Sierra Leone, West Africa

In January of 1979 twelve young adult members of Trinity United Methodist Church, Knoxville, Tennessee led a three week medical mobile dental ministry to the poorest and richest area of Sierra Leone, West Africa. One of our assignments was to spend several days in Bo, known as one of the richest and poorest areas of the world. "Rich" because of its many productive diamond mines. "Poor" because the local residents, whose ancestors "owned" this area of the country for generations, now do not share in the great wealth from the resources that the Creator put in the earth for their well being.

When we arrived in the Bo area one of the first sights that caught our attention was a crew of men digging graves in a very large cemetery. When we asked if there had been some kind of natural disaster, we were told that the constant grave digging was natural because almost half the children in the Bo area die before they are five years old. We asked, "How can this be in one of the riches areas of the world?" The answer we received was that most of the wealth, except for some low paying laboring jobs, ends up in the hands of foreign investors. And when a baby is born many perform an ancient ritual of thanking mother earth by washing the child in mud made from the "sacred soil". Too often the tetanus germ enters the child's body through the "washing." For several days we provided medical and dental care for the residents. One of our hardest experiences was when a mother brought to us her baby boy with a high fever. Our medical team treated the child and our prayer team prayed with him. But to the mother's and our distress the child died during the night.

After serving for a week in the Bo area, we were pleased to receive an invitation to have dinner as guests of the wife of the Superintendent of the Bo Diamond Industry. We could not believe our eyes when we entered through the gate into the British compound of several hundred thousand acres. We dined in a mansion, entertained by one of the most gracious hostess I have ever met. She focused her attention on us. She was eager to hear our story. When we told her about our work with the citizens of Sierra Leone in the area near the British compound she could hardly believe that the citizens nearby were living in such poverty, and experiencing the death of so many of their children. She confessed that she had lived in the Bo area for several years, but she had only left the British compound by air and had never met any of her neighbors. She was not aware of the sickness and death all around her. For the next ten years the young adult Sunday school class of Trinity Church gave three weeks every January to send a group of their members to practice a medical and dental ministry with the citizens in the bush area of Sierra Leone. The class also provided the money for the Methodist Church of Sierra Leone to hire and supervise two full time dental nurses to serve the people in the bush area.

Nearby each of us there are persons who are lonely and suffering from poor health, feeling like no one cares. Some of them we see when we go to buy groceries. Others we meet at the post office. Sometimes we see them playing in the streets. Let us decide today when we meet others we will for them breath a prayer, and when the Lord opens the door, let us put "legs on our faith", and share with them Christ's care.

Pictured above is the late Bishop T.S. Bangura of the United Methodist Church in Sierra Leone.

Curtis Schofield was the pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee for seven years. He is now retired and enjoying telling faith stories in churches and to his grandchildren.