sun in the village of Ouallam, 60 miles from the capital city.

Since there was no SDA church to attend, the Lafever family had a “branch Sabbath School” each Sabbath by going down to the wide Niger River, and the girls sat on a branch of a large mango tree that hung out over the water while stories were read and Sabbath School lessons were taught. Jill and Mindi fortunately were able to attend the American School of Niamey tuition free because Mrs. Lafever took a teaching job there.

Seventh-day Adventist Church Beginnings in Niger

Adventist message reached a young man named Zakari Kassoule, an indigene of the Republic of Niger, through Adventist World Radio. He heard the good news and started keeping the Sabbath before coming, few months later, into contact with the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) which came to operate in the country in 1987. The history of the Adventist presence in Niger revolves around the life story of this young man, Kassoule Zakari.7 There are two major developments concerning his conversion to Adventism. First, he was converted from Islam to the Baptist Church; and second, he was converted from the Baptist Church to the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Zakari was born into a large and robust Muslim family in Niger. His parents educated him in the Islamic ways. He started learning about Islam and the Qur’an (Muslim holy book) at an early age. He was taught to believe in only one God, Allah, and Muhammad, his messenger. Some of the main foci of that religion are salvation by works, God has no son, and no one is equal to Him in power and glory, as it is written in the Qur’an (112:1-4). In fact, for years Kassoule would have nothing to do with Christianity.8

He hated the Bible because several points he was taught about the Bible kept coming to his mind. Two of the points he was taught were that Christians changed the Holy Scripture every year, and that Muhammad was the last prophet sent by God to correct that corrupted religion, Christianity. What dominated his mind were those passages that Muslims quote to show that the Bible is full of mistakes, or to show some verses that predicted Muhammad as the messenger of God. Trained by an expert in the rules of debate and discussion, he collected many of these controversial verses to support his defense of Islam.9

He tried with all his strength to destroy Christianity around him, showing that Islam was the right way. Since he had studied the Qur’an for years, he did not want to hear anything about the Bible. His little biblical knowledge was challenged one day when he and his friends met some Christians for a religious debate. It was not surprising that Kassoule was chosen by his group to prove that the Bible was not the word of God. At the end of his speech, what he had said left people unconvinced. From that date, at the beginning of January 1985, he decided to read the Bible, not to become a Christian, but to better understand its errors so as to argue more convincingly and efficiently in future debates.10

Some days after this debate, he met a Baptist Church missionary nurse from the United States, an old lady from whom he received a copy of the gospel according to John and he started reading it, not to be converted, but to better understand the errors therein to help him in subsequent debates. About that time, he also received a New Testament from a Muslim friend. He continued reading both, using the same method of underlining flaws. After three weeks of intense study, he started questioning himself because he finally understood that there were significant points of truth coming from the teachings of Jesus Christ. He came to realize that what Jesus taught was touching his heart and they were the truths to obey. He became so confused that he felt he needed more light to decide between Islam and Christianity. Since it was crucial for him to better understand what he had read so far, he went back to see the Baptist lady who had given him the gospel according to John to learn about Jesus and His mission on earth. The lady’s explanation showed him that Jesus was the Savior of the world. Finally, Kassoule accepted Christ as Savior whole-heartedly and decided to follow Him despite much persecution.

The result of his decision to follow Jesus Christ was peace, joy, assurance of salvation, and a complete change in his life. He understood that Christianity was different from what he had read in some controversial books and what his Islamic teachers had conveyed to him about Christianity.11 Despite all the persecution and obstacles, Kassoule became a member of the Baptist Church in his country. It is noteworthy that at that time very few natives of his country were members of that church. A year later, he met a Catholic friend from whom he received a commentary on the book of Daniel written by a Seventh-day Adventist author. At the same time, the friend showed him the frequencies on which he could find Adventist World Radio. At that time there was no known native of Niger who was a Seventh-day Adventist.

Following what he learned through the Adventist World Radio broadcasts, Zakari started sharing the message about the Sabbath with his Christian friends. He had to leave the Baptist Church because of misunderstandings with the church leaders who considered the teachings of the Seventh-day Adventist Church to be wrong and tried to dissuade him from embracing them.12

For many months Kassoule stayed home alone and did not attend church. On April 8, 1987, he received a letter from the Adventist World Radio regional headquarters in Abidjan. The letter informed him that ADRA Director, Beecher Lafever, an American citizen, had been sent to Niger. The news of an ADRA director sent to Niger came as a surprise to him. After following the instructions given, he met Lafever’s family who gave him more information about the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

After discovering the new Adventist family, Zakari invited some of his Muslim friends to join them to study the Bible. Among them were Alzouma Boundia, one of his friends in the Baptist Church; his elder brother’s friend, Mahammadou Abdoulaye, who was a judge at that time, and his wife Hadiza; one of his cousins; and classmates from the secondary school, Sani Ali. These people also invited friends and relatives and the group started growing.13

In August 1987 a literature evangelist named Paul Kagone and his family from Burkina Faso arrived in Niger to take care of the new group. The new believers rented a worship place for church activities in Niamey. Then Zakari left Niger for Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, to receive training as a literature evangelist. At the close of the training, he refused to go back to Niamey to join his friends because of persecution there. In Abidjan, Zakari visited the headquarters of the division where he made many friends among the workers. It was from Abidjan that he heard about the first baptism in Niamey of nine people on June 11, 1988. While in Abidjan he received an admission letter to study theology at the Adventist University of Central Africa in Rwanda. He had left the secular university in his country after his conversion to Christianity, and now his prayer was answered because he felt called to serve God as a pastor.

One day while doing research at the university, Zakari found an article in the library which stated that in October 1972, Edwin Ludesher, president of the Equatorial African Union Mission; Maurice Zehnacker, president of the East Cameroon Mission; and Mr. H. Kempf, missionary in Haute-Volta (actual Burkina Faso) went to Niger to visit the president of the Republic of Niger, Diori Hamani. The reason for their visit at that time was to request the president to grant them permission to build a medical center in Niger.14

Shortly after the visit, President Hamani was removed from office. So Zakari looked for the address of Ludesher and wrote to him to get more information about that visit. Ludesher informed him that the removal of President Hamani Diorihim on April 15, 1974,15 resulted in their lack of success in building the medical center. One can therefore conclude that the first official attempt to reach Niger by the Seventh-day Adventist message was in October 1972.

In Rwanda, Zakari, heard through the letters of his friends in Niamey that there were a lot of conflicts in the young church. The leaders faced many new challenges, and one of them was to maintain unity among themselves and among some new converts.

Finally, the church received a letter from the Ministry of Religious Affairs asking them to stop operating in the country because of the disorder inside. Many members left the church because of that unfortunate situation. The leaders, Beecher Lafever and Paul Kagone, went back to their respective countries in June 1990. On July 23, 1990, a new mission president from Italia, Riccardo Orsuci, was sent to Niger to take care of the remnant. Some months later Zakari graduated and returned to Niger in September 1991 to join the new president in leading the remaining flock. The leaders faced some new challenges, but they finally got authorization from the government of Niger to operate as a church. The church then restarted with zeal and determination. Riccardo and Kassoule tried first of all to gather the scattered members. They came together to map out a plan to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the people.16

A small school was started with 35 refugees from the Republic of Mali. One of the church members, Sani Alio, became the first teacher. The next year the school, supported by ADRA and Reach Italia, (a non-governmental organization) moved to a new location. At the new location, the school grew and established an academic reputation that attracted even Muslim students. The church employed new converts as teachers, and they prepared the students both academically and spiritually.

Two members were sent to school, Symphorien Capochichi to study accounting, and Assoumane Mahamidou to study nursing, in an attempt to support the future mission station.

In addition to the strong missionary vision of Orsuci, several elements contributed to the stable growth of the Adventist Mission in Niger. They included publishing, the Five-Day Plan to Stop Smoking, and teaching people proper nutrition. It is encouraging to see that the destroyed church has been restored again by the power of the living God through the new leaders.

During 1994, the house rented for use as a church was bought with the contribution of Global Mission, and it became the property of the mission station. In 1995 ADRA received a second piece of land on which to build another school. Orsuci and Zakari gave their entire lives to the mission despite many challenges in this Muslim country.17

On February 24, 1995, Riccardo Orsuci left the country after an evangelistic effort in which the preacher, Pastor Elie Weick-Dido, now the president of West-Central Africa Division, was alleged to have spoken against Islam. For that reason, the Muslims wanted to kill Orsuci and the preacher. Specifically, it was Lesson 29 in the Revelation Seminar series used that was offensive to the Muslims. With Riccardo Orsuci gone, Zakari had to continue the work alone before another Italian, David Ferraro, came to join him. Ferraro built a second school and continued maintaining peace among members before he left Niger to go and serve the neighboring country of Mali in the year 2000. It was that same year that Zakari was ordained as a pastor. During the time of Ferraro, global mission pioneers brought the gospel from Niamey, the country’s capital, to Dosso, 150 kilometers away from Niamey, and to Doutchi, which is 300 kilometers from Niamey.18

When David Ferraro left Niger, Brazilian Dio Cruz came as mission president to continue the work. At that time the headquarters and a big church building were built to replace the former mission building, and two church members were sent to the university for pastoral training.19

More Recent Developments

The church started to reach other cities in Niger such as Tillabery, Oualam, and Filingue Tera, with the result that membership increased to more than 200. Global mission pioneers were recruited to take care of these members and there were no more hindrances to the progress of the gospel work. In April 2006, Pastor Kassoule was called to serve at the union office and he left the country of Niger. He continued to supervise the mission station for two more years, the time it took to appoint the next leader to take care of the only organized church in February 2006. Later on, the two members sent for biblical training, graduated and came back to support the mission in Niger. Assoumane Anatche arrived in August 2009 and Bachir Tiemago in June 2013.

In the following years the country was exceedingly blessed in that the number of members and places of worship increased, and much infrastructure was developed to facilitate the progress of the gospel.20

On August 2, 2015, another Brazilian, Davi Tavares, was appointed as mission president. He developed a medical center and, with the help of God, built eight new churches around the country. Ten pastors from other churches accepted the Seventh-day Adventist message and joined the Church. Most of the church members are used as evangelists to serve outside Niamey by creating groups of believers.

Twenty volunteers from Brazil came to Niger to improve the mission work. The two local members sent to theological training graduated and came back home. The new team of pastors and volunteers worked so hard that the gospel reached Maradi, Makalondi, Kollo, Madaoua, and other towns outside Niamey, the capital city. Cities like Dosso, Tillabery, and Doutchi, for a long time neglected, became well developed.21

By June 30, 2017, Niger Region (formerly Niger Mission Station), established in 1986, had two churches and 200 members in a population of 20,575,000.22

Sources

2018 Seventh-day Adventist Online Yearbook. “Niger Region,” accessed June 21, 2019, https://www.adventistyearbook.org/2018.pdf.

"ADRA Pioneers Settle in Niger." South Pacific Record and Adventist World Survey, October 4, 1986.

Adventist Review | Newsbreak, May 30, 1991, 7. See here.

Bonnal, Jean. “République du Niger.” Organisation des Nations Unies pour l’alimentation et l’agriculture https://www.ciesin.columbia.edu/decentralization/French/CaseStudies/niger.html (accessed July 9, 2018).

Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor “International Religious Freedom Report 2010, Niger.” U.S. Department of State, https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2010//index.htm (accessed May 31; 2018).

Country Meters, “Niger Population” https://countrymeters.info/fr/Niger (accessed July 9, 2018).

Guy, Jean-Herman. “15 Avril 1974, Renversement du Président Hamani Diori au Niger.” Perspective Monde: Outil Pédagogique de grande tendances Mondiale. https://perspective.usherbrooke.ca/bilan/servlet/BMEve?codeEve=574 (accessed July 9, 2018).

James L. Fly interview with Wallace Ammundson. "SDAs to Enter New Country." Adventist Review, December 5, 1985, 19. See here.

“Niger: Histoire.” Info Niger, https://www.infos-niger.com/le-niger/histoire/ (accessed May 30, 2018).

“Niger,” Larousse, https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/pays/Niger/135284 (accessed May 30, 2018).

“Réligion au Niger,” Wikipedia. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_au_Niger (accessed May 30, 2018).

White, Edward E. “Niger Opens its Doors to Adventist.” ARH, February 15, 1973.

Notes

  1. 1. “Niger: Histoire,” Info Niger, https://www.infos-niger.com/le-niger/histoire/ (accessed May 30, 2018).

  2. “Niger,” Larousse, https://www.larousse.fr/encyclopedie/pays/Niger/135284 (accessed May 30, 2018).

  3. Jean Bonnal, “République du Niger” Organisation des Nations Unies pour l’alimentation et l’agriculture https://www.ciesin.columbia.edu/decentralization/French/CaseStudies/niger.html (accessed July 9, 2018).

  4. “Niger Population,” Country Meters, https://countrymeters.info/fr/Niger (accessed July 9, 2018).

  5. “Réligion au Niger,” Wikipedia, https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_au_Niger (accessed May 30, 2018).

  6. Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor “International Religious Freedom Report 2010, Niger.” U.S. Department of State, https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2010//index.htm (accessed May 31; 2018).

  7. The author’s personal knowledge, the first convert to the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Niger.

  8. Ibid.

  9. Ibid.

  10. Ibid.

  11. Ibid.

  12. Ibid.

  13. Ibid.

  14. Edward E. White, “Niger Opens its Doors to Adventist,” ARH, February 15, 1973, 17.

  15. Jean-Herman Guy, “15 Avril 1974, Renversement du Président Hamani Diori au Niger.” Perspective Monde: Outil Pédagogique de grande tendances Mondiale. https://perspective.usherbrooke.ca/bilan/servlet/BMEve?codeEve=574 (accessed July 9, 2018).

  16. Personal knowledge of the author.

  17. That portion was written based on the report that Riccardo Orsuci sent to Kassoule Zakari in March 1995, after his departure from Niger. It is a copy of his report sent to the Sahel Union. In that report he stated what he had done during the 55 months he was in Niger. As they worked together Zakari added some missing elements to the report.

  18. Personal knowledge of the author.

  19. Ibid.

  20. Ibid.

  21. Ibid.

  22. 2018 Seventh-day Adventist Online Yearbook, “Niger Region,” accessed June 21, 2019, https://www.adventistyearbook.org/2018.pdf.

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Zakari, Kassoule, JoAnne Lafever . "Republic of Niger." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. May 02, 2024. Accessed February 18, 2025. https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=DG8Q.

Zakari, Kassoule, JoAnne Lafever . "Republic of Niger." Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. May 02, 2024. Date of access February 18, 2025, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=DG8Q.

Zakari, Kassoule, JoAnne Lafever (2024, May 02). Republic of Niger. Encyclopedia of Seventh-day Adventists. Retrieved February 18, 2025, https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=DG8Q.