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6. T o g o:
DEGREE SUCCESS FOR "NO LONGER FORGOTTEN" DESERT NOMADSONE OF ONLY 40 known Christians among a nomadic desert people group has become the first to complete specialized training to help him go back and share the gospel with his family and friends.
Ahmed - last name withheld for security reasons - became the first Touareg to graduate from a Christian university when he recently qualified for his Associate of Arts degree in Christian Ministries from Youth With A Mission's University of the Nations campus in Lome.
Traveling from his nearby homeland to the U of N campuses in Togo, he completed his studies over a period of seven years and currently helps broadcast a gospel radio program that reaches many of the Touareg communities spread across north Africa.
A fierce nomadic group of 500,000 yet to hear the gospel, the Touaregs are also known as "the blue men of the Sahara" for the head-to-toe robes they wear as protection against the sun.
Although now almost totally Muslim, they were given the name Touareg - Arabic for "the forgotten ones of God" - because of their long resistance to conversion to Islam. The handful of Christian converts now prefer to be called Kel Tamasjeq, which means "those who speak the language of Tamasjeq".
As well as working in radio evangelism, Ahmed - who became a Christian after having a vision of Jesus - helps new converts in their faith.
"We have been privileged to be able to give him the training to go back and reach his people with the gospel," said University of the Nations International Associate Provost Tom Bloomer. "The Touaregs are the 'forgotten of God' no longer."
The University of the Nations was founded in 1978 as a "multiplier for missions", training Christians in seven colleges, from Christian ministries and humanities to communication and arts.
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