A change in perspective

Have you ever had an experience in your life, where you took a risk, didn't know what to expect, but found that absolutely everything about the experience was worthwhile? Welcome to my trip to Sierra Leone. Located on the Western Coast of the African Continent, Sierra Leone is a small country only about half the size of South Carolina in land area, but abundantly wealthy in natural resources such as diamonds and lumber. Many people have seen movies such as Blood Diamond, which is said to portray the struggles of the 10 year civil war the country endured from 1991 until 2002, however the movie falls far short of showing the reality of the nation. During my time in Salone, as the people of the country call it, I was challenged to lay aside the notion of Africa as a continent with great untapped potential, and came to see a nation of real people, with real lives, accomplishing amazing things. 

          

  Although my trip was not a Christian led experience (see earlier post), the work in which I was engaged was still kingdom building. As James 2: 14-17 says, “What good is it my brothers, if a man has faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action is dead.” As a follower of Christ I believe part of fulfilling the Great Commission in Matthew 28, is working to first live out James 2 and meeting people’s immediate needs.

So often Christians travel abroad on what we have termed “Mission Trips” and enter into a culture which we more often than not, understand very little about. We come with a mindset of “helping the least of these” failing to recognize the beauty in the lifestyle and practices of the people living there. We enter into unfamiliar situations with our western mindsets and feel that our way of worshiping God and living for Christ is the only way to do it. Rarely do we stop to consider how a group’s cultural practices might fit in with living a life for Christ, and allow the people to preserve their cultural identity. I have heard stories of Christians entering Muslim societies and telling women they have been freed by the love of Christ and should show it by rejecting the practice of wearing a hijab (Muslim head covering). While it is true that the love of Christ does set us free from religion and saves us by grace over deeds (Ephesians 2:8-9), forcing such a practice into the cultural fabric of a society fails to recognize the cultural relevance of such a practice. Will Christ reject a woman who chooses to wear a hijab and worship him? Are the two beyond reconciliation? Absolutely not (Romans 8:38-39). As Christians, as we live out the Great Commission as given to us in Matthew 28, and follow Christ’s command to “go and make disciples of all nations” we must do so in humility and with the understanding that we too have much to learn from those whose souls we care so deeply about.

Prior to this trip I deeply believed and told everyone who cared to hear it, and even a few that didn’t, that my life goal after paying off my college debt, is to be a missionary in  a developing nation (not a “third world country”, see my earlier post about Honduras for how I feel about the term “third world”). However, after spending time in Sierra Leone and gaining insight into the Christian culture of viewing a nation of people as a project to be saved, the thought of taking on the label of a missionary soured for me. While I do in my heart of hearts believe that most Christians have good and honest intentions in traveling to show the love of Christ through good deeds in less materially wealthy nations, I saw first-hand the damage that can be done to a country when little is understood or considered about how to promote long term well-being. Salone has been flooded with donations all over the world since ending the war. While the nation initially did need assistance in recovery, the continued view of the poor destitute people (which is extremely misguided) has led to an over-abundance of donations being dumped in the country. For people who understand the economics of supply and demand, you will understand how this overabundance of free clothing, shoes, bags, ect. has led to the inability for any markets to be established by the people living in the nations themselves as anything they make and try to sell, people can go somewhere else to get for free. This means that if a person wants to be an enturpanure and try to make an income, it is nearly impossible as they cannot get people to pay for the goods they are selling, as people can go elsewhere and get the same goods for free from donations sent to the country by well-intentioned people. This is a huge topic, and has deep roots, and as this post is already shaping up to be quite long, I will cut this shot and just say that as we seek to show the love of Christ we should do so with the best interest of the people in mind, not just by doing what is easiest for us or what makes us feel like we helped the most. I will say that after this experience I desire to live in a nation like Sierra Leone more than ever and have every intention of moving to such a nation, (God willing) and living life with the people and simply being a resource to assist them in achieving their goals, whatever they may be.

While Sierra Leone is predominantly an Islamic Society, there is a Christian minority. Although I did not share the Gospel directly with anyone while there, I did have the opportunity to build relationships and show the love of Christ. Religion is a topic openly discussed in the society, and on more than on occasion I was asked if I was a Muslim by inquiring young men, to which I would respond I was a Christian, and receive a response of “Ah, Christian. But there is only one God and he is the same (implying we both served the same God).” Everyone in the nation claims a religion as the existence of God is an undisputed fact, and atheism is the strangest belief of all, a concept many cannot understand, as GOD just IS, in their culture.

I visited a local Methodist church one Sunday and although the service was different than the services I attend in the states, the fact that they were worshiping the same God and Christ that I worship at home was more than enough. There was not a huge choir or air conditioning and although the people are not materialistically wealthy by American standards, offering was given twice. The first offering was simply a thanks offering for God waking everyone up that morning and allowing us all to congregate to praise him, everyone gave whatever they could afford to give at this offering, while the second offering was an optional giving much like the offering collected in American churches. For the people of Salone, life is not something that is taken for granted, it is a precious gift to wake up and serve God anew. During the service I attended there was prayer for two families at the church who had lost loved ones that very week. The families came to the front and the whole church spent about 5 minutes praying for peace and comfort during their time of loss.

 An interesting difference between this church and the churches I am so accustomed to here at home, was that offering was a celebration. The music was turned up and everyone danced down the one isle of the church to the front where two offering chests sat, and dropped their money in. This is not a criticism of the American church by any means, but rather a simple noting of the differences in cultural praise. Although it was hot in the small church and we were all in close quarters sweating, the spirit of praise that encompassed the service was amazing. The majority of the service was singing and a beautiful depiction of Psalm 95:2-3,“Let us come before him with Thanksgiving an extol him with music and song. For the Lord is the great God, the great king above all Gods.”

During my time in Sierra Leone I found myself struggling to stay in relationship with God as I do in the states. I was still reading my bible first thing every morning and every evening before going to sleep, but it was not penetrating my soul, showing me areas of my life I needed to reevaluate and re-align with God’s will. I was so confused as to why I felt as if I was drifting further away from God the longer I was in the country, when I wanted to glorify him above all else with what I was doing. I searched my heart and asked God to reveal to me why I was not in constant conversation with him and why he felt so far away. I was still fully aware that my feelings did not dictate truth and I knew God was still near, but I was perplexed as to why in a country with limited electricity, minimal sewage facilities (some bathrooms had flushing toilets, most did not), and public infrastructure which made driving an adventure within its self, was I so outwardly and inwardly happy, but placing God in a box and only talking to him when I was frustrated with people on the trip or when trying to be patient. At some point after I had returned to the states and was in full conversation with God about how I did not want to give into the selfishness of the culture around me, I finally realized that my struggle to conversate with God in Salone stemmed from the fact that the lifestyle in which I was engaged in Sierra Leone was so much of what I struggle to obtain here in the states. Because material things were not readily available or easily affordable to people there, there was not a preoccupation with non-essential aspects of life, one of the things I most often find myself asking God to remove from my desires. Because I was not struggling with things I struggle with in the states, I subconsciously fell into a place of complacency where I acknowledged God, but I failed to set aside time to truly engage with Him and hear from him. The relationship became very one-sided with me thanking him for the beauty of the nation and for the opportunity to learn, but me never stopping to take the time to listen to him as I do when I am in need. This realization has led to some serious self-searching and time on my knees asking God to constantly remind me of my need for him, and it revealed to me my own shortcomings in setting time aside to be still and just listen. Too often, even when doing good deeds for the advancement of the kingdom, we get so caught up in what we are doing and talking to God about that, that we forget Psalm 46:10 and in our busyness, we lose sight of our number one priority; our relationship with the lover of our souls.

             

Reflections from Sierra Leone

So I have been trying to make time to write out my reflections on my time in Sierra Leone, but I have not yet been successful in achieving this goal. I have a lot to share about how the trip impacted me spiritually, but until I can get my thoughts down to that end, I have decided to share my academic reflections which I wrote as a part of a scholarship requirement. More will come. Enjoy!

Traveling to a nontraditional study abroad destination provides the opportunity for a nontraditional study abroad experience. Although I only spent 17 days in Sierra Leone, the experiences I had and the people I met have impacted my life in amazing ways, all for the better. Unlike other study abroad programs in which I have participated, this course was shaped with the intention of completing a professional consulting project and required a business oriented mindset in preparation for travel. The opportunity to gain first-hand experience in a professional atmosphere in regards to development work was undoubtedly the academic highlight of the course. Minoring in International Development Economics, in applying for the course, it was my hope to gain deeper insight and experience in the field which I have long had the desire to pursue as a career. The design of the course, in which students arrange meeting with Ministry leaders and Non-governmental organizations located in Sierra Leone, places the onus on students to take initiative in the project work. The project thrusts students into the professional developmental landscape and provides a small taste of the tasks and challenges of development work, from a plethora of perspectives.

            In conducting a rapid assessment of Agricultural Information Communication Technology, I was able to not only discuss the strengths and weaknesses of current practices with those implementing them, but I also was able to visit the rural farmers for whom programs were being developed and garner their perspective of the effectiveness of current programs and what gaps they wanted to see filled. The greatest lesson from this experience was the importance of development work being a give and take of ideas between those with the resources to implement programs and those for whom the programs will be implemented. Too often in development, people with well-intentioned ideas create programs based on their perception of a need, but fail to consult the people for whom the program is to be implemented to find out if they truly view the perceived problem as an issue and if so, how they would like to receive assistance in its alleviation. My experience in Sierra Leone demonstrated that people in developing nations are extremely innovative and often have their own ideas of how to effectively alleviate issues they are facing, and are only hindered by lack of access to resources to carry out their ideas. In seeing the innovative genius of many of the people who have used the few resources they have to create tools to assist them in their daily living that were not only effective, but also environmentally sustainable, I came to deeply appreciate the farmer inclusive approach with which we moved forward in our research.

            Being the only African American member participating in the research, the most difficult aspect of my time in Sierra Leone was the vastly different experience I had in the country in comparison with my colleagues.  In traveling to villages and speaking with farmers it was often assumed that I was a native of the country and people would speak to me in their native language, to which I could only respond with a smile and a shake of my head to indicate I did not understand. One moment in a small village in the southern region of Pujehun during farmer visits deeply impacted my perspective of the experience. We arrived in a small village where a group of about 10 women emerged from the fields dancing and singing in their native language and walked up to each of us individually to shake our hands and welcome us to their home. After one of the warmest welcome gestures I experienced in the country, we, the researchers, sat down with about 50 members of the village and commenced in introducing ourselves to one another via a translator from the local World Vision office who was the extension agent for the village. After the village leaders introduced themselves, we followed. When I ended our introduction by introducing myself, the villagers asked the translator to find out what tribe I was from. For my colleagues this was nothing major, merely an interesting if not entertaining inquiry based on the misconception that I was from the nation. However, for me this moment spoke of thousands of years of history and of the set of circumstances that left me unaware of my ancestral roots. It put into perspective the idea that had things in history been only slightly different, I could have been sitting on the other side of the mud brick building being interviewed rather than interviewing.

For a nation devastated by a 10 year civil war ending only 11 years ago, Sierra Leone has come a long way. The people I met in the country had all, in some way, been affected by the war, many losing close relatives to the fighting. However, the nation did not stagnate after the war, but moved forward with purpose in beginning again. As I considered my own life circumstances in light of those with whom I spoke in Sierra Leone, I was reminded of my privilege stemming from simply having been born in the United States, and I was reinvigorated with a resolve to acknowledge my responsibility to others in the world in challenging the established inequalities.

Although too often presented as impoverished and in need of outside assistance, my experience with the people of Sierra Leone was not one dimensional, but filled with interactions of a multi-dimensionality. People in the nation have hopes, dreams, and aspirations, but they are also acutely aware of the limits placed on them by lack of opportunity and resources. A phrase I heard quite often was “I would like to do that, but I do not have the opportunity.”  However this statement was never made as an indication of the end of a dream, but a simple acknowledgement of barriers, accompanied by a statement regarding another course of action which was instead followed as a means to another end.

Through the work in which I engaged through this program, I discovered a passion for agricultural development which I had never before had the opportunity to explore. Since beginning in the College of ACES four years ago, I have held that although I am studying agricultural economics, after graduating I have no intention in doing anything remotely agriculturally related. Working with farmers in Sierra Leone has turned my future career plans upside down and provided a different perspective of agriculture. My previous thoughts about agriculture centered on the large commercial farms so common in America and I did not understand how such concepts tied in with my desire to work in international development. My time in Sierra Leone provided a clear picture and understanding of the importance of agricultural development in bettering the quality of life in a nation for both rural and the urban communities. I was able to hear directly from farmers about the challenges of marketing crops and the importance of storage facilities in order to effectively wait for prime market conditions just as farmers in other nations so easily do. I saw my textbook material come to life and the ideas were no longer just theories on a page, but they had names and faces, stories which I now have that transcend the anonymity of economics and numbers and have sweat, flesh, and blood. In Sierra Leone I found my passion, and although I am uncertain in what way I will pursue this passion and turn it into a career in the future, I am confident that this experience has opened my eyes to opportunities and needs, of which I would have otherwise been unaware.