Meeting with Mayor of Bo / Village Tour

Today we talked with the city council and mayor in Bo and discussed our project in the fall and the type of commitment we would need from them to make it work. Each village would need to provide sand, gravel, and unskilled labor and we would provide the rest. We received a positive and enthusiastic commitment from them. I then talked about our monthly fast and how we take money from our meals, and donate it to the church to help the poor and needy and that this was mainly for members of our church. I told them in addition to our 10% tithing, our members also give a humanitarian donation for people of all faiths, Muslims, Christians, or no faith at all. I told them the reason why I told them this was that the funds are sacred in nature and we want to make sure it is spent wisely. The spirit was there and you could see they were touched. The chairman kept talking about how impressed he was with our church and he wishes all churches would follow our model. He said with wide open eyes, "Your members starve themselves to help the poor...That is so wonderful, we will do whatever we need to do to help you."

We then left the "city" with district officials and visited some village sites. We drove and drove and drove on dirt roads, and drenching rain. We drove through miles of jungle that was extremely beautiful and rarely touched by anyone. We came to our first village of 450 people. We had a little meeting under a thatched roof pavilion. The city official introduced us and asked for their commitment to work and participate in the project by supplying free labor and all the other things we talked about. He then started telling this village of mostly Muslim people about our Law of the Fast and how our money is given from ordinary people. I found it surreal to hear the Law of the Fast being taught from one Muslim to other Muslims and Christians in the middle of the jungle in Sierra Leone, Africa. None of it was prompted from me, it was what was on his mind. At the end of the day when we dropped him off he said, "I am not a member of your church YET," and then I think he realized what he was saying and he trailed into another sentence.

We visited another village of 500 people and they took us down to their water source. It is a small pond that was dirty and filled with algae. They know it is making them sick so they are very motivated to do whatever they need to for a well site in their community.

It was so humbling and touching to see their goodness, feel of their faith, and see how they make it through life with so little. I saw one mom's water container that had cracked down the side, she found some twine and sewed the two plastic pieces back together. I admire their creativity and ability to make something out of nothing. Unfortunately it is also their weakness because it seems almost everything here is not repaired properly. Everything is "jimmy rigged" so their things break down often and they experience a lot of down time waiting for repairs. They use everything over and over again and rarely throw anything away. Sounds like the same attitude our pioneers had doesn't it. The big difference is that our pioneer ancestors continued their growth under righteous leadership, something that is a bit lacking in these parts.

We also visited one of the main refugee camps from the war that people were still living at. They decided to make it their home most likely because they lost everything in the war. Both sides of the conflict burned down homes after they raided villages literally destroying everything families had worked years to gain. So many families have had to start ALL over again. Can you imagine loosing everything and not receiving any help from insurance or FEMA, or the Church? On top of losing all temporal things many lost family members or became maimed themselves. At any rate, it is exciting to help bring clean water to such a needy people who are so excited to receive it.

In the first village I met an African albino. Yes I had to take a few looks to make sure I was actually seeing what I was seeing. He was at the back of the group and I could tell he lacked confidence and likely had been shunned. I later learned that in other villages they are sometimes killed. At the end of our outdoor meeting everyone wanted to shake my hand, simply for the experience of touching an American white person. I made my way to the back and put my arm around this young man and said, "You are my brother of the same color." Everyone laughed and he grinned from ear to ear. I took a picture with him and he felt very important being singled out by the "celebrity". I could tell it was an instant boost to his confidence and something he will probably remember forever. He followed me around after all the way to our truck door. My heart broke for him because you could see in his face that he did not want me to leave. I would imagine it was the only positive attention he has received in his life.

It gave me a deeper resolve to always reach out to EVERYONE with love and charity.

I love and miss you ~Matt