2/14/08
Dear Friends and Family,
Vivian (the cat) along with the free wireless internet moved out of my building in December marking a new, unplugged phase of life in Omaha. Lately, I have watched PBS instead of network television online, read books instead of blogs, and used cookbooks instead of online recipe sites.
At work (where I do have the internet), I recently sent five people to Sierra Leone to intern for four months with the Word Made Flesh staff working there. They are participants in the Servant Team Program that I coordinate from Omaha. They will travel for the better part of two days to arrive in Freetown, the capital city, where they will spend the next four months.
Sierra Leone is a small country on the west coast of Africa. Recent history in Sierra Leone is blighted by the consequences of colonialism and the slave trade that thrived in West Africa. Within the last five years Sierra Leone has emerged from a civil war that lasted a decade. With a serious lack of infrastructure, the people of Sierra Leone are some of the poorest and most vulnerable in the world. There are signs of hope, too. The elections this Fall went well, a sign of stability. Also, there are many Sierra Leoneans who serve each other through Word Made Flesh or other ministries. The vision statement of the WMF field follows: “The WMF Sierra Leone community seeks to love, serve, and accompany youth on the street, destitute families and young children in Freetown. Through offering teenagers relationships built on mutual vulnerability and trust, along with leadership training, skills and traditional education, we endeavor to bring God's light, hope, wisdom and peace to West Africa.”
Jara Sturdivant and I recently set the dates for a field visit to Sierra Leone in mid-May. This will be my first official field visit with Word Made Flesh. I hope to learn as much as possible from the context of ministry and the lives of the WMF staff in Sierra Leone in the ten days I will be in Freetown. The main purpose of my trip will be to visit and encourage the Servant Team Coordinator, Steph McGuire, and the Servant Team. Recently, I have begun to read the required books for interns traveling to Sierra Leone among other preparations. Please join me in prayer as I begin preparations for the journey.
With Love,
Marcia Ghali