Opening Our Eyes to Another Culture

Sheku is a young man from Sierra Leone. As a young teen, he suddenly developed a tumor on the side of his jaw. His classmates called him names, and abused him, but he continued to go to school. He came on Thursday, October 6, to speak to our 6-11th grade students about his life and culture in Sierra Leone. He spoke of how difficult life is for children, as children in Africa have no rights, and any neighbor or adult can beat them for any reason. They have no voice. If there is not much food, the older children do not let the smaller ones get to the bowl. He said that if he were to stay home, he would never get to be with friends, but would always have to work. He loved going to school, not only to learn, but also to get to play soccer (football) with his classmates, even though his own friends were so cruel to him because of his tumor. Then one day he heard that Mercy Ships was in port, and he went and they told him they could operate on him. He was terrified, but they did the surgery and it was successful. When his village saw him well, they were ashamed of how they had treated him. He came back to the ship some years later when it returned to Freetown, so as to receive plastic surgery on his face to improve the appearance. He is a handsome man today. _______________________________________________________________He came to the ship as a Muslim. His mother had taken Jesus as her Lord, but he did not see any need. Even though he heard about Jesus at the ship, he did not take Jesus as his own Lord. However, over time he could see that Jesus made life different for people, and he liked what he saw. He finally prayed and asked Jesus to be his Lord and take away his sins. _______________________________________________________________He explained to us that in Sierra Leone there are many secret societies that offer sacrifices to idols or to demons. Every tribe has its own secret society, and they will remove the head of any who refuse to join. The police do not interfere, because they believe that it is just the tradition and the right of the people. So Christians often must leave their tribal village if they want to live. _______________________________________________________________This speech really affected our students, who afterward in my classroom asked if we could pray for Sheku and his family, and pray for the protection of the Christians in Sierra Leone who refuse to participate in demon worship.

A Small Library in Sierra Leone

The librarian at Mother Esther Primary School is, of course, a volunteer in training. Why do I say that? There are very very few libraries here in Freetown. Here you see him sorting and shelving the books the Academy donated. He is creating a shelving system that will make it easier for the teachers and students to sign out books. As there are few if any books to be had here, the teachers will have to teach the children how to handle them so they last.

Mercy Ships Academy Helps a Local School

People often donate teaching materials and books to our Academy for us to share with local schools in West Africa. In the top photo you can see the kindergarteners at tables the Academy donated, looking at an alphabet chart, also donated. In the bottom photo you see David Cherry standing by as students from Mother Esther Primary School unload such a donation. There are few teaching materials available in Sierra Leone. What a joy that they are English-speaking in their educational system, so we can share books with them!This is our third trip with donations since we arrived in February.