Di lanin boy den

The Krio translation of the English word “disciples” is  “lanin boy den.”   (Krio actually has different vowels than English so I can  only type this phrase in an approximate way.)  In  Krio, a disciple is one who  is learning (ie, “lanin”).   Last week in Njala, Lutherans came together as disciples to learn:  we were teachers and students together, as well as a community of faith learning from each other.

Lutheran disciples: "lanin boy den." Some of the pastors and evangelists found the weather in Njala to be quite chilly as you can see from the coats and hats. It may have been in the low 70's F, cool enough for me to wear an extra layer too.

The occasion was a week of training for the lay evangelists of the ELCSL.  While some of the original ELCSL evangelists received training 20 years ago, many of those currently serving have never had substantive instruction in basics of the the faith or in the leadership needed to sustain a local congregation.   These faithful men (and one woman) have  nonetheless led and maintained their churches year after year, many without any substantive pay in current years.    The ELCSL, in partnership with the ELCA, recently identified education for pastors and evangelists as a priority for the future of the church.  This is an area I am paying particular attention to in my time remaining in Sierra Leone.  Funding has been an issue in the past, and will remain an issue in the future, but we also need to establish processes and systems to ensure that the mandate for such training is carried out.  The ELCA provided a grant for this particular workshop to take place.

Pastor Hannah Kargbo was ordained in 2006 and is exploring possibilities for starting a new congregation in Waterloo, east of Freetown.She is currently the only actively serving female pastor in the ELCSL.

One of the highlights of the week for me was the chance to see my colleagues in action as teachers.  Rev. Hannah Kargbo provided a lectionary based bible study and insight on sermon preparation.  Rev. Dalton Levi-John taught Lutheran history; Rev. Moses Kobba Momoh taught stewardship; ELCSL treasurer taught financial management; and Rev. Edward Lavally taught leadership.   All are very fine teachers.  My teaching focused on Luther’s Small Catechism and I also did some instruction on issues related to worship.   Pastor Lavally stayed very busy as our host in Njala. His family along with members of his congregation provided additional support as cooks and servers for every meal.

"Support staff," African style. These are just two of the women who prepared food each day for about 30 people. Abu my driver stayed busy with my car transporting 3 meals a day for 30 people from the Lavally home to our meeting hall. As this picture suggests, African cooks are very proficient with sharp knives (they are peeling eggplant for a stew).

The consensus at the end of the week is that the ELCSL should do this kind of thing more often. The evangelists expressed a willingness to meet twice a year — during school holidays, as many earn their livings as teachers.   I would like to see similar programs held on a regular basis for the ELCSL pastors.

The 7 days I spent in Njala last week were the longest period of time I’ve ever been out of Freetown.   It turned out to be a good week to escape the torrential rains in the capital city. We had some rain in Njala, but intermittently so.  I enjoyed the chance to walk in the quiet beauty of a rural, provincial setting,  to do some bird watching in the mornings, and at night to see fireflies flickering under an incredibly vast, star-filled African sky.

Going Shopping

When I first moved to Freetown in 2009 I was a bit daunted by the prospect of going shopping.   Freetown is teeming with shopping options, from modern supermarkets (complete with recently installed pricing scanners) to tin kiosks,  to petty traders with trays of fruit and vegetables on top of their heads.  In the supermarkets, prices are fixed and non-negotiable. Everywhere else, bargaining, or  “talking price,” is necessary.

Need jeans? This would is a typical streetside display of clothing for sale. The tubs of plastic ware and flip flops are also typical -- and convenient for head-top carrying.

Today I bought a can of paint for my house at a local hardware store, then went to a nearby supermarket for yogurt.  Outside  the supermarket, I bought fresh shrimp from a young woman who sells there daily; she peddles her seafood from a woven basket packed with ice.  On my way home from the supermarket, I stopped at the covered market (open air with multiple stalls) in Murray Town to buy bulgur wheat at 1,000 leones/cup (25 cents).  While I was there I also bought ground nut paste — peanut butter –  at 1,000 leones for a small plastic bag.   (In contrast, imported peanut butter, such as Skippy is about$7/jar in the supermarket.   Later today I’ll probably walk to a road side stand to see if I can find mangos or other fruit.

This young man sells misc. items from under a large umbrella near my house. Among other things, he has cookies, sardines, small packets of milk powder, matches and laughing cow processed cheese -- all are typical and easily recognizable in this context.

Petty traders far and away dominate street life in much of Freetown and make  shopping both convenient and chaotic.   In some parts of Freetown, the sidewalks and streets are overflowing with items for sale, and throughout the city peddlers wander the streets in hope of finding someone wanting to buy.  There are a couple of streets in Freetown so congested that the minute a car is parked,  traders will pile their wares on top and start doing business.

Creative use of space characterizes trade in Freetown.

It’s hard to capture the energy, color and creativity of all this, much less the hard work and perseverance it takes for sellers to make a few thousand leones every day.  No matter the season, though, the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in Freetown.

Text books, used novels,pens and pencils are available from this side-walk vendor. Keeping things dry in the rainy season is a huge challenge.

Baby carriages and wheel chairs are often used to carry coolers containing cold drinks or flavored ices.

Shoes for sale...

Beaches

 

River #2 is one of the better known beaches near to Freetown. The fact that there is a Lutheran church (Lord of the White Sands) in the community makes it an especially nice place for Lutherans to visit.

Yesterday was a public holiday in Sierra Leone, the Muslim Feast of Sacrifice or Eid al-Adha.    Since I am blessed to have a friend visiting from the U.S. this week, we joined multitudes of Freetown residents in heading to the beach for the holiday.   Yesterday, I was able to introduce my friend to the  white sand shores of River #2, about 15 miles down the peninsula from my house in Aberdeen.

Only a fraction of the beach communities are indicated on this map. On the west coast of the peninsula, I've been to Lumley, Lakka, Sussex, River #2, John Obey, Bureh, and Kent beaches.

The Western Area Peninsula of Sierra Leone is characterized by a series of  astoundingly beautiful beaches and peaceful fishing communities.  The wonders of creation are in full display there  with warm, Atlantic ocean- blue waves crashing to shore below the green slopes of the peninsula mountains.  Among the simple pleasures of life in Freetown is the chance to get away for a day or a weekend to the beach, and to enjoy sun and swimming and seafood.   Sierra Leoneans know they have a treasure at hand, and the Ministry of Tourism is working with local communities and business people to develop the area’s tourism potential.

Bureh beach, a great place for camping and surfing.

Lakka Beach.

In the year and a half I’ve lived in Freetown, I’ve been able to visit and explore  just a handful of the beaches in the area.   Among the residents of the city and expatriate friends, everyone has their favorite beach to visit.  I hope I  have the chance to venture out of the city and continue to explore the wonders at hand.

Early morning at Bureh beach.

Lunch at River #2. My friend Pat and I shared this lobster. This was the first time I had eaten lobster here. Grilled barracuda is frequently available, along with shrimp and crab.

Day to day

Things have been quiet around the ELCSL compound for a couple of weeks, as staff have been attending workshops and otherwise out of the office.   Mobility has been an issue as well, because the vehicles we typically use for travel in Freetown and to the provinces are all in need of repair.  As I write on a Wednesday afternoon, the electricity  has been off to the compound since Sunday morning, and internet service comes and goes for reasons known only to the local provider.

An early attempt to jump start the office generator with a car battery failed, so now the battery is always removed from the car and hooked up to the generator in order to get things running. A new generator battery was purchased earlier this year, but apparently didn't last.

Fuel for the office generator is purchased on an as needed basis, which generally means the generator doesn’t run until someone goes to purchase diesel in the morning.  These days,  it is also necessary to borrow a car battery in order to start the generator.  Today the generator came on about noon and will run until the staff depart for the day.    I just learned this morning that the price of fuel has gone up by 1,000 Leones, so it now costs 17,500 Leones /gallon (about $4.25 depending on the exchange rate).  Running the generator all day for the office is an increasingly expensive proposition.  I run my own small generator for a few hours of light at my house each night, and continue to be very glad I made that purchase.

These chicks hatched in June, and one of them became lunch for the ELCSL staff yesterday.

A flock of marauding chickens has been roaming the ELCSL compound in recent weeks, disturbing the peace and the gardens here.   We were given a number of chickens  in Timidale village last March, and while many were eaten or simply disappeared, the flock had recently grown to 10 in number.  (One of the hens hatched 8 eggs back in June.  Two hens are currently sitting on eggs as well.  I generally eat about  half of the eggs that are laid.)

Two weeks ago we decided to start culling the flock.    I learned that it is a man’s job to kill the chickens, while women do the cooking.   I did offer to help George pluck the feathers, but when I went to see if I could help, he was busily talking on his cell phone and efficiently plucking the feathers with his free hand, and clearly didn’t need my help.  That particular bird was one of the original chickens given to us by our upcountry (Timidale) hosts:  a very tough old rooster.   I learned to cook cassava leaves with chicken and fish on that occasion, a staple dish in Sierra Leone.

Cassava leaf "sauce" is quite colorful in the making, but fades in the cooking. The red ingredients: hot peppers.

Yesterday one of the ELCSL drivers slaughtered another old rooster along with one of the young ones.    Groundnut stew was the special for the day, compliments of Doris and Halima.   Yesterday’s chicken stew (with eggplant, and peanut butter among other things) was quite tasty.  From start to finish — killing the chickens, going to the market, preparing all the ingredients , dishing up the stew over rice steamed with okra — took about 3 hours.   My colleagues would like to see me prepare the chicken and cook rice and stew  by myself next time.  While Doris and Halima make it look simple, I’m thinking that introducing American style food cooked on my own stove would be a better and easier option for me.

The cooks: steaming the chickens and plucking the feathers. Halima (left) has protected her clothing in the traditional way with a "lapa." Cloth wrappings or lapas are handy for many purposes, and I was impressed at the way she used the bottom corners to lift the hot metal cooking pots.

Gifts from afar

One of the security guards in the ELCSL compound knocked on my door last night about 10:15 pm and told me that the container had arrived.   This 40 foot shipping container was packed at the April 23-25 NTNL Synod assembly in Amarillo, Texas, and sent across the Atlantic from Houston early in May.  The container arrived in the port at Freetown about 2 weeks ago, and was finally cleared for release this week.  Shipping containers are prohibited by law from being moved during daylight hours through the narrow, congested streets of the city, so the truck hauling our container left the port last night about 8:30 pm and made it in good time across the city to Aberdeen.

Shipping containers at the Water Quay, Port of Freetown. (The occasion for this picture is yet another story.)

When George came to my door last night report on the container’s arrival, he also asked if he could borrow a padlock.  As it turned out, the truck and the container were too big to pass under some low hanging wires and enter the ELCSL compound gate last night. Realizing that the container would have to be left on the roadside and outside the compound over night,  the driver,  handlers and the ELCSL guards spent some time trying to figure out the best way to secure the container against potential thieves.  As I listened to the conversation, I kept hearing “its rainy season.”   (There are more incidents of theft and break-ins during the rainy season because the sound of tropical rainfall muffles other noises, and visibility is about zero on a rainy night.)    We were able to come up with 2 small padlocks to secure the container doors, but this was deemed insufficient.  Finally, one of the ELCSL drivers was called to come across town and to position a lorry from the compound  so as to block access to the container.

Overnight security for the container.

This morning, arrangements were made with the National Power Authority for a temporary power outage to the neighborhood — an altogether familiar thing in any case.  When the power was turned off , the transmission wires were lifted up and the container was moved inside the compound for off loading.   A padlock for which there was no key was handily broken off  with a large stone.   (It seems the guards were wise not to rely on the locks alone last night).

One man lifted the wires while 4 or 5 men shouted instructions to the truck driver.

Having a shipping container sitting outside the gate seemed to have been a clear advertisement this morning for day laborers, so there was no shortage of men to off load the contents.   In collaboration with Lubbock-based Breedlove Foods, the Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Synod packed half of the container with dehydrated food items for feeding programs here.   Our Lutheran brothers and sisters in Texas also sent school supplies, theological books, carpentry tools, medical supplies, musical instruments, health kits, camping equipment and a variety of other items yet to be discovered when we unpack.  These are  blessings from afar, and as Bishop Barnett commented, abundant signs of love

About 8 men off loaded hundreds of boxes in a little over one hour.

Dehydrated vegetable mix for soup or stew. We plan to taste-test the soup tomorrow, to help determine how it can best be used and distributed.

Cooking with Fire

On a couple of occasions in recent months I have hosted fellow missionaries and friends at my house in the ELCSL compound for an outdoor potluck and bonfire.  For Americans and Europeans in tropical Sierra Leone, there seems to be something wonderfully appealing and  relaxing about gathering around a bonfire, roasting marshmallows and enjoying a peaceful evening under the nighttime sky.  (Yes, it is possible to find marshmallows in Freetown, and sometimes the night air is relatively cool enough to enjoy a fire.)

One of my Sierra Leonean colleagues was looking at my garden the other day and as we talked together she noted the small pile of sticks and branches in front of my house.  I explained that it was left over firewood and that sometimes when friends came over we built a fire.   She wanted to know what kind of fire I made:  was it a 3 stone fire?

Cooking with fire: the pot is balanced on three stones above the heat. The cook is the elderly mother of an active Lutheran in the provincial town of Bumpe.

This simple question is a great example of the challenges inherent in cross cultural communication.  Even a subject as simple as building and using a fire highlights the different worlds and cultural frames of reference for Africans and Americans.  In this case, I understood her question and could sort out the issues quite easily.   The vast majority of Sierra Leoneans, including my colleague, cook their daily meals outdoors on a three stone fire.   In Africa, cooking with fire is an essential part of daily life.  For those of us who live in the west with electricity and gas and propane, outdoor fires are more for recreation and enjoyment, even on those occasions when we do use a fire for cooking.  I was challenged a bit to explain this, and the idea of roasting marshmallows, to my colleague.

Cooking for a crowd. Using the three stone method, the heat is concentrated and the wood is used economically. In this photo, one pot is for rice and the other is for some type of sauce or stew.

The simple truth is this: it is so easy to make assumptions about what the other is saying or doing in cross-cultural interactions.   It is oh so easy to misunderstand one another without even realizing it.  There is much to learn — about food and cooking, about the values that shape family and business, about how we understand the use of money and time and so much more.   I am immensely grateful to the staff, the youth and the members of the ELCSL for being  my  teachers on a daily basis.

This is the meal I learned to cook today. The photo shows black eyed beans, hot peppers and dried fish. After adding palm oil, the beans were served with rice.

My learning continued in a fun way earlier today when a long discussed cooking lesson took place at my house.  In this case, we cooked with charcoal, a common alternative here  to cooking with fire (although charcoal production, along with cutting firewood both have serious implications for the environment.)

Doris is my cooking teacher, here shown checking the beans in the pot on my charcoal stove. Until today I had only used this stove to grill fish, shrimp and chicken. The bottle next to the stove tells a story in itself: the bottle originally contained communion wine purchased at a Catholic supply store. Nothing is wasted here, so we carried the empty bottle to the market this morning, and used it to buy two pints of palm oil for our cooking.

Getting there is half the fun

The trip to Ngolahun this past weekend meant driving  a road not normally traveled — by vehicles anyway.   Ngolahun means “the forest” in Mende (and is one of many Mende words I have a difficult time pronouncing).   The village is just about in the center of Sierra Leone,  12 miles off the main Freetown – Bo highway.  I knew Ngolahun was nearly inaccessible  in the rainy season, but until we turned off the main highway I hadn’t realized there wasn’t actually a road for a number of miles along the way.   Travel for the villagers means walking along a well established footpath through the bush, crossing streams and grassy swamp land until the path widens into a dirt road connecting to the main highway where public transport is available.   Supplies are physically carried in, and products to be sold are physically carried out from Ngolahun, and visitors also use the footpath to reach the village.  But when Evangelist John Squire of St. John Lutheran Church learned that an ELCSL team would be visiting, he organized youth from the village to cut brush along the footpath to the village and to brace the banks of the largest stream with logs and branches.  This work made it possible  for our vehicle to enter the village.

The way to Ngolahun

This bridge allows travels to enter and leave the village with dry feet (and safely in the rainy season). I joined my traveling companions in walking across the bridge while the driver forded the stream in my car. In looking at the photos I took, I see that the young men of the village moved the logs from one side of the waterway to the other from Saturday to Sunday so that our vehicle could have traction up the embankment both entering and leaving the village.

When we arrived in Ngolahun on Saturday afternoon, the car was surrounded by a cheering crowd.  We were greeted with high energy and joy.  We were told that  it was a historic occasion:  no vehicle had ever before driven into Ngolahun.

St. John Lutheran Church was established in the village in 1989, and has been served all these years by Evangelist Squire.  He started with 7 members and they now worship about 60 adults and 60 children on a Sunday morning, in addition to sponsoring 3 preaching points.  St. John has also trained and sent lay evangelists to the two nearest ELCSL congregations in Mogbuama and Senehun.  Under Squire’s leadership, the church runs a primary school which meets in the church building.  They are dreaming of building a proper school with classrooms some day.  Evangelist Squire (as well as the school teachers) serve without pay.   He noted that he doesn’t have a cent in his pocket, but that the community provides what he needs in terms of food and accommodations.   I was impressed at what he and the congregation have been able to accomplish with very limited resources in a  challenging setting.

St. John Lutheran Church and Primary School. The zinc roofing for this structure was obtained sometime in the 1990's by bartering. During the war, the zinc was hidden in the forest so it wouldn't be looted by the rebels.

At the ELCSL assembly last Sept. Evangelist Squire had announced that a parsonage was under construction in his village, and he invited guests to visit.   I was graciously housed in this parsonage, and the women of the community cooked a couple of special meals for me, including my first taste of Sierra Leonean style yams — with  fish for an evening meal, and yams with ground nut stew for breakfast.  Once again, I was blessed by gracious hospitality, and inspired by the commitment of the Ngolahun Lutherans.

We were given yams like this one to enjoy in Freetown.

Pastor Hotagua (visiting from Senehun) and Pastor Kobba (development officer). This was early in the morning and the light was poor. As is typical in the villages, individuals would bath/shower outdoors in the small structure behind the pastors.

Comings and Goings

Circumstances and available power have conspired against a timely blog posting this Thanksgiving week, but with the return of electricity tonight I thought I’d share my own words of thanks for prayers and support, encouragement and accompaniment over the past number of  months.  I am truly grateful!

I went for a walk one night in Kenema with ELCSL colleagues Doris, Halima, and Juliana. We were waiting here for a snack of grilled kan-kan -- a type of roasted meat.

This past month has been a time of comings and goings at many levels.  Many expatriate and missionary friends are departing for holidays back in the US or Europe, and others are finishing their  contracts here and moving on.  American colleagues from Lutheran Bible Translators were in Freetown recently and we had interesting conversations with their local partner about possibilities for developing a Lutheran liturgy in Krio.  Thanks to one of the LBT missionaries, I am enjoying some red and green m & m’s from the U.S.  tonight.  (Thanks Jim, for the taste of home as the holidays approach!)

Last weekend I traveled to Kenema for a regional Lutheran Women’s Association gathering. The women came together for a workshop about water and sanitation, but managed to include a lot of singing and dancing as well.  I also had a chance to attend Incarnation Lutheran Church in Kenema and to preach at a Women’s Thanksgiving service there. (Thanksgiving services are a Sierra Leonean tradition involving spirited and lengthy worship around a  chosen theme, and the chance to make monetary contributions with thanks to the community and God.

Members of the Lutheran Women's Association act out the gospel story of the Samaritan woman at the well with Jesus.

On Monday I traveled on to the village of Bumpe and met with community members there in preparations for digging a water well.  Tomorrow I will leave early in the morning for another 3 day trip up country to visit  six well sites and to preach at Advent Lutheran Church in Bo.  I borrowed a friend’s GPS unit and have been learning how to use it in order to mark the locations of  the wells.  Check back next week for more about this project.

The funeral service for the Rev.  Juliet Rodgers-Pearce took place today almost one month after her death  and was a somber and faithfilled opportunity to give thanks to God for her life and witness as a mother, grandmother, teacher, evangelist and ELCSL pastor.  Today was also a national holiday in Sierra Leone, the  Islamic festival Eid al’Adha.   Many businesses and offices were closed, and as I returned home from the funeral late this afternoon, Lumley beach was crowded with folks enjoying the “eid.”

In recognition of the American Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, many of my Lutheran colleagues here made it a point to wish me a happy and blessed Thanksgiving.   I enjoyed explaining this American tradition to those unfamiliar with the occasion.    The idea of a national holiday dedicated to giving thanks was new to many, and as a result of our conversations, I had a renewed sense of  appreciation for the Thanksgiving tradition..  In the evening yesterday,  I celebrated the holiday at a dinner with American and British friends.  Our amazingly wonderful Sierra Leonean Thanksgiving potluck featured turkey, mashed potatoes, yams,  pumpkin (in various form including pie), cole slaw, apple crisp, ice cream, and more.  To be able to celebrate with good food and fellowship was grace indeed.

Finally this week, my housemate of the past 2 months said good bye to Freetown and returned home to Switzerland.  Marlene is a teacher who spent this time with the ELCSL  teaching at Calvary Lutheran primary school and visiting at the Women’s Center in Calaba Town.    With Marlene’s departure, my guest room is available for visitors once again.  Welcome!  The only thing I know for sure is that Sierra Leone continues to surprise and bless those who come and see.

Marlene with children in Bumpe. She came to the ELCSL via a connection with the Lutheran World Federation in Geneva.

Traveling Mercies: African Hospitality

Over the past few months some of the youth and women of the ELCSL have made valiant attempts to supplement my Krio learning with lessons in the Mende language.  I am familiar with basic greetings at this point although my tongue still twists whenever I attempt to say certain Mende words.  There is one word, however, that I know quite well and will remember for a long time to come:  pumwe.

I first learned the word “pumwe” driving through Njala some months ago.  I heard it all along the way during travels last week to 10 provincial ELCSL congregations in a region dominated by the Mende tribe.   Every time we drove through a village and the children saw me riding in the car, they waved and shouted “pumwe.”   This Mende word for white person was proclaimed with wonder, curiosity and excitement.

Waving to the pumwe in Yegele.

On Saturday night, I stayed with 2 Lutheran colleagues  in a village called Yegele.   On the way to Yegele, we dropped off members of the ELCSL team in two other villages.   Every time we stopped, we were warmly greeted by members of the Lutheran community and promptly fed a wonderful meal of newly harvested rice and stew.  And of course the children we met in each of these villages were curious and excited  about the newly arrived pumwe.   Most of the time the children I met were bold in their willingness to approach and interact with me,  but when I was being playful towards the children in Momajo, they ran away screaming and crying in fear.  Still, by the time I left the village and when I returned the next day, I had about 25 new little friends who followed me everywhere.

First of many meals shared over 4 days while visiting Lutheran churches "up country." This meal of rice with cassava leaves was at Faith Lutheran Church in Senehun.

By the time we arrived in Yegele on Saturday night, we had already eaten four or five times that day.   Traditional Mende hospitality provided yet one more meal that evening, as well as snacks of fried plaintain and roasted groundnuts.  As we sat on the porch of our host’s home through the evening hours, children started to gather.  I learned that I was the first white person ever to visit Yegele, and I was a subject of great curiosity for the children especially.  In fact, I was the entertainment for the evening, and all I had to do was sit  on the porch to draw an attentive, youthful crowd.   Ten children became twenty, and twenty became thirty, and soon the porch was overflowing with more and more kids.  My adult companions were amused, especially when parents came calling for their children in the dark of the night.  One bold boy named Baba Musa spoke a little English and was quite confident in trying to talk with me.  I sang and did the motions for “head, shoulders, knees and toes;” he followed along and had the other kids join in.  Later, the children sang songs in Mende for me.

My goat. I left him in Njala. The goat may provide meals for pastors and evangelists when we meet for a training session in 2 weeks.

When we departed from Yegele on Sunday afternoon after worshipping at St. Anthony’s Lutheran Church, Mende traditions blessed me again:   I was given a goat in thanksgiving for my visit.   The goat traveled in the back of my vehicle as we made our way over the next day and a half to Bo, Bumpeh, and Njala before heading back to Freetown.  More food and traditional hospitality graced us on the way.  In Bumpeh, members of the ELCSL team were greeted by the paramount chief, and we processed through the town with drums and singing.  In addition to the traditional meal there, and some newly harvested rice to bring home,  I was given yet another traditional gift — a hammock.   It promises to be well used once I figure out where to hang it.  In the meantime, I give thanks for abundant traveling mercies!   And I’ll post more pictures and stories about all these things  next week.

The road to Yegele had one unexpected stop. My car is an Isuzu Rodeo with four wheel drive, but the wheel base was a bit too low for this spot. Amazingly (with a little help from the second car in our Lutheran caravan, and a tow rope from down the road), we eventually made it through the mud.

Lutheran Youth Gathering

As thousands of Lutheran youth from all over the U.S.  gathered in New Orleans last week for “Jesus, Justice and Jazz,”  Lutheran youth in Sierra Leone came together in a town called Njala to “renew their strength in the Lord.”  I was invited to attend the gathering and  give a bible study on this theme  from Isaiah.

From Njala, SL to New Orleans, US, every Lutheran youth gathering has scenes like this: the sight and sound of young people making a joyful noise to the Lord.  See http://www.elca.org/Growing-In-Faith/Ministry/Youth-Ministry/Youth-Gathering.aspx for a remarkably similar photo.

The Njala event was a gathering of representatives of the Lutheran Youth Organization from the southeastern region of the country who came together to formalize their constitution and to work with youth from the northwestern region to plan for a national youth gathering later this year.  About 40 youth attended the event  from 13 of the ELCSL’s 22 churches.

The young adults from Freetown who wanted to attend the LYO meeting approached me 3 weeks ago about the possibility of traveling to Njala together.  The cost of travel is the largest burden for events of this sort in Sierra Leone.  Gasoline is about $5/gallon, and travel by either private or public vehicles is expensive.   In truth, the  youth from Freetown didn’t have sufficient funds to pay the cost of their transport.  Njala is about 3 hours from Freetown by car, and the youth estimated they would need about 30 gallons of fuel to make the trip in the  15 passenger ELCSL van.  They were able to come up with funds for 20 gallons and asked me to consider riding with them and covering the remaining cost of the needed fuel.   I agreed, and found our conversations around this to be an interesting commentary on some of the fundamental issues related to my presence here as a missionary: how can I be of support, and how can I be in partnership with the ELCSL as I am present here with all my American privileges and resources?

Multi-tasking with a mix of technologies: copying reports by hand in a world without xerox, but talking on the phone at the same time.

As it turned out, the youth were highly energetic companions as well as good teachers and cultural interpreters as we traveled together.  Even now, I’m not certain how many people rode in the van, as we just keep squeezing in more travelers and baggage as we left Freetown, and the same was true when we left Njala. My part of the deal was to ride in the front seat, graciously apart from the energetic good spirits spilling over in the seats behind me.  I also claimed my own space for relaxing and sleeping at a guest house at nearby Njala University.  The visiting youth slept in a classroom in a local primary school, although I was told they didn’t actually sleep much, but sang and danced, laughed and talked all night.

Drums and the shegbura provided accompaniment for dancing.

Hospitality for the weekend was graciously provided by Pastor Edward Lavally and his wife Josephine.  Imagine all those visiting young men and women  needing a place to bath, change clothes and find food, and you can catch a glimpse of the comings and goings at the Lavally house.  Women from King of Glory Lutheran Church helped with meal preparations and serving.  In the midst of all that, the Lavally’s also found time to care for me as an honored guest.

King of Glory Lutheran Church in Njala is one of the few congregations to have a permanent structure of this type. The small town of Njala is home to a major university and is easily accessible by road. Njala University continues to rebuild after displacement and destruction during the war. This was my 3rd visit there.

Rice with sauce (stew) is a typical meal. Sierra Leoneans tell me that unless they eat rice, they don’t consider that they’ve eaten a meal.