Notes From Day Seven: Hope from the edge
Sierra Leone is a country on the edge. By
that, I mean that it barely registers with most
Canadians. It is on the edge of our awareness.
Most don't think about it very much.
You may have a vague memory of a war that took place there some years ago. According to Wikipedia, all through the 1990s, fighting raged as rebels tried to take control mainly of the diamond mines which are the source of the country's modern wealth. I say modern because in more traditional times, diamonds and other resources, which can now be exported, were not mined for shipment to the industrialized countries. The war caused widespread suffering. Tens of thousands died, many through brutal torture, many of them children.
This week I heard a church minister tell the story of his visit to the country. Randy has helped churches where I live to plug in the Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFB). The mission statement of the CFB reads as such: “Canadian Foodgrains Bank is a partnership of 15 Canadian churches and church-based agencies working together to end global hunger.” With just a few clicks, you can discover how the CFB is active in your area. The organization typically ships seeds, provides crop knowledge, raises awareness and money through church projects, and arranges for visits. People from areas where CFB helps are brought to Canada to tell how the work is impacting farmers and villagers. And representatives from Canadian churches travel to those areas to see for themselves the work that is going on. Randy was one of those.
He told about a visit he made to a particular village. It was a long bus ride. During the last part of it, the driver had to follow a bike path. Randy was afraid that perhaps something was wrong and that they were heading into danger. But at the end of the path, relief. Hundreds of villagers were there to greet the visitors. Dressed in bright colours, they celebrated. No one was dressed more beautifully than the chief. On the slide Randy showed, the chief wore a deep, bright blue shoulder-to-toes gown. His cap matched the gown.
The villagers gathered around to teach Randy and his travelling companions their words for, “Hello, how are you?” They told Randy about what CFB had taught the villagers about farming. One thing the farmers learned was to use manure. There are a number of sources of manure in the village: goats, chickens, and at least one pig. Up to the recent past, whenever an animal defecated, the effects just lay where the animal dropped them.
But CFB staff showed them how to gather the manure together and how to use it. Now when they plant crops, the farmers place the seeds into furrows (strips of raised soil like what you can see on farm land if you take a drive through the country during planting times), and on top of the furrows they leave a little trench, into which they place the manure. When the rain comes, it washes the manure's nutrients into the soil. The results have been fantastic — crops like the villagers have never before had. They told Randy that they were deeply grateful to God for the new knowledge and for the harvests.
Sometimes the gathering broke into song. Randy thought that he heard the name “Jesus” a number of times. He asked the interpreter what the songs were about. The interpreter told him that many of the songs were about the birth of Jesus, his death, and his rising from death. It seems that the people in Sierra Leone do not wait until Christmas, Good Friday or Easter to celebrate these parts of Jesus' life, but sing about them all the time.
And what about memories of the war and its terrible toll? Randy mentioned how in our part of the world, many people seem to feel free to express anger at God (in whom perhaps they barely believe) for painful losses and grief. Randy, however, did not detect that sort of response among the people of Sierra Leone. What the villagers told him was that they believed that God was now blessing the country with a time of peace when they could again share love among their people and find healing from the deep scars that they carried.
At the end of the visit, the chief said something very remarkable to Randy. He said, “Thank you for coming. We hope not to see you again.” For a moment the visitors wondered what this meant. But very quickly they understood. The chief was profoundly grateful for the help of Canadians and our churches. But he also believed that his people now were better able to stand on their own, and he hoped that soon the day would come when his village would no longer need assistance from afar.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
You may have a vague memory of a war that took place there some years ago. According to Wikipedia, all through the 1990s, fighting raged as rebels tried to take control mainly of the diamond mines which are the source of the country's modern wealth. I say modern because in more traditional times, diamonds and other resources, which can now be exported, were not mined for shipment to the industrialized countries. The war caused widespread suffering. Tens of thousands died, many through brutal torture, many of them children.
This week I heard a church minister tell the story of his visit to the country. Randy has helped churches where I live to plug in the Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFB). The mission statement of the CFB reads as such: “Canadian Foodgrains Bank is a partnership of 15 Canadian churches and church-based agencies working together to end global hunger.” With just a few clicks, you can discover how the CFB is active in your area. The organization typically ships seeds, provides crop knowledge, raises awareness and money through church projects, and arranges for visits. People from areas where CFB helps are brought to Canada to tell how the work is impacting farmers and villagers. And representatives from Canadian churches travel to those areas to see for themselves the work that is going on. Randy was one of those.
He told about a visit he made to a particular village. It was a long bus ride. During the last part of it, the driver had to follow a bike path. Randy was afraid that perhaps something was wrong and that they were heading into danger. But at the end of the path, relief. Hundreds of villagers were there to greet the visitors. Dressed in bright colours, they celebrated. No one was dressed more beautifully than the chief. On the slide Randy showed, the chief wore a deep, bright blue shoulder-to-toes gown. His cap matched the gown.
The villagers gathered around to teach Randy and his travelling companions their words for, “Hello, how are you?” They told Randy about what CFB had taught the villagers about farming. One thing the farmers learned was to use manure. There are a number of sources of manure in the village: goats, chickens, and at least one pig. Up to the recent past, whenever an animal defecated, the effects just lay where the animal dropped them.
But CFB staff showed them how to gather the manure together and how to use it. Now when they plant crops, the farmers place the seeds into furrows (strips of raised soil like what you can see on farm land if you take a drive through the country during planting times), and on top of the furrows they leave a little trench, into which they place the manure. When the rain comes, it washes the manure's nutrients into the soil. The results have been fantastic — crops like the villagers have never before had. They told Randy that they were deeply grateful to God for the new knowledge and for the harvests.
Sometimes the gathering broke into song. Randy thought that he heard the name “Jesus” a number of times. He asked the interpreter what the songs were about. The interpreter told him that many of the songs were about the birth of Jesus, his death, and his rising from death. It seems that the people in Sierra Leone do not wait until Christmas, Good Friday or Easter to celebrate these parts of Jesus' life, but sing about them all the time.
And what about memories of the war and its terrible toll? Randy mentioned how in our part of the world, many people seem to feel free to express anger at God (in whom perhaps they barely believe) for painful losses and grief. Randy, however, did not detect that sort of response among the people of Sierra Leone. What the villagers told him was that they believed that God was now blessing the country with a time of peace when they could again share love among their people and find healing from the deep scars that they carried.
At the end of the visit, the chief said something very remarkable to Randy. He said, “Thank you for coming. We hope not to see you again.” For a moment the visitors wondered what this meant. But very quickly they understood. The chief was profoundly grateful for the help of Canadians and our churches. But he also believed that his people now were better able to stand on their own, and he hoped that soon the day would come when his village would no longer need assistance from afar.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
