The Seventh-day Adventist message of hope and salvation will reach even more people in West and Central Africa with the opening of a new radio studio that will produce programming in the Fulfulde language spoken by the Fulani people who live in the Sahel region there. The Fulani are reported to be the largest nomadic group of people in the world.

Construction of the new studio has just been completed. It is located at the North Cameroon church office in Maroua, Cameroon, Africa. The project is a joint undertaking by the local church leadership and Adventist World Radio. AWR supplied the equipment and an engineer to oversee the installation, and will provide training for the staff and subsequent broadcast time for the programs.

The Fulani people who live in the Sahel region of West and Central Africa speak Fulfulde. The Sahel is located between the Sahara Desert in the north and the wetter tropical areas farther south. It also extends from the Atlantic Ocean on the west to the Central African Republic in the east. Fulani are the cattle herders of West Africa, and most are Muslims. It is estimated that more than 15 million people in these territories speak Fulfulde as their first language.

“I first learned about Jesus when I heard ‘The Voice of Hope’ on my radio,” says AWR listener Ahmadou* (not his real name). “My family is Fulani Muslim. When I decided to become a Christian, I was driven out of our home. All of my properties, including my cows, were seized. I had to leave the area for fear of being killed.”

“Fulfulde programs had been broadcast on shortwave radio in the past, but this language has been off the air for some time,” says Pastor Benjamin Schoun, AWR president. “The new programs will follow AWR’s ‘magazine’ format, addressing a topics from social issues and family life to simple health remedies, in addition to spiritual themes and Bible lessons. The content will be contextualized for Muslim listeners’ needs and interests.”

Adventist World Radio is the mission radio arm of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Currently, AWR broadcasts in 64 languages, for more than 100 hours a day, reaching parts of the world missionaries cannot enter because of legal restrictions on their activities.