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Covenant World Relief: Rebuilding Lives
FREETOWN, SIERRA LEONE (September 28, 2007) – During a recent trip to Sierra Leone, Covenant World Relief (CWR) executive director Jim Sundholm committed funds to help an “amputee village” and develop micro-enterprise businesses for people struck with polio or strokes.
 Having recently returned from the trip, Sundholm says there still is human suffering that shocks him. “It’s unbelievable that someone would chop off another person’s hands or force a parent to watch their kids’ hands cut off in front of you.”
But that is what rebels and government troops did during a civil war fought from 1991 to 2002. Entire limbs as well as hands also were hacked off as the warring parties retaliated for each other’s brutal actions.
When the war was over, the government and international agencies began to build villages. “The first group to be cared for was the group that suffered the most,” Sundholm says. Those included the amputees, and decisions were made to resettle many of them together, in part so that services could be localized.
As shocking as the brutality can be, even more so is the inspirational desire of the people to rebuild their lives. For a closer look at some of these hopeful residents, please see Rebuilding Lives.
For example, there was the determination in the village of roughly 60 people who already had begun to build a church. The community asked if CWR would pay for tarps to provide roofing so they would not have to use the traditional method of lashing branches together.
“These are very heavy tarps, and they will keep the rain out,” says Sundholm, who eagerly responded to the request. “If they have gone through all this effort, then we wanted to help.”
 Sundholm says CWR also will provide money to construct a water well. One of the highlights of the visit came when he was able to give children soccer balls that were donated by the youth group at Trinity Covenant Church in Salem, Oregon (please see related story elsewhere in the online news report). “It seems to us like something minor, but it means so much to them.” The accompanying photo is of a young girl who received a special soccer pin mentioned in the accompanying story. The other photo showssome of the children who received the soccer balls.
CWR also will fund micro-enterprises in two polio communities. Like the amputees, many polio victims live in villages set aside for them.
In one village of men with polio, CWR is funding a blacksmithing business. In a village for women, they are funding a sewing micro-enterprise.
According to Mercy Ships, a CWR ministry partner, “Living in a community of people facing similar challenges provides individuals with support and in most cases, an opportunity to learn a skill and earn a living.”
CWR already is involved in the nation, working with Mercy Ships to operate a fistula center and pediatric center.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
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