Sierra
Leone Report
April 2004
Ever since Tianna got involved with Mercy Ships and began serving on the Anastasis in the communications department, I have wanted to see Mercy Ships in action and visit the ship while she was still on it. While she was in West Africa John and I studied Africa in school and learned all the names of the countries and some of the geography and history. I listened to her stories, learned names of people on the ship, and read all the books and CDs she had put together of their outreach reports. But actually going to Africa seemed like an impossible dream. However, the Lord knew the desires of my heart and this spring He opened the doors for me to go along when Stacey Veldstra decided to go. I’m so thankful I had the opportunity and I still look at the map and can hardly believe that I actually was there, on the ship, in Sierra Leone. It was such an intense and wonderful experience spending time with my daughter, seeing and participating in the ministry of the Anastasis while on outreach in the poorest country of the world. Great love and respect for Mercy Ships was evident everywhere we went, and people smiled and brightened when they discovered we were with Mercy Ships!
First a little bit about Sierra Leone. Of the 25 least developed countries
in Africa, last year Sierra Leone was ranked by the United Nations Index
of Human development as the lowest.
·
57% of her population subsists on less than $1 US a day, 74% live on
less than $2 US per day. How much healthy food will that provide? Often
they sell the more nutritious crops they grow instead of eating them.
· The literacy rate is at about 32%, that means only 3 out of 10 people can read—and many of them are the young people who missed out on their schooling while the civil war raged for ten years.
· 72% of the population does not have access to clean, safe water—which of course increases the spread of disease.
Now In recovery from a 10 year civil war, signs of re-development and progress are everywhere, but the needs and challenges the people face, are still mind boggling to me. In the face of such overwhelming circumstances, it might seem like Mercy Ships is barely scratching the surface of the tremendous need in this small country of about 5 and a half million people. The Anastasis has spent most of the last three yearly outreaches in Sierra Leone.
During these times they have not only provided healthcare services for many of the poor, but were also heavily involved in community re-development programs, outreach programs to schools, teachers, and local Church leaders from some 50 churches, as well as providing other ministries to individuals and groups of all kinds. We met so many people involved in so many things, I can not begin to tell about all the projects they were doing. With a crew of over 400, there was plenty of work going on around the clock. Besides the medical workers, there are the workers who keep the ship running—tending to such as engines, plumbing and sewer systems, maintenance, renovations, cargo, transportation--mechanics to keep all the 18 or so vehicles running safely, and computers, housekeeping, to mentions a few. Then there are all those who minister to the various needs of the crew such as the galley crew who feed everyone including day workers, and the people who give spiritual counsel and guidance to the crew.
But when needs arise, everyone pitches in to do any number of things, like the night a storm came up and things started blowing around, people who realized what was happening jumped out of bed and went to the rescue. We never knew anything about it until we were in a meeting the next day and some were thanking those who had helped. I guess being down on B deck somewhat insulated us from the noise of the storm and all the activity going on elsewhere. Everyone on the ship has a real sense of mission and purpose, and seems to be keenly aware of the importance of their part in the whole scope of things. It was a tremendous experience to work with so many from so many different nationalities who all love and serve the same Lord, from the Philippine Captain, to the day workers from Freetown some of whom were scraping and painting the side of the ship from a life boat hanging from an upper deck, singing as they worked in the hot sun.
I worked in the hot galley in the salads department about 7 or 8 hours a day Monday through Friday. Three or four of us washed, peeled, chopped, sliced, diced and shredded mountains of cucumbers, cabbages, avocados, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, green onions, lettuce, watermelons, pineapples, star fruit, fixing 8 huge pans of salads for lunch and 8 more for dinner, four for the general dining room, and four for the family dining room. The galley didn’t have air conditioning like the rest of the ship, but we had some portholes and a fan, and were reasonably comfortable compared to the cooks laboring over hot grills and stoves, and the crew running those hot, steamy dishwashers. I worked alongside several people from England and our salad leader was a young lady from Lithuania. My head got so full of English spoken with British and European accents—I was starting to think with an accent! Yes, it was hard physical work, but the people in the galley were joyful and enthusiastic about their part in the ministry and were quick to pray for and encourage each other. We had a lot of extra work preparing special things for the Easter week end, and as a thank you others on the ship gave the whole galley crew the following week end off and volunteered for duty.
Outside of work hours, we had opportunities to attend various functions on the ship such as the special Easter service on the Aft deck, Community meetings on Thursday evenings (their church time), and special meetings during the passion week. We also got off the ship on the two week ends we were there and saw more of Freetown, visiting a market once and spending most of a day at a beach which was away from the city and we got a glimpse of some less populated communities. Both Saturdays we traveled by land rover to the Care Center where Adam lives—about an hour’s drive through traffic like I had never seen before, with no stoplights, or stop signs, and everybody just beep-beeping their way along. Since traffic moves fairly slowly, people were coming to the windows of the car trying to sell us things. Everything was in motion—people, carts, children, taxis, puda-pudas, buses, trucks. It was mass confusion to me, but somehow we usually kept moving and actually got there. Such hilly, winding narrow mostly bumpy streets to negotiate! And so much activity to watch everywhere we went.
Finally meeting Adam and seeing the Care Center the end of the first week was a major highlight for us. What a ministry of love! Yes, Jesus is there in those aunties who lovingly care for the children—washing the clothes all by hand, on the balcony, feeding them nutritious meals, cooking some of it over a little open fire outdoors and doing it all with joy. They said they had even taken the whole group to the beach one day. It took both shifts of workers to pull that off! While there we held some of the other children and babies. Looking into their curious eyes, I prayed in my heart for God to give them loving Christian families, and I thanked Him that they have a safe and loving temporary home. We also spent some time on our second visit with the other 60 some children there. We got down on the floor (they had no furniture in that room) and the kids were clamoring for attention, patting our hair, hugging us and wanting to be held. Leaving little Adam there, knowing he was in good care, eased my mind, but it was difficult to think of how long it might be until he can come join his new family in Homer.
When our two weeks ended, of course I cried while I hugged Tianna good bye at the bottom of the gangway. It’s hard to think of not seeing her again until November. As we climbed into the Land Rover for an hour’s trip through Freetown traffic to the hovercraft port, the ship’s horn blasted! It wasn’t for us, but it was fun to be in on the fond farewell for the chief safety officer who had just completed six months of service and was leaving with us. The long trip to and from Sierra Leone is another story I can’t take time to tell here, but the Lord was with us and gave us safety every mile of the way—and there were many, many miles. Praise the Lord for all His mercies on our very long journey half way around the world and back. And thank you to all who prayed for us. There’s so much more I could share but I think this is long enough. If you want to know more, I do have some more detailed reports that I e-mailed to my family, and I could share some of those if you send me a request.
–Helen Buckwalter