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A UMNS Report
By Phileas Jusu*

7:00 A.M. EST Sept. 30, 2010 | FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (UMNS)

State funerals in Freetown, Sierra Leone, celebrate the life of Dr. John Albert Musselman Karefa-Smart. In this photo, the funeral procession leads from Martyrs Memorial Church to the cemetery. UMNS web- only photos by Phileas Jusu.

A Harvard-educated physician and activist who helped his country become independent, the Rev. John Albert Musselman Karefa-Smart did not follow the typical career path of a United Methodist pastor.

Called a visionary by his admirers and controversial by his critics, he remained politically engaged throughout his life, running for president at the age of 81. After he passed away Aug. 26 at age 95, Karefa-Smart received not one but two state funerals.

“He dared to be different and stubbornly stood by the principles he believed in,” said longtime friend Batilloi Warritay.

Karefa-Smart had recently published his memoir, “Rainbow Happenings,” and with his wife of 62 years, the Rev. Rena Karefa-Smart, returned to Freetown in June after living in the United States for several years. They anticipated celebrating the country’s 50 years of independence in April 2011.

“He did so much for Sierra Leone and the international community,” said the Rev. D. H. Caulker, a retired United Methodist pastor, during a Sept. 19 memorial service at Martyrs Memorial United Methodist Church in Rotifunk, his home village. “He served mankind throughout his life.”

Graduating at 16 from Albert Academy, one of the oldest United Methodist high schools in Sierra Leone, Karefa-Smart studied at the United Brethren’s Theological Institute. His short career as an active clergyman came in the 1940s in the United Brethren in Christ and Evangelical United Brethren churches – predecessor denominations to The United Methodist Church.

Dr. John Albert Musselman Karefa-Smart

Turning to medicine, he earned degrees from McGill University in Canada and completed his training as a commissioned officer in the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps. As soon as World War II ended, he returned to Sierra Leone to become physician-in-charge at three United Brethren in Christ health facilities.

In 1946, Karefa-Smart earned a master’s degree in public health from Harvard and initiated a series of rural public health education projects at the mission hospital in Rotifunk. He became the first African lecturer in preventive medicine at the new University of Ibadan Medical School in Nigeria and played a pivotal role in the malaria control program.

But he had not abandoned his connection to the church and begin dialogues with missionaries that laid the foundation for autonomy and the eventual establishment of the Sierra Leone Annual (regional) Conference of The United Methodist Church.

“John did not turn his back on the church,” Warritay explained, “but worked with churches and ecumenical groups around the world to address questions of equality, social justice and nation building. He kept the faith.”

Shaping a generation of leaders

His political activism began in the 1940s, when Karefa-Smart helped shape a generation of leaders for independence across Africa by co-founding the African Students Association of North America. He also was a founder of the Sierra Leone Organizing Society, which helped lead the Colony and the Protectorate of Sierra Leone into a single, sovereign nation.

His own political career was rocky.

He ran unopposed when voters elected him to Parliament three times, beginning in 1957. In 1959, he led the delegation to the Lancaster House Conference in London to discuss Sierra Leone’s progress in self-governance that led to the nation’s independence on April 27, 1961. Five months later, he joined in hoisting the flag as Sierra Leone became the 100th member of the United Nations.

President Ernest Bai Koroma and First Lady Sia Koroma attend the Sept. 18 state funeral for Karefa-Smart.

However, his return to politics in Sierra Leone in 1970, after five years as assistant director-general of the World Health Organization, ended in detention as a political prisoner. Undeterred, he made a late-in-life bid for the presidency.  

Among those attending his Sept. 18 state funeral at the King Memorial United Methodist Church in Freetown were Sierra Leone’s current political leaders, including President Ernest Bai Koroma, First Lady Sia Koroma and Vice President Samuel Sumana.

In his funeral sermon, Sierra Leone Bishop John K. Yambasu said, “No matter what achievements we are able to earn for ourselves, it will all end up in futility if we turn our back against God.”

Karefa-Smart’s body was conveyed to Rotifunk immediately after the Freetown service. Mourners had begun pouring into the small community the week before, and that evening more people were outside than inside the filled-to-capacity 400-seat hall where a vigil honored the deceased leader.

His nephew, Paramount (district) Chief Charles Caulker, recalled the sadness of his uncle, then a young doctor, after he experienced racial discrimination in his own country similar to what he had incurred as a student in the United States. He was denied accommodations in his own village while a younger white colleague was given a place to stay.

”It was a difficult time for the blacks,” Charles Caulker said. “These were brilliant fellows who suffered immense discrimination while studying in America. So they came back home with the hope that they were coming to take over. Unfortunately, he was again being reminded of the bitter U.S. experience.”

*Jusu is the director of communications for The United Methodist Church’s Sierra Leone Annual (regional) Conference.

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