wfn.org | UMNS# 05122-Mission team brings healing to Sierra Leone village

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Mission team brings healing to Sierra Leone village

Feb. 28, 2005	 News media contact:   Linda  Green * (615) 7425470*
Nashville {05122}

NOTE: Photographs are available at umns.umc.org.

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.

Not all the stories ended like Joseph's. Arriving in Taiama, the team
was greeted by a young African woman and her healthy 1-year-old boy,
Robert.

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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United Methodist News Service
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