Mission team brings healing to Sierra Leone village

Feb. 28, 2005        

A UMNS photo courtesy of the Memphis Reporter Henry Weber shows men of Taiama, Sierra Leone, how to purify water.

By Cathy Farmer*

JACKSON, Tenn. (UMNS)—An ecumenical volunteer team to Sierra Leone helped villagers learn how to combat water-borne illnesses with new equipment.

The 16-member team of United Methodists, Roman Catholics and Presbyterians treated at least 500 people at the United Methodist Clinic in Taiama. Most of the members came from west Tennessee, but some were from Illinois, New Jersey, Minnesota and the African country of Mauritania.

During its Jan. 2-16 visit, the team treated people for malaria, tuberculosis, worms, malnutrition, dehydration, respiratory diseases and intestinal diseases. 

Bad water is the cause of many of the illnesses that claim the young, the old and the vulnerable throughout Africa, said team member Henry Weber of Paris, Tenn. The villages rely on water collected during Sierra Leone’s “wet” season and stored in wells and cisterns for use during the dry months.

“Every water sample we tested was contaminated with living organisms,” Weber said.

The team provided water treatment solutions and instruction to villagers to stop sickness. “We brought a water-purification system and taught 15 men how to use it,” Weber said. “Those 15 will teach others. It’s a simple system–chlorine gas bubbles through the water source.
 
“After treatment, the water tested OK.”

Two victims of water-borne diseases were twins Joseph and John, who were patients at a clinic.

The twins, who were brought to the United Methodist Clinic in Taiama, Sierra Leone, were tiny and severely dehydrated, said Elyse Bell, a member of First United Methodist Church in Paris, Tenn.

“We cradled them for three days,” she said. “We fed and cared for them all day long. We took turns holding them, rocking them. I sang lullabies to Joseph.”

John lived, but Joseph, the oldest twin, died. “I’ll never be able to sing those lullabies again,” Bell said. 

The team was the third to make the journey to the African country under the co-leadership of the Rev. Joe Geary, senior pastor of First United Methodist Church, Paris, and Samuel Pieh, a native of Sierra Leone and a naturalized U.S. citizen. They knew to be prepared.

A UMNS photo courtesy of the Memphis Reporter Mary Mueller, a mission team member from Naperville, Ill., holds Robert, 1, a survivor of dehydration in Taiama, Sierra Leone.

Last year, a severely dehydrated Robert was brought to the team for treatment. Faith Barbera, a team member from Paris, helped keep him alive by feeding him with an eyedropper. Before departing, the team left cases of baby formula with the mother, who had no milk in her breasts.

“We were so happy to see the child still alive,” Weber said.

“It’s hard for some people to understand why we go so far to help others,” Geary said. “We hear a clear call from God. People literally die if we don’t go. Some die even if we do.”

In addition to their work in the clinic and on water treatment facilities, team members offered sewing classes, helped the United Methodist Church of Sierra Leone with money toward salaries and annual conference expenses, and donated boxes of Bibles, United Methodist Hymnals and copies of the 2004 Book of Discipline.

“We bought a motorcycle for District Superintendent Francis Marovia so he can visit his churches,” Geary said.

They also provided supplies for the two United Methodist schools and bought material for uniforms for indigent children.

“We donated tools to the secondary school,” Weber said. “On our first trip, we noticed there were almost no tools in the woodworking shop.”

Geary also preached in Gola, a village in the bush.

“I was invited by the pastor James Haile. He has 25 churches in that region,” Geary said.  Bell and Ruth Johnson decided to accompany Geary and Haile on the trip. Their driver was a Muslim named Suleiman.

“It was dark when we left,” Geary said. “And in Africa, when it’s dark, you can’t see your hand in front of your face.”

They bounced down a gravel road for miles, accidentally passing the “road” to the village—a road that was no more than a machete-chopped path through the brush.

“Suleiman didn’t want to drive down the path,” Geary said, “so we got out and prepared to walk. Before we started, we prayed there would be no cobras on the road.” They had seen large snakes earlier.

After they tripped down the path for a quarter mile, Suleiman relented and caught up with them. At the compound, the pastor clanged a cowbell to let people know a service was about to begin.

“It was the closest to preaching blind I’ve ever been,” Geary said. He read the Scripture with a tiny flashlight. The one-room building, with “Gola United Methodist Church” hand printed over the door, was packed with people. Others stood outside, listening through the windows. A single candle flickered on paraments embroidered with the words, “I love Jesus.”

“I was led to give my own testimony,” Geary said. He connected with the people by telling how he grew up on a farm. When he finished, he asked if anyone wanted to become a Christian.

“Everyone stood up,” he said. “Everyone stood.”

Said Bell: “We knew we were in the house of God.”

*Cathy Farmer is the director of communications for the Memphis Conference and editor of the Memphis Conference United Methodist Reporter.

News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

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