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Poor infrastructure stymies communications in Sierra Leone

A UMNS photo by Harry Leake Bishop Joseph C. Humper speaks of problems faced in Sierra Leone that make it difficult to communicate to those who "need to hear the good news of Jesus Christ."

June 13, 2006

By Kathy L. Gilbert*

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (UMNS) — It’s “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night” that keeps the mail from being delivered in this African country.

It’s more like no vehicles, roads or funds that stops the mail and communication in general from getting to the people who need the news.

Staff with United Methodist Communications visited Freetown to talk to church leaders about the problems churches face every day trying to communicate with their members and people who Bishop Joseph C. Humper said “need to hear the good news of Jesus Christ.”

Church leaders said it is more efficient to pay someone to take public transportation and deliver a message then to put a letter in the mail. Mail goes out every Tuesday and Thursday on the two minivans owned by the postal service. Sometimes the “transport mail officers” have to jump on a bus when their vans break down.

A UMNS photo by Harry Leake An ideal communications center consists of proper equipment and trained staff, says Beatrice Fofanah.

The country also lacks reliable electricity, Internet and passable roads. Some areas of the country are inaccessible by road, and in other areas, the roads turn to bright red mud during the rainy season, from May to November.

“A lot of good work is being done in Sierra Leone that is not being reported,” Humper said. “It is easier to communicate with New York than Liberia (a neighboring country).”

He and other members of the Sierra Leone Annual Conference explained the problems they face daily. The meeting was held through the Central Conference Communications Initiative, approved by the 2004 General Conference. The United Methodist Church’s legislative assembly approved the initiative to develop communications capabilities in the denomination’s regional units in Africa, Asia and Europe.

Communications centers

A UMNS photo by Kathy L. Gilbert Radios are a vital communications source in Sierra Leone.

Tafadzwa Mudambanuki, a member of the Communication Resourcing Team, asked the group to describe “the ideal communication office” and to help identify ways to achieve that goal.

Beatrice Fofanah, the national women’s coordinator for the Sierra Leone Conference, described the ideal communications center as a place containing all the proper equipment — computers, cameras, fax machines, telephones, Internet — in working order and with a trained staff to run the office.

“The means of communication in the conference is not very good,” said Phileas Sapha Jusu, conference communications director and former deputy managing editor of a newspaper in Freetown. “There is no computer, no camera.”

A UMNS photo by Kathy L. Gilbert Mail service in Sierra Leone is hampered by lack of money, vehicles and poor road conditions.

“Communications is knowledge, it is power, it is a life-sustaining entity,” Humper said.

There is no more crucial time for the country then during this postwar time, he continued. “People need to hear about what happened in this country. The church needs to publish and support spiritual development.”

“We are just coming from a severe war,” Fofanah said. “Many people have suffered, many people are still traumatized, so they are looking for message of healing, wholeness. We need to make them feel our God is still alive, never mind what we have gone through.”

The Rev. Isaac Ken Green, coordinator of Volunteers in Mission, explained the importance of communications on a more personal, day-to-day level. “Many times people die and are buried before their family members can be told of their deaths.”

Radio is key

“One thing we have discovered, after the war, people have developed a culture of listening to the radio,” Fofanah continued. “Children in school are glued to the radio station, listening. You go to the remotest villages in this country, and you will see them sitting around fires listening to radios.”

A UMNS photo by Kathy L. Gilbert Standing on Leicester Peak, Tafadzwa Mudambanuki (left) and the Rev. Isaac Ken Green point to nearby radio antennas.

“It is important for the church to be out in the community, not just in the sanctuary,” Green said. Humper agreed radio could be used to broadcast important information about social and educational issues.

Conference leaders said just 11 ham radios — one for the bishop office, one for the communication office and one for each of nine districts — would greatly improve communication.

“The United Methodist Church is alive and active in Sierra Leone,” Humper said. “We want to be part of the global community.”

*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn.

News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.