Helping the Stranger

In our house, any reference to Freetown or Sierra Leone that is heard on the BBC World Service is quickly seized upon, with eager interest. As Sierra Leone is a small country, our antennae for receiving any global reference to it, seems proportionately higher than it would be if living in the UK. How gratifying it is, therefore, to hear good news about Salone and not yet another negative bulletin on matters of health, education or perhaps bad governance. When the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) announced the World Giving Index 2010, that of all the 153 nations surveyed, Sierra Leone was in 11^th position, in its overall willingness to give to others. Australia and New Zealand may have tied for first place, but Sierra Leone was in first place for the countries of the African Continent.

The CAF World Giving Index is shaped by using an average of the same three measures for all of the countries: the proportion of the public who had, in the previous month, given money to charity, who had given time to those in need and thirdly, helped a stranger or person they did not know.

The news came whilst preparing to preach at the annual thanksgiving service for a local benevolent society, which coincided with hearing of the author J.K. Rowling’s £10 million donation towards building and supporting a Multiple Sclerosis clinic in Edinburgh. In addition an email arrived asking us to donate blood at a local emergency hospital. Together they provided more than sufficient reason to study carefully the consequences of the CAF report on how we respond to need, local and global.

No day goes by without two contrasting experiences, being gently asked by individuals, known and unknown, to support them or their family’s need of food and education fees whilst being confronted with another ostentatious building project which shouts, “we have abundant personal wealth”. The habitats of people near to where we live provide physical reminders of the disparities of human existence for Freetonians. And yet in the midst of such day to day reality, Saloneans demonstrate to their African neighbours the capacity for generosity, for grace and for compassion.

Week in and week out, when attending worship services in various churches, we are aware of the emphasis given to numerous collections that punctuate a three hour liturgy. The obscure reasoning used in encouraging the congregations to be generous, causes us to question what is an appropriate response to such demands. The global rise in ‘prosperity preaching’, (the more you give the more you will be personably blessed), has not escaped Salonean churches, and there is no shortage of mega religious events which invariably promote the idea of benefitting significantly, through one’s own personal giving.

The news of the CAF report, coincided with the request for us to donate blood and our subsequent hospital experience has added further to our consideration of giving and receiving. Women arriving at the Mercy Ships Hospital for fistula operations have often travelled considerable distances on foot and by public transport and in doing so have left behind the vital support of their immediate family. For some women, treatment for fistula can only be conducted following an operation to provide a temporary colostomy at Goderich Emergency Hospital. This hospital is a few miles out of Freetown on a wretched road but it has an excellent reputation and its 200 hundred beds are fully occupied. Treatment is free, but in the event of an operation, units of blood of blood have to be donated, before surgery can proceed. We were asked to show up at the hospital and to offer blood in the name of Fatma, who was awaiting a colostomy before undergoing a double fistula operation at Mercy Ships Hospital.

We had decided to try and take other potential donors with us and so Mohamed our nearest neighbour, having been assured he would have enough blood to offer, also joined us. Others quietly declined. Our offer to give blood in the UK has always been declined, on the grounds of either having spent too many years in tropical countries or having a history of malaria. Mercy Ships had assured us that such circumstances were no barrier to donorship in Salone. Our decision to take others was to promote the giving of blood by Saloneans, as a way of helping the stranger.

In the blood laboratory of Goderich Hospital, a large sign dominates one wall. No Money for Blood Transfusion. Please Bring Donors. The staff were intrigued that we should be donating blood for a person we had not met and knew little of, as we waited alongside others donors, with friends and relatives in the hospital. As the age for donating blood is between 16 and 55 years it was decided that we could offer only one paediatric unit each, whilst Mohamed, if he agreed, which he did, could offer an adult unit. A midwife friend, who works in remote areas of the Kailhaun District, on the eastern edge of Sierra Leone, where Liberia and Guinea meet, has often spoken of how difficult it is to obtain blood from relatives of those needing treatment. If no blood is given, patients are sent home to die.

With our blood taken and stored, but without the usual cup of tea and scone, we were encouraged to say “hello” to Fatma and assured her of our prayers and learnt that she was from the north of the country and far from home.

The CAF report gives a clear indication that personal wellbeing influences generosity, more than a person’s wealth. Clearly most Saloneans have very little money, yet their elevated position in the index is largely due to their immense willingness to help the stranger in their midst. This provides us with yet another question, how is it that a small country which was recently torn apart by bloody atrocities, is still able to generate a degree of compassion which is exemplary on the continent of Africa? And this we witness on the streets of Freetown every day.

My first visit to Africa

I spent the first two weeks of August 2010 with Peter and Janice in their home in Freetown. We decided that I should write about my stay there, so here I am.

First of all, I need to say that I have never been in Africa before. And I did not have much knowledge or even curiosity about the continent. Since the decision to visit Freetown, I have read and talked a lot about Africa and I am a bit more informed now. I am also enthusiastic in learning and discussing about African countries and people, and this blog I am writing is a way of doing that.

People
I want to start with a dialogue I had with a woman from Freetown while I was still at Heathrow. We were waiting to be called to leave the departure gate and we talked a little bit. She had spent a month in London and was returning home. I asked her what she had missed most and she answered “Warmth.” Then I questioned her if she meant the climate or the people and her answer was “Both”.

After a couple of weeks in Freetown and then back to my hometown (in Porto, Portugal) I cannot say that I miss the hot and rainy season I experienced there, even if I miss the green, but I do miss the warmth of the people from Sierra Leone. I miss the “Hello! How are you?” way of interacting with people, not that we became friends with the people we greeted on the street, even if we eventually could and sometimes did chat a bit, but we had the most pleasant feeling of being in an unthreatening (I owe this adjective to Peter) and welcoming place. And that feeling accompanied me throughout my stay in Freetown, a place where human beings are friendly and also visible to one another, so why not greet each other?

Children are specially warm and affectionate. And they smiled at us, touched us with their hands, played with us, and wanted to see themselves in our photographs.

Once, on a walk with Peter, we passed a man who was listening to the radio, it was the news about the trial of the former president of Liberia, Charles Taylor, at the International Court for Human Rights in the Hague. Peter and I got interested and stood to listen to the news, watching the man’s comments and non verbal reactions. It may sound excessive but I felt that the three of us were communicating, were sharing feelings and ideas, and that happened because that man “allowed” us to stand there, let us share his time and space for some moments and he did not feel invaded or uncomfortable by our presence. For Peter and me it was an enriching moment because we were aware that we and that man were quite different listeners of the same news.

I consider that all I have been describing is warmth, warmth that I miss too. My own experience with people from Freetown is described in this way in the Bradt Guide of Sierra Leone: “politeness and warmth can be found in bucketfuls.” It was also interesting to know that in the World Giving Index 2010 published this September Sierra Leone comes on 11th place, a subject Peter and Janice are going to write about in a future blog.

Of course in talking about the way people connect with each other, I am not talking about relationships. This was something that was not possible in a couple of weeks, however I know that African people tend to have a wider net of relations than Europeans or Americans, life is much more communal and much less ‘on your own’.

For me this communal way of living is something that brings a lot of questions. I admit that I do not understand it very well and I need to learn much more about it. In a way being linked to other people to whom we have obligations and duties can lead to lack of freedom, we have to do what others want us to do and are nor free to choose our own route. It also seems very difficult in the African social world to have a ‘room of one's own’. A lack of freedom and individuality is a feature of social relations.

However there is a dark side of the freedom and individuality I praise so much. I will give just one example. Listening to the news of some catastrophe, where thousands of people die and being told that some bodies have not been reclaimed by anyone, has made me realize how some people are completely alone in the world and how frightening that is. I think that such a situation would not be possible if we lived within a communal society as African societies seem to be.

Religion

I am starting again with a dialogue I had with another woman from Sierra Leone while at Heathrow, this time on the queue to the check in. When I told her I was going to visit some English friends who belonged to the Methodist Church she asked me if I was a Methodist. My answer was “I have no religion.”, to which she replied “That is impossible, it is impossible to live without a religion!”
It might be right that it is impossible to live in Africa and not to be religious. From what I have seen and experienced in Freetown religion seems to pervade people’s lives.

As I am not a religious person I do rarely attend any religious services, just weddings, baptisms and funerals. And the church I know is the Catholic Church. I do not have any particular memory of the few services I have been to.

In Freetown I went to three Sunday services. What struck me most was the joy of the people at church. That joy was shown in the singing, on the dancing, on the way people greeted each other, and their dress. As a newcomer I was asked to present myself, something I have never been asked before at church. I did feel welcomed.

I had the privilege of being in the baptism of Ali, a friend of Peter and Janice. Ali came from a Muslim background and had decided to become a member of the Methodist Church, having worked as the President’s driver for more than ten years. It was a beautiful and moving ceremony.

Ali allowed me to live another special moment in Freetown. Ali was feeling ill and Peter and I paid him a visit. Ali rents two rooms in a house inhabited by other people. The house is located in an area in Freetown like so many others: precarious housing, all cramped, with poor, if any, sanitary conditions. To get to Ali’s place we had to pass several other houses and saw people cooking or doing their washing. We greeted them and did not feel we were seen as intruders. On the way to Ali’s home and at his home I felt the dignity of those people in the midst of poverty. While at Ali’s, Peter asked us to pray and for a few moments I believed God was there. Well, at least love was there and if God is love, as Peter said to me a long time ago, maybe God was too.

Believing in God helps people to cope with their daily life which is so hard in so many ways. Talking to a colleague of Peter I asked him if people in Freetown were happy and he said that they were. I could see this on the streets and people would say to me “Tell God thank you”.

The links between religion, wretchedness and happiness have been discussed for a long time but reading about it is very different from seeing it. And I feel divided between a critical perspective and admiration and even respect. I find difficult not to acknowledge that the way people experience religion may promote acceptance of the unacceptable. At the same time I see the dignity of their lives and I cannot but be in awe of the way they manage to live.

War and Peace
Sierra Leone had experienced a brutal civil war which came to an end in 2002. From my understanding of what I have heard from some people in Freetown, peace is the absolute value. Even if people have to live with the physical and psychological scars of the war, even if people have to be neighbours to someone who had killed or raped a relative or friend, even if people’s homes were destroyed, peace must be maintained because war is far worst.

During the war several people had their limbs amputated. Today there is a football league of amputees. I saw them playing on Lumley beach. They were graceful!

What can I say about the way people in Sierra Leone lead their lives after the war? Does God help them? Is there a Sierra Leone genotype? Have they learnt that peace is priceless? Can we learn with them?

Scenery
Freetown has far exceeded my expectations about its beauty. The sea, the light, the hills, the views, the beaches, the trees – especially the cotton trees – make Freetown a stunning place.

All the walks Peter, Janice and I did together were spectacular. I miss those walks!


Peter and Janice
Peter, Janice and I did some calculations and we realized that we met in 1992 when they were living in Porto. It has been a long and very interesting friendship with a lot of sharing: we share thoughts, books, movies, photographs, recipes…

And of course they have shared their present experience in Freetown with me.

I had the opportunity to attend a Sunday service conducted by Peter and Janice at Mercy Ships, where they meet with other internationalists from different denominations, once a month, for a service. On that Sunday it was Peter and Janice’s time to prepare the service. And they prepared it! They dramatized a dialogue between Jesus and the apostle Peter and they were really good. What struck me most was their involvement and preparation even for a simple ceremony in a simple place with not many people. I see the same involvement and preparation in their blog too.

The three of us had some interesting discussions about Africa, Sierra Leone, the civil war in Sierra Leone, the meaning and types of marriage in Africa, the meaning of what it is to be a “person” in African culture. We watched some movies about Africa, read bits of books and articles. And I know we will continue to do all this through their blog, emails, texts, other meetings – that is a feature of our friendship. It is a demanding feature, I am aware of that, that enriches and challenges me and, I hope, them too.

And all this wrapped up with Janice’s cookies, BBC World Service and some good laughs!

For all this and much more I feel deeply privileged and grateful.

Rita Estrada, Portugal, September 2010

A Tale of Three Cities: Freetown, Maputo and Accra and the price of bread!

On a day when Janice arrived home in state of delight, having found wholemeal flour in a local supermarket, the rioting over price increases for bread continued in Maputo, for the third day. The Mozambique government, having held an emergency session, appealed for calm, as reports of seven people killed and 280 injured in the protests.The army were then called in to clean the city of barricades and restore order and public security.

The rioting had been prompted principally by increase in the price of bread, in one of the world's poorest country, which has yet to fully recover from protracted colonial and civil wars, and with a current unemployment rate of 54%. The government had imposed a price rise of 30%, for the cost of bread, part of the staple diet for Mozambicans, who earn on average about US$37 / £22 a month. The fall of the local currency, the Metical, by approx 43% in one year against South Africa’s Rand, its principle trading partner, also exacerbated the plight of the urban poor. Added to this was the recent increase in both the cost of electricity and water.

Here in Freetown during the last month we have read in The New African and The Africa
Report of Mozambique’s economic success with growth rates of above 6%-7% for three consecutive years, a figure above the 5% threshold considered necessary to make real improvements in standards of living. Foreign investment in Mozambique has increased by approximately 44% between 2007 and 2009 but nevertheless, 40% of the nation’s budget is dependent upon foreign aid, as the country remains 175th (close to the bottom) of the United Nations Human Development Index.

It would appear that, following the outbreak of the global economic crisis in 2008, the attention that was then being given to the alarming increase of the cost of food on the world markets, had been largely ignored, as multi-national finance houses and western governments were desperate to establish their own economic survival. That is, until the fires which scorched Russia and much of its grain harvest caused President Putin to ban the export of wheat which, in turn, reduced the global supply of wheat by 8%. This has raised the profile of the talks called for by the African Green Revolution Forum held in Accra this past week on the production of food on the continent of Africa.

“This is the time”, Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, insisted, “to invest in the thousands of small scale farmers that exist in all countries”. The appeal coincided with announcement of Standard Bank Africa’s support of 100 million $US for 750,000 small scale growers of cash crops, including cocoa and cashew nuts in Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda. The African continent possesses 60% of the world’s land available for agricultural development and over the last decade food production in Africa in general has shown significant improvements in a number of countries, with the exception being those regions where conflict still persists. But the rise in level of food production in Africa has not protected those on the lowest incomes, who do not have the money to buy food, or have access to land to grow what they need to eat. Across the continent the increase in national populations and the rate of urbanisation have both contributed to the phenomena of poverty, made even worse by a fall in the world’s grain supply.

In Sierra Leone, we have noticed and have commented upon the rise of the cost of living caused by the introduction of a sales tax at the beginning of the year. Now in September, we are reaching the end (if the predictions are correct) of the heaviest rain-falls for the year , when the effect of the wet season creates food scarcity and increases costs. People in Freetown are never heard to complain about excess rainfall, knowing how much they will need in the dry season and those with land have been planting in earnest for while. Living as we do on a compound with gardening land available, we ought to be growing wheat. However in the wettest part of West Africa that is not an option and we shall continue to have to buy bread locally made from imported grain. But with the departure of the goat herd, we have planted sweet potatoes and cassava, for their leaves as well as their roots, spring onions, pineapple, okra, a variety of fruit trees including bananas, pawpaws, oranges, lemons and guava, as well as nursery of herbs. There are still various seeds to go in, such as corn and beans, and as we sit on our veranda at dusk, and wait for the owls to come out, we call to mind the words, “ Give bread to those who are hungry and a hunger for justice to those who are fed”.

The Three Rs: Ridin, Raitin and Riligohn

Many years ago, we listened to the first hand experience of Inderjit Bhogal, who on entering a book shop would regularly ask “Where are the black writers?”. Inderjit is a Ugandan born British Asian, who grew up in a Sikh household and as a young man became not only a Christian, but also a Methodist minister. He had just completed his year of office as the Methodist Church in Britain’s first black president when he told us of his shopping experience. In a store that sold books and stationery, a sales assistant was clearly puzzled by Inderjit’s question and proceeded to display the variety of black felt tipped pens that were available.
Who are black writers? African writers? religious writers? These are questions with many facets. They have been interpreted differently throughout history, and the various eras of socio-political and literary change have shaped their development. Reading, writing and religion are complex issues.

Graham Greene, the British author, prepared the novel, The Heart of the Matter, when he was based in Sierra Leone and working for the Secret Intelligence Service during World War II. Set in Salone, the story is not just about failure, but about the price we all pay for our individualism and the impossibility of truly understanding another person. As in many of Greene's earlier works the story deals with not just the tension of the individual and the state, but also the conflict of the individual and the church. Greene was apparently annoyed by being referred to as a Catholic novelist, insisting that as a novelist he was also a Roman Catholic.

In an another era, Thomas Mofolo, from Lesotho, had already
written a novel, The Fallen Angel before 1925, when he produced the work for which he is best known, Chaka, based on the life of the legendary Zulu, King Shaka. The book is considered one of earliest literary expressions of African Theology, and by a lay theologian. It is highly likely that Steve Biko, as the leader of the Black Consciousness Movement in South Africa would have been aware and influenced by the writings of Thomas Mofolo, when in the late 1960’s Biko produced a collection of his own writings under the title I write what I like.

The Salonean writer, Olufemi Terry, said " I write what I like to read", shortly after receiving the 2010 Caine Prize (the African Booker ) for short stories. His award winning story, “Stick fighting days”, is based on ritualised combat conducted by young boys, who inhale solvents to comatose themselves against poverty in Nairobi. As with numerous other acknowledgments of artistic and literary accomplishments, the award ceremony for this African achievement, was held in Europe, in the Bodelian library in Oxford, England. The shortlist for the prize also included, How shall we kill the Bishop? by the Kenyan Lily Mabura, whose quizzical title explores the nature of religious life for members of a catholic community, endeavouring to serve God during the country’s transition towards independence. Both Terry and Mabura’s stories display features to be found in the highly acclaimed book Say you’re one of them by Uwem Akpan, a Nigerian Jesuit priest, whose short stories are not for those who want a romanticised notion of childhood in Africa .

In Freetown, the most available novel by an African writer, is that of the Nigerian, Chinua Achebe’s first novel Things fall apart, which was published in 1958. It is the story of a traditional village "big man" Okonkwo, and his downfall. The book has been translated into some 50 languages but not Krio, and as a secondary school text in Salone, it is for sale in photocopied editions on numerous stalls on Freetown’s streets. Other than the bible, there is very little literature available in Krio. It is not surprising then, that those entering the world of literacy want to be able to read and write in English. Bank forms, medical prescriptions and children’s schoolwork are all in English. Preparation for literacy classes are now underway for some 60 or more potential adult learners, following the training of fourteen adult literacy facilitators. It is not I write what I like, but I read what I need to know. Entering the world of literacy, for this particular group, who are HIV+, will enable them to do more than sign their name. Literacy safeguards their health, wellbeing and their finances against possible exploitation. Becoming literate empowers a person to not only rid and rait but to have access to the writings of their riligohn.

For Better, for Worse, for Richer, for...

Our visitors, be they visiting Salone for the first time or returning to the country, provide us with insights into where we are and the people with whom we are living. Newcomers ask penetrating question on what they encounter and want to know why “this and that” does or does not happen. Whilst those who are re-visiting, produce fascinating illustrations on historical events and ‘life as it was then’, they often provide introductions to a network of people who shape church and society.

Recently, former mission partner Ken Todd initiated a visit to see Mary Musa, a stately figure who would, had it not been for ill health, been the current Vice President of the Methodist Church in Sierra Leone (MCSL). In an animated conversation, which included stories which took place nearly 40 years ago, she spoke of her family and referred to several of her grandchildren now living in the United States, courtesy of the ‘DV’ system. The ‘DV’ meant nothing to us until a week later, when a friend spoke of her hopes that the ‘DV’, would provide a passage out of Salone into a future of promise and opportunity. It emerged that a ‘cousin’ within her family had won the ‘DV’ lottery and was entitled to take his spouse with him and so she was intending to become that person, which would, of course, entail marrying him. The Diversity Visa system of the United States government, offers approximately 50, 000 people per annum, from around the world, that same opportunity. It would appear that of the few Saloneans who succeed in the DV lottery, it is extremely rare for them to arrive in the USA unmarried. In Salonean society, the ‘DV’ offers security for more than just the lucky individual, so that marriage and potential procreation become the means of ensuring wellbeing and prosperity for each of the families involved.

Just over 2OO years ago John Lemon, a Bengali hairdresser, won a similar lottery, but in reverse. At the time he was the headman of the ‘Black Poor’ in London, whose occupational experiences had included assisting slave trading in Freetown. A decade later, in 1808, he was back in Freetown having ‘won’ a place on the Vernon, where he married Elizabeth, who was, as one historian described “one of the original prostitute wives”, of which there were many. Together, Mr and Mrs Lemon joined the other 2,000 inhabitants of Freetown and Elizabeth became a shopkeeper who, following John’s death would have had little difficulty in re-marrying as men vastly outnumbered women in the ever increasing colony.

Today in Sierra Leone, three forms of marriage are accepted by the State: customary marriage, which is often polygamous; civil marriage; and also religious marriage, which if conducted within the Islamic faith may also be polygamous. With the Christian Church being a minority faith, (the United States’ CIA’s statistics claims it to be only 10% of the population), it is not surprising that monogamous marriage is a matter of some concern for those who are committed to growth in church membership. Many of the prospective members of the Church are either Muslims or practice African traditional religion. With the exception of some African Initiated Churches, Christian churches are doctrinally committed to monogamous marriage.

In many African societies, the nature of marriage, be it monogamous or polygamous, is not the primary concern of the human relationship between a man and a woman, as it is the birth of children which constitutes the purpose of marriage. The Catholic theologian, Benejet Bujo, argues that no issue in African ethics has been more disputed (at such length and often vehemently) than that of the morality of marriage, especially in relation to polygamy. As a Ugandan celibate priest, he writes on ‘the problem of monogamy’, and its challenge to the African church’s authenticity. However, mindful also of the process of rapid urbanisation across the continent, he asks if polygamy “is compatible in modern Africa with the dignity of women”.

Another Catholic theologian, Laurent Mpongo, of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, raises a question that is pertinent in West Africa too, involving the relationship between customary marriage and that of the church. The MCSL requires its ministers who have been married by customary or civil marriage, to have their marriage blessed in church, as “the church’s way of ensuring by means of a special form of service, that her members acknowledge the Christian concept of marriage and vow to live by it”. There are some, including Mpongo, who would be very critical of the Church’s inability to acknowledge the strength of authentic African culture in customary marriage.

Despite the work of those mentioned above, there appears to be no serious theological reflection on the role of marriage in society generally and its place in the church specifically, in West Africa and especially in Salone. It could be easily argued that people in a fragile country are all too aware of their own socio-political vulnerability to address questions on marriage, especially where religious affiliation is a feature of the tension between polygamy and monogamy. This tension is exemplified in the Western Area of the country, which includes Freetown. It is here where Krios form the largest ethnic group and are monogamous. This contrasts significantly with the Provinces, where other ethnic groups are in the majority. Such a demographic detail is not to be ignored when addressing the theological development of African Christianity in Sierra Leone. It may also be a good enough reason to look elsewhere on the continent of Africa for a debate on an integrated Christian spirituality, where people live their way to a new understanding of marital relationships within the church.

However, the pastoral implications of ignoring the question of what kinds of marriage are appropriate within the membership of the Salonean church, may lead to an attitude of secrecy and complicity as opposed to transparency and integrity. It is the task of church leaders to reflect on which of these would be for better, or worse.

FIFA, Famine, Food and Forests

It is less than a week since the climax of the FIFA World Cup, when, for month, it appeared there was only one story in Africa to be reported on. Our household is uneven in its love of the game dedscribed by one writer as the provider of “the coinage on human discourse” across the whole of Africa.

Before the continent’s biggest ever sports story began to unfold a friend, who knows a little of Africa, sent us a book, “Africa United – How football explains Africa”. And in many ways it does, at least with numerous stories of joy and celebration, conflict and war, international and national political manipulation, as well as of the transcendental power of a game in the midst of poverty, famine, piracy and opulence in a few of the sixty nations that are ‘Africa’.

25 years ago a single story began to emerge from the Horn of Africa, which may have contributed to the notion that there is only one story for the whole continent. It was the famine of Ethiopia, the result of successive harvest failures, coupled with unresponsive superpowers, immersed in the “Cold War Story”. All these impacted on the need for humanitarian aid, to avert the impact of ‘climatic genocide’ upon millions of people.

As the details the famine of Niger and Chad become increasingly evident, the question as to why it is happening and how it could have been prevented will be re-visited. However it is highly unlikely that it will be the prime story from the continent unless there is a journalist of the calibre of Michael Buerk, working for a large media corporation, or a rock star as big as Bob Geldof, to raise the profile of the disaster and demand that the world take note and act with its cash and food!

Thankfully the catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico may no longer be the threat it was, but there’s still too much truth in what Leon Uris wrote fifty years ago, in his book, Exodus. “Only the Kingdom of heaven runs on righteousness... The kingdoms of the earth run on oil”. The BP oil spillage has been headline news for the last three months, with reference to billions of dollars. Chad and Niger have rarely featured, and the amount of money needed to feed hungry people is significantly less.

Sierra Leone is now into the rains, the time that is referred to as the hungry season. Crops are planted during this time, to be harvest during the dry season. Last year’s harvest has now finished. Subsistence agriculture depends on rainfall and sunshine and timing of both. If the rains start too early, or finish too late, the nation’s harvest will be affected. For the subsistence farmer the balance of both rain and sun is vital, and neither can be plugged, capped or tapped.

Niger and neighbouring Chad, already among the poorest nations in the world, are at the centre of a food crisis affecting 10 million people in the Sahel region. The average age for Nigers and Chadians is 15.2 years and 16.6 years respectively. Figures last month showed that over one in five children were already facing acute malnutrition in the worst-hit regions. These same children are already the food producers for their societies. It is increasingly apparent that the human cost of last year’s failed rains in the Sahel belt could be as high as they were in 2005, when TV images of starving children shook the world out of its inertia, but it was too late to address the worst of the crisis. An appeal for an increase in the World Food Programme’s aid for Niger and Chad to US$253 million from US$191 million has so far had little impact, with only 58 percent of the required figure having been provided, leaving a shortfall of US$107 million.

In Sierra Leone, where the average age of the entire population is 19 years, the war children of the previous decade are now the fathers and mothers of their own children, and the education process that was severely disrupted, or denied to young parents is still evident. A nation’s informal agricultural education is never assisted by the internal displacement of hundreds of thousands of its citizens and unfortunately the need to establish an adequate income forces people to harvest the rainforest. The demand for hardwood timber by the oil rich Gulf States and beyond, has resulted in the growth of both the legal and illegal logging industries. It is therefore encouraging to see that the government’s initiative to ban the export of logs last year, has now been extended for a further three years. Logging for processing and for the domestic markets of fuel, furniture and the building industry are not affected, but the short term economic solution of raising cash from logging will have been seriously deterred.

It is unclear if FIFA’s proposed new goal line technology will involve posts of timber or not. Throughout Salone the soccer goalposts are usually constructed of stout lengths of bamboo. There is an abundant supply of bamboo and huge stands of this versatile crop are often located alongside the nation’s largest and thriving oil industry, the palm oil. But that is another story of food for a later date.

“Ah tel God tehnki”.

Towards the end of the rebel war ECOMOC soldiers had been brought into Sierra Leone, to try to bring some form of law and order to the country. Like any intervention in a country such groups need to be housed and fed. Freetown already had army barracks at Wilberforce, and so it was to this place that the troops were located. Extra buildings were needed and constructed. “Wilberforce Barracks” is now an residential area of low cost housing in Freetown, and not just the place where troops live. ECOMOC troops left a number of years ago, and some of the former barrack buildings provide housing for many families looking for a place of shelter. We walked through an area of the original barracks with Doran, a nurse from the Methodist Church Sierra Leone - People Living with HIV and AIDS project, to make a home visit to one of their clients who is living with the HIVirus. Hawa, the mother of the family, had been contacted, to ask if she would be willing for Peter and I to visit her. MCSL is very careful in the way that they conduct the home visits, as often the neighbours are not aware of the status of the person they are visiting. This was the case with Hawa. A mother of four boys, all of them HIV positive, she had moved into the room of a house, as her husband had abandoned her, once he knew her status, even though, he himself is also positive. We went into the dark room, made of mud blocks, with a concrete floor, measuring 12’ x 8’. It had a zinc roof, but the rain-filled sky above could be seen through the holes, made from the nail holes when used on a previous building. The only protection for the window was chicken mesh. A piece of foam, covered with sheets, was on the floor. There was just one chair to sit on. Hawa and her four children share this space with a 5 more people.

Confidentiality was just one of the big issues of the conversation. She did not want her neighbours to know her status because of the possibility of being homeless again. All of them are taking antiretroviral drugs, but they are kept in a friend’s house who is also HIV+. The medication is given at 5am in the morning before the rest of the room is awake, so they do not know what is happening. Taking the medication on an empty stomach is not a good idea, and she spoke of her children sleeping a lot. The youngest child was sick, and needed to go the hospital for medication. At least this is now provided free. The three other boys were on holiday from school, but did not know their end of year results as the teachers were demanding almost £1 per child in order to give the results. The teachers have to find another way of supplementing their income, especially if they have not been paid.

Like many other women, Hawa discovered her status from blood tests done at the ante natal clinic. All pregnant women who attend ante natal clinics are tested, given counselling, and prescribed free drugs. She spoke of the father of the children. He too had been tested and is positive. But it is Hawa who is seen as bringing the sickness into the home. He now has another “wife” who is pregnant.Hawa shared with us her own health problems, and that she has been bleeding most of the time for 4 months, but did not have the money to pay for the medication. Hopefully this problem will be resolved in the next couple of days.

MCSL had helped Hawa , with the provision of a home kit which includes a bucket, blankets, and toiletries as well as food, and she spoke in great detail of how this had made a difference to the life of her family. She also highlighted how the fortnightly visits of the volunteers gave her encouragement, and removed the feeling of isolation. Before we left we prayed with the family, and the most common phrase spoken during the time together was “Ah tel God tehnki”.

We then moved to another part of Wilberforce Barracks where we visit Selia, who was recovering well, having been in hospital for two weeks. Feeling strong and eating well, she too said over and over again. “Ah tel God tehnki”. Like Hawa, she had discovered her status through the ante natal clinic, but unfortunately both her children had died. Her husband had left her, but friends had been encouraging him to return, that she needed his support and encouragement. He had not been tested for the virus. Her living conditions were slightly better than those of Hawa, and had friends that she could talk to. Her father knew of her status and though angry at first came to realise that his daughter needed him, and so had started to show more help. We prayed with her and left with the same words echoing -“ Ah tel God tehnki”.

We then drove much closer to the centre of Freetown, and not far from the college where we both teach. We went to visit Teresa, living in a room of the first floor. She had been seriously ill, three years ago, could not see, hear, or walk. Taken into hospital her blood was tested for the virus. Her daughter, 25 years at the time, was with her when she was given the news. She is the only member of the family who knows her status. Teresa’s husband works in the police, and says he has been tested negative. He knows Teresa is taking medication, but she says it is for sickle cell anaemia, which is common in Sierra Leone. We talked about safe sex, when just one partner is positive, and she said that they use condoms as they do not want to have any more children. She has developed some intriguing strategies to hide her status.

I had met Teresa at the monthly meetings in Wellington, and so there was an exchange of humour, when we went in, as I had taught the group the action song, “ Head , shoulders, knees and toes”. Laughing, Teresa told us how, if clients from the clinic meet each other in the street, they touch their head and shoulders as a greeting! Teresa hopes to be at the meeting on the third Friday in the month. Again we left with the words “Ah tel God tehnki”.

All the conversations we had were in Krio. Peter and I do not need literacy classes but we need to learn how to communicate in Krio. The empowerment of such women as Hawa, Selia and Teresa, through becoming literate and numerate, can make another difference to their lives. A group of people from MCSL, living positive lives, are to be trained at the end of July, to make this possible. They will then go on to teach their friends.

The Methodist Church Sierra Leone - People Living with HIV and AIDS project has over 300 clients on its books. Home visits are made to 46 of them, who live in various parts of Freetown. The commitment of the full time nurses is tireless, often not taking their annual entitlement to holiday leave. There is a team of volunteers, counsellors and social workers who work with the nurses, all of them HIV positive, present themselves as positive, optimistic people. For all of them, and organisations like Christian Aid that provides some of the funding for this vital project “ Ah tel God tehnki”.

Note. The training of Adult Literacy Facilitators will take place 19-30 July. Classes for the women who attend the monthly meetings will proceed, subject to funds being available. If you can find time to pray for this, “Ah tel God tehnki”