Missionary profile – Swahib Fathi

By Mercy Kambura

Swahib Fathi – Missionary from Kenya to the Somali

I was restless. In my heart, I knew I lacked peace and I set out to find it in every nook and cranny. I was Catholic, and I wasn’t feeling the peace there. My mom was previously a Muslim before she joined my dad in Catholicism, so I went to her religion to see if my heart would find rest. It didn’t.

I quit that faith and joined the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and then quit. I joined Eastern Mysticism which promised me the peace I craved. My heart was still disturbed even after learning all the yoga tricks. So, I quit. I later became a legalist and tried to do good all by myself. I was still sad and empty. I quit.

I was introduced to the church of science, and despite all the ‘facts’, I was still a shell inside. That’s when I decided it wasn’t worth it at all. To me, God wasn’t real. So I became an atheist.

I had been through it all – or so I thought – so I was a very vocal and argumentative atheist. I loved to engage people who believed in God, especially Christians. I and a team of four other young men made it our life ambition to dispute the existence of God; we thought we were very wise.

One time, we heard there was a gospel meeting planned for Nyayo Stadium, Nairobi, Kenya. Arming ourselves with arguments and counter-arguments, we went to war.

Right at the gate, we met young people who immediately engaged us. We argued for hours. One took me to a tent inside and he spoke the Word of God to me. Before long, I was sold to this new truth that I had spent so much time opposing. I became a Christian.

I experienced the peace I had been seeking for years! I was a new creature, and I wanted to explain this new truth to people, especially Muslims, since my mom’s family was still deep in Islam. That is how I became a missionary.

The first place I went to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ was home to my relatives. But I went through an incredible loss – my father, who hadn’t raised an eyebrow when I had been touring all the other religions, disowned me.

I am now missionary in Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia with CAPRO.

Please #pray:

For our safety. The mission field is dangerous. The Church has to stand up and back us up with prayer.
I have been poisoned and left for dead, threatened and hunted. We need your prayers.