After years of civil war in the beginning of February it now had been possible, that our missionaries together with the General Secretary of the EBM could drive into the interior of the country. They saw destroyed villages, churches and schools and visited also the compound of the Eye-Clinic in Lunsar. Here a detailed report about this trip, about the destructions and the beginning reconstruction.
In the interior of Sierra Leone – Early in the morning we leave the city. The streets are still empty and dark. The first 75 kilometers going North East we can drive on a relatively good road. Then the driving becomes much more difficult. Many holes, stones, rocks, unfinished parts and quite dangerous bridges. There are still some military checkpoints we have to pass. But it‘s not at all to be compared with the very difficult trip up-country in 1998, when we had to stop at about 35 military control points and when we were driving through parts of the country which at that time had been really under the rule of the rebels. The United Nations units in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) presently form the largest contingent of peace-keeping troops worldwide: more than 15,000 soldiers from predominantly Nigeria, Kenia, Bangladesh and the Ukraine.
Via Lunsar (where we are going to stop on our way back to Freetown) we drive to Makeni. Here we visit the looted buildings of the Baptist Primary School. From the eight classes three groups with four classes have begun again. It‘s a small beginning as only slowly the teachers come back and only slowly the children, the families, the people return to this area. We then also see the destroyed house of Reverend James T. Bangurah, where he had to live with his family for more than 1 ½ years under the rebel regime.
From Makeni we turn towards Gbendembu. Now we have to drive on a very bad “road”. Therefore we need more than an hour for the just 35 kilometers. But it‘s a beautiful country with hills, rivers, parts of some still existing tropical rain forest and small silent villages.
Hans-Willem Oosterloo is excited to drive through this region, to see these villages again. He had lived here for five years and he says: “It had been the most happiest years of my life”. For the first time after 1997 he is able to return into this part of the country. But we see a lot of destructions, too. The burnt-down house of the family of Aisha Oosterloo. Many other houses, schools, churches damaged, looted, destroyed.
The compound of the Baptist Secondary School in Gbendembu had been under the attack of the rebels, too. Some repairs already have begun. 250 students (half the number of those before the war) visit this school now. It‘s so easy to destroy and so difficult to build up again. We meet many people in Gbendembu. A large group of children is walking around us when we have our “procession” through these ruins and damaged houses. But bricks are produced and reconstruction is beginning at many places. And the church work really is growing again: 103 converts had been baptized just in November 2001.
Despite of all the disadvantages and hindrances during the time of the civil war the our churches in Sierra Leone have been growing significantly: from 9,000 to 11,300 members. We as EBM are part of this evangelistic movement in the children‘s work, in the efforts to teach the illiterate people (so that they can read the Bible, too) and in the missionary work among the women.
After a short lunch break we go back to Makeni. Here we have our next stop at the Vocational Institute in Makama near Makeni. Again a lot of destruction specifically inside of the buildings. It‘s a small new beginning here: just 100 students have started again being trained in skills for agriculture, carpentry and secretarial work.
On our way out from Makeni I read a large street-sign still praising the “Revolutionary United Front” and its leader Foday Sankoh. I am quite shoked. Our Sierra Leonian friends explain to us that this part of the country still is a stronghold of the rebels despite of all the destruction! Only few cars on the streets. The people don‘t trust the peace until now. They wait and see.
Then we take a longer break at the Eye-Hospital in Lunsar. What a hugh complex. This in former times had been the eye-clinic with the best reputation in all of West Africa. Destruction and damages everywhere. Even the wires, the glass of the windows, all the furniture, the medical equipment and instruments, everything had been taken away or broken in pieces. And then the rebels even mocked about the people writing on the walls: “Who build this all ? The RUF !” During the last six months hundreds of rebel combattants had to live here for re-education and re-integration purposes. Hopefully with some positive results.
Only a very small beginning had been possible until now. It will take hundreds of thousands of Euros to reinstall the hospital in the way it was running in former times. Reconstruction will be possible, but only step by step. In April after our annual EBM Mission Council we plan to meet with the leaders of the “Christoffel Blind Mission” to develop a plan for the reinstallment of this formerly so wonderful Eye Hospital.
On our tour back to Freetown we realize that we had been on the road for 450 kilometers. And we realize that with our efforts for reconstruction and rebuilding we also have to go forward on a very long and difficult way, have to develop a long process of reconstruction, resettlement and reintegration.
Hans Guderian
Slideshow about this trip.
<== back
