The amazing story of a British Bible college student now back in his home country in West Africa
By Charles Gardner
Special to ASSIST News Service
The man behind the recent plea for help on behalf of his West African countrymen beset by a series of threats both from within and without knows that nothing is impossible with God.
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Tim
Yattara
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His country, Mali, is currently reeling from the aftermath of a military coup, exacerbated by famine, spiraling inflation and threats from Al Qaida terrorists. Lying on a mortuary slab under a white sheet after being struck down by a new strain of yellow fever for which there was no medicine, three-year-old Timothee suddenly stirred. A doctor was going about his business in the hospital morgue when he heard “a little sound” and, greatly astonished, ran outside “shouting loudly” to the boy’s relatives that he was alive. The year was 1985 and Tim’s mother, a Christian, had only five minutes earlier prayed over his dead body. As an act of faith and with tears in her eyes, she prayed: “Lord…if only my child comes back from death, I will dedicate him to you and he will become your servant.” Meanwhile cousins, uncles, aunts, nephews, grandparents, friends and acquaintances had been waiting outside for his father, also a man of faith, who believed his son would live when news of his death reached his workplace more than four miles outside the city. He responded in faith, saying: “I cannot believe that my son has died… Oh no, he is alive!”
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Timbuktu street
scene
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Tim said the symptoms of his boyhood illness were loss of appetite along with the loss of all his hair. “I went to several hospitals in the region, but sadly without any solution because the strain of yellow fever at that time was new, with no suitable medicine,” he said. He was eventually admitted to a hospital in Timbuktu City. “My parents, who had been suffering badly on my account, had to look after me in hospital and doctors visited me regularly.” Tim said the doctors warned his parents he was going to die from the lack of any effective cure and, eventually, he did. “It was a moment of profound sadness and tears for my family, especially for my mother,” he added. After his death had been confirmed, his relatives surrounded the mortuary for half-a-day waiting for his father to arrive. “While they waited, my mother went with faith to the mortuary, with tears in her eyes, believing that God would do something,” explained Tim. Then the doctor delivered the amazing news. He said, “Affected by these extraordinary events, everyone waiting outside including my mother entered the mortuary and saw that I was alive! My parents praised the Lord for his love, greatness and faithfulness through this momentous event. And I give all the praise to the Lord, for he is the only one who deserves it!” Tim’s father, now a pastor, is currently running a market garden project – the Farm of the Good Samaritan – to meet the needs of 70 poor families in Timbuktu with each family given a small allotment in which to grow crops both for their own supplies and to sell.
