It was 1994 and the Liberian Civil War in West Africa was leaving its mark on yet another innocent family. Sadly, after three months of being forced to harvest all ten acres of rice under the guns of soldiers, Pastor Emmanuel Kollie understood their intentions clearly. They would leave nothing for his family. Nothing. Not even one grain of rice.
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| Liberian rice farm with thatched "kitchen" |
Weren’t the beatings and the looting enough? Nine children to feed and not a grain of rice for the year. How could they live without rice, the staple of their diet? What would happen to them?
Desperate, Pastor Kollie made plans to close down the Bible school he directed and to leave the area. After all, they had to eat. However, after calling the students together to break the news, he just couldn’t do it. He felt God would have them stay, trusting Him to provide sustenance. Pastor Kollie, his family, and the students prayed for God’s supply.
And then the snails came - big ones, sometimes with shells four or five inches across. Of course there had always been some snails, but never in such profusion. There were snails everywhere. The mission property was literally crawling with them. The family went out to gather and each step would yield a snail. All they had to do was reach out and pick it up. Pastor Kollie and his family likened the snails to manna from heaven.
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African Giant Snail
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What did they do with all those snails? In the same way the Israelites no doubt thought of every possible way to prepare their manna, the Kollie's thought of every possible way to prepare snail. And there was such an abundance that the family was able to sell or trade snails for other things. Things like rice. Things like clothes. So they carried bags of snails on their heads to market and came home with provisions.
And just as when the Israelites entered the Promised Land the manna stopped as suddenly as it had started, when the Kollie's next year's rice harvest was safely stored the snails were gone. Now when he sees a lone snail crawling across the mission property, Pastor Kollie is reminded of God's provision of his family's very own snail manna in their year of great need.
And just as when the Israelites entered the Promised Land the manna stopped as suddenly as it had started, when the Kollie's next year's rice harvest was safely stored the snails were gone. Now when he sees a lone snail crawling across the mission property, Pastor Kollie is reminded of God's provision of his family's very own snail manna in their year of great need.
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| Pastor and Mrs. Emmanuel Kollie |
("Snail Manna" was first printed in Baptist Mid-Missions' “Harvest” magazine in 1999.)
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