It's hard to believe that there are still places where people live with no hydro, no running water, no medical help and no TV. They eat the same food every single day, sleep on stick beds in huts made of grass and mud. In the past and even today they are persecuted and treated poorly by some of the other tribes because they do not follow the Muslim faith.
These people are a part of the Bassari Tribe and this is their story.
It all started in early 1950's for James Campbell Stanley of Lucan Ontario. James married a beautiful young lady (we called her mom) Dorothy Louise Hardy of Strathroy, Ontario.
Dad felt the call from the God to go to Africa to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to any unreached peoples or at the very least team up with real missionary's and help them. He had heard from a missionary friend of his that Senegal was a difficult place to live and evangelize because of the strong Muslim influences of the main controlling tribes.
In 1962, Jim and Louise headed off to Senegal on the west coast of Africa. There was no missions supporting them, no big organizations back home, only Jim, Louise and 5 (later 6) little boys. Dad (Jim) met with the chief of the tribe and there was only one stipulation.
If Dad wanted to stay back in the bush and live with them
"You can come here and live with us, but if your family gets sick you will bury them in the ground, right next to ours. Then we will see how big your God is! "
Dad agreed that if a time came then he would honor that. They shook hands and dad and mom set up a little tent right in the yard.
One year later a 6th boy was born. Joseph Pierre (me)
And that was it. We were off and running. The Lord was at work every day from that day forward.
Louise (who was previously blind and then healed from diagnosed Multiple Sclerosis) homeschooled all six boys. After that we went out to an American embassy school on the Senegalese coast in Dakar.
Dakar is the capital city of Senegal.
-Joe Stanley
HomeWelcome to: Bassari Mission Africa
Taking the good news of Jesus Christ to Africa Since 1962
This is the story of how God used a simple uneducated man and his wife to reach a primitive tribe deep in Africa. What's amazing is that this man had NO support or funding. NO money. NO real invitation from an organization and NO place to live when he got there. What he did have was a wife, 6 small boys, a little faith and desire to serve GOD.
-Joe Stanley
Enjoy!
Senegal, West Africa
Bassari Missionfield
is deep into Senegal on the border of Guinea
"The Stanleys"
1965
Mom & Dad
eating with bassari
Mom teaching sunday school to children
