Team to meet community leaders, assess progress of West Africa Initiative
April 25, 2017
The air is thick and humid on a typical day in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Driving along the streets of this seaside community, you’ll mostly find young people peddling their wares to the motorists as the temperatures hover in the mid-90s. They’re selling everything from fruit drinks and bananas to bicycle tires and shoes. Women balance trays of neatly stacked fruits, nuts and eggs as they make their way along the sidewalks dotted with small businesses. Everyone is seeking to make a living, side-by-side every day.
Three ministries with Compassion, Peace and Justice were in Sierra Leone the first week of March to see firsthand how work is progressing for the West Africa Initiative, a collaboration of the Presbyterian Hunger Program (PHP), Self-Development of People (SDOP) and Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA). For the past several years, the program has been working to support and strengthen rural communities’ capacity to develop self-reliant and independent organizations that are engaged in all aspects of food production, as well as the economic and social well-being of its members.
Accompanying Nodem on this trip are Luke Asikoye, PDA’s international associate, and the Rev. Alonzo Johnson, SDOP coordinator. Asikoye lived in Sierra Leone between 1999 and 2000 and remembered the difficulties the region faced during the war.
“I am most happy to see how resilient the people are in the midst of everything they have been through, from war to the Ebola virus,” said Asikoye. “This is an important opportunity for us to see how well these groups are moving on their own to improve their lives.”
On the group’s first full day in the country, the team met with Joseph Rahall, founder of Green Scenery, a nonprofit group that has been working on environmental and human rights issues in Sierra Leone since 1999. Rahall told the group he’s been working closely with rural communities on land grab issues, in particular trying to educate residents about the process so they can make better decisions on how to best lease or sell their land.
“Investors don’t like us because we are trying to help the people,” said Rahall. “We give people information and training so they can be empowered to ask questions. The government often accuses us of driving away investors because we are asking questions. But it is our belief that people should benefit from the businesses that seek this land.”
Rahall and other organizations believe investors are making significant profits on land deals in Sierra Leone while residents come away with little. In some cases, land lease agreements are up to 50 years.
The ministry teams will spend the rest of the week meeting with communities involved with the West Africa Initiative. This weekend, the group will travel to Liberia and spend several days meeting community leaders.
“I’m so excited to go back to both Sierra Leone and Liberia and see how they are recovering after these difficult times,” said Nodem. “They are a testimony to what resilience really means, and we have seen that during almost ten years of working with them.”
Rick Jones, mission communications strategist, Presbyterian Mission Agency
Today’s Focus: Sierra Leone and Liberia
Let us join in prayer for:
PC(USA) Mission Co-workers
Joshua Heikkila, Ghana
Lynn Kandel, South Sudan
Sharon Kandel, South Sudan
Nancy Collins, Zambia
PC(USA) Agencies’ Staff
Olanda Carr, FDN
Michael Carroll, OGA
Let us pray:
Loving Lord, thank you that in Jesus Christ we are one family. Help us never to live only in our own worlds but to seek to walk in partnership with our brothers and sisters around the globe as they have much to teach us about true discipleship. Amen.
Daily Readings
Morning Psalms 98; 146
First Reading Daniel 2:1-16
Second Reading 1 John 2:1-11
Gospel Reading John 17:12-19
Evening Psalms 66; 116
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