Team Rogbere: March 2016

In a few short months, we will be sending our first small team to the village of Rogbere. We almost have the team members finalized, and we are keeping the team small because it will be our first contact with the people of Rogbere, and so we aren’t sure what exactly we are going to encounter. This trip will also be different than many short-term mission trips. We won’t be doing construction or medical missions or street evangelism. We aren’t going to an established church or mission work, because as far as we know, there is no church in Rogbere.

So what will we be doing?

           

We will meet the people.

We will introduce ourselves.

            We will listen to their stories.

            We will try to learn from them about their culture.

            We will see the pineapple farms that we have helped them plant.

            We will assess the resources of the village.

            We will assess the needs of the village.

            We will take pictures.

            We will share about Jesus at every opportunity.

We want to make the most of this opportunity to share Jesus. Colossians 4:5-6 says:

⁵ Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. ⁶ Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. (NIV)

Please pray that during our time in Rogbere this March, our words will be “full of grace” and “seasoned with salt”.

Pineapple Update

Rogbere is one of 10 villages that is receiving outside assistance to establish its pineapple crop. See in this video how villagers from these communities are working to plant these pineapples. They are optimistic that this new cash crop will help them to be able to pay school fees for their children and to better their living conditions. 

Ebola-Free!

For the last year, the Ebola crisis has plagued Sierra Leone, which has claimed over 11,000 lives in West Africa. This crisis has had very negative economic effects on Sierra Leone and our village of Rogbere has been affected by this crisis as well. Due to strict quarantine regulations necessitated by the Ebola virus, villages like Rogbere have not been able to attend vital agriculture trainings and to farm as they desire.

We also haven’t been able to have very much contact with the village because of the Ebola crisis. From the beginning of this partnership, we have hoped to send short-term mission teams to Rogbere to build relationships with the villagers, assess additional needs that they might have, and to share with them why we are doing what we are doing (Jesus!).

I am now pleased to report that Rogbere’s district in Sierra Leone has gone long enough without a new Ebola case that they are considered Ebola-free. 40 days is considered to be the time when a district is safe, and they are now beyond that. We can praise God for this while continuing to pray for a complete resolution to this crisis.

The current map of Ebola cases in West Africa

Because of the improvement in the Ebola crisis, George Beals, who oversees Village Partnerships at World Hope International, has informed us that they are ready to start sending short term mission teams into Sierra Leone. We are looking forward to being able to go and visit Rogbere sometime early in 2016!

Faith and Rogbere

Breakdown

In the nation as a whole, 63 percent of the population is Muslim and 16 percent are Christian, which puts Christianity significantly in the minority. The same is true of the region that includes Rogbere. Islam is the primary religion in this area, and there are few Christians. Most of the villages in the area do not have any Christians.

Attitude towards Christianity

Although Christians are in the minority, they do not experience hostile treatment from local Muslims; they have coexisted peacefully. Christian activities have not been hampered by any Islamic group or sect in these villages. It has even been expressed that if a woman or child decided to leave Islam for Christianity, then they would be given the opportunity to do so.

Church

There is only one church in the midst of the eleven villages associated with the Community Based Organization. 

A Wesleyan Church in Sierra Leone

The local people have made a strong commitment to cooperate with this church in any evangelistic activities. However, it was suggested that establishing a church at Rogbere would not be helpful at this time as it would be difficult to attain membership in such a rural community. Working to establish other social facilities, such as a school and health center, would likely be more helpful at this time. Rogbere is centrally located, so members of surrounding community would be able to access these facilities as well. 

Prayer

God, as this Village Partnership continues to develop, would you help the efforts to reach residents of Rogbere to be fruitful? We also pray that you would raise up laborers from the Wesleyan Church in Sierra Leone, and from our own church as well as we look to send a short-term team.

How does life in Rogbere compare to life in America?

A village school in Sierra Leone.

Schools
For Rogbere, only two of the eleven villages nearby have schools. Of these two, only one educates students up to 6th grade. For some children in this area, it means walking over 5 miles to and from school every day. The nearest Junior High and High School is located in Newton, which is about 20 miles away from Rogbere. Many students grow weary of walking long distances to school and drop out.

For us, there is access to K-12 public education right in our immediate communities. And for children who don’t want to walk to school, we have school buses that pick children up within a couple blocks of their home. Walking miles and miles to school is not an problem for us.

Healthcare

Access to health care is a serious problem as none of the villages near Rogbere have a health center. The nearest one is located in Newton, which, again is 20 miles away. This is representative of Sierra Leone as a whole, which has the worst infant mortality rate in the world andhas a life expectancy of 45.3.

We have very broad access to healthcare here. Yes, we complain that it is expensive, but we take for granted that at least we have the ability to see a doctor or to get medicine or to go to an Emergency Room.

Water

Access to safe drinking water is a serious problem. Rogbere does not have a well that can provide clean water. This upcoming year of our partnership will help provide clean water for Rogbere, along with building sanitary toilets.

Our access to safe water is unlimited. In fact, Cedar Falls was recently awarded for having some of the best tasting water in the state. Not only is our water safe, but it tastes great! Let’s be truly thankful for what we have as we pray for Rogbere.

Rogbere: Rising from the Ashes

Rogbere is one example of the many other Sierra Leonean villages demolished during the Civil War (1991-2002). It was burnt down in its entirety and the cattle were taken away. During the war, many of the displaced inhabitants resettled elsewhere, but after the war, some residents began to slowly return. Below is an example of the destruction that one Sierra Leonean village suffered as a result of the Civil War.

After the Civil War, the Bombali District Medical Officer, Dr. Yankuba Bah, purchased fifty-two acres of unused land near Rogbere to begin some agricultural programs. Dr. Bah established a Community Based Organization (CBO) of those residents who did return; it is registered with the relevant government authorities. This allows villages or groups of villages to have their own farmer's cooperative with its own leadership comprising of a leader, secretary, and a treasurer. The goal is to foster unity among the people and to empower them economically through agriculture and micro credit. Each member of the association, makes a monthly deposit of two thousand leones (approximately $0.46).

The 25,000 pineapple suckers that we have donated so far (along with fertilizer and tools) have empowered the Rogbere Village Cooperative to plant 3 acres of pineapples! This is impressive considering impact of the Ebola epidemic and the fact that planting pineapples is backbreaking work. And the economic impact of this investment will be sustainable and ongoing. Each pineapple plant produces 4 pineapple suckers, which can be used in future years or sold as seeds to other villages. As we invest strategically in them, they will in turn be able to provide opportunities to surrounding villages and help their region rebuild.

Social Norms in Rogbere

Here are some common societal norms in Rogbere. These things help give us an idea of what the culture is like and how we should pray.


GENDER ROLES AND MARRIAGE

The husband acts as the head of the family by working hard to take care of them and meet their basic needs. Women see themselves as true helpmates to their husbands, especially in monogamous homes.
Interestingly, women do sometimes hold leadership positions in their villages. In fact, they are sometimes elected as village heads. Although, in the home, wives submit to their husbands, they act as powerful voices and decision-makers in their communities.

Polygamy is commonly practiced in the area. Many men view polygamy as a way of alleviating women’s domestic and farm burden, although women view it as a senseless invitation of trouble into their homes. Although women have made it clear to men that polygamy does not work well in the home, it is still practiced with little or no sensitivity to the women’s sentiments. The church teaches monogamy.

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Despite general awareness about Gender Justice Laws passed in 2007, domestic violence based on gender remains a prevalent issue. Instances usually occur at night and are not mediated by anyone. Society believes that both parties have the responsibility to resolve their conflicts in the home. According to data collected by the government, 63 percent of women questioned in 2008 said it was "acceptable for a husband to beat his wife under certain circumstances."

TEENAGE PREGNANCY

Another common issue is teenage pregnancy and early marriages. Girls who become pregnant at a young age often drop out of school (never to finish) and get married to peers or older members in the community who impregnated them. The age gap between husband and wife is often wide.

SECRET SOCIETIES

Three types of secret societies are practiced: Bondo, Poro, and Ojeh. Very few people, members and non-members, will discuss these secret societies as discussion may lead to death by members of the group. 

A Poro society ritual.

Pineapples Galore

World Hope International Sierra Leone has been working hard with the people of Rogbere. The original goal was to get 10 acres of pineapples planted in 2014. In Rogbere they are now at 2 acres of pineapple, with 24,427 pineapple suckers planted. They had hoped to be further along with this project but the Ebola virus crisis has meant WHI could not import pineapple suckers from Guinea (where the Ebola crisis started) and some farmers were reluctant to go to the fields and work near other people for fear of contracting the virus.

A Sierra Leonean planting pineapple suckers.

As it is now the dry season, it is too dry to plant any more. They hope to begin planting pineapples again in May. In the meantime, the plan is to care for the current acreage by working with the people of the village to weed, water, and start applying calcium carbonate, which will stimulate the pineapples to start fruiting. This should make them ready to harvest in the summer. Beyond selling the fruit in the open markets, WHI is coordinating the harvest with Africa Felix Juice near Freetown to buy some of the fruit for juicing.   

World Hope is also going to begin to look at supplementing some of the village farms with other fruits that are less labor intensive and are ready to harvest sooner than pineapple. They are going to focus on developing their nursery farm for guava and papaya to supplement these farms as soon as the plants are ready to be planted from the nursery.  This will help these villages diversify their crops as well, which will be very valuable long-term.

Ebola

Sierra Leone is facing significant challenges as a country. In addition to being one of the poorest countries in the world, they are also facing the worst Ebola outbreak in the history of West Africa. All of Sierra Leone has been affected, and even our small village of Rogbere.

Medical professionals in Sierra Leone attending to a quarantined man.

Earlier this year the village had a death due to Ebola because because a village resident had traveled to another village for a funeral. And more than that, the economic repercussions of Ebola are far-reaching and devastating. The average income in Sierra Leone, already among the lowest in the world, will be cut in half because of the crippling economic implications of Ebola. So what is  World Hope International, the organization we are working with for this village partnership, doing to help? This video explains some of what they are doing to fight Ebola.