Hope for a Blood Diamond

 

The story was made famous by Leonardo in Hollywood, but it was lived and suffered by the people in Sierra Leone.   And while the specific industry is better regulated now and the civil war ended nearly a decade ago, the juxtaposition of the term “blood diamond” still accurately symbolizes a country that is so abundant in resources and potential but continues to hurt as a nation.

 

Sierra Leone is absolutely breathtaking.  I'm not big into picture-taking, but it's probably a good thing here, because I might not get any work done just trying to capture a sliver of the sheer beauty of this country.  Unfortunately, everywhere we go, we’re faced with the stark contrast of the spectacular Sierra Leonean landscape next to the clear evidences of the equally ubiquitous Sierra Leonean poverty.

There’s the picturesque backdrop of the gentle rolling hills lined with lush green flora, rising into the low hanging clouds standing out behind the run down tin shacks that form the Freetown slums, threatening to spill into the polluted waters of the world’s third largest natural harbour.  Or the serenity of the large sandy beaches with perfectly lined palm trees stretching as far as you can see, disrupted by pungent smell of human feces emanating from the not yet dry lumps that dot the beach, not even close enough to the shoreline to be washed away by the tide.  This is the life in Sierra Leone, where the majority of the population still lives in poverty and even the most basic of hygiene and sanitation practices are not yet observed.

Those are some of the reflections that I struggle with as we continue to work with the people here.  There are a couple villages where it is honestly a struggle to see any gains in areas like these that LWI works so diligently to support.  I guess it’s all magnified in the face of this Cholera outbreak, which I think is now up past 17,000 cases, and if it’s like the previous outbreaks, 4% of which will be fatal.

 Some basic statistics about Sierra Leone, because sometimes numbers can explain better than words.

• Sierra Leone is a relatively small country with a population of 6 million people that is now back on the rise after decreasing during the 5 years of civil war.
• The HDI (Human Development Index) is a measure that the UN uses to measure the wellbeing, aka Quality of Life, of a country.  Out of the 187 countries that are included in the ranking, Sierra Leone ranks 180th.  The bottom 15 are all in Africa, most of which are.  Even the disaster-stricken Haiti sits 15 places higher.
• The average wage here is about $2-3 a day. A typical starting salary for teachers, police, and military is about 200,000 Leones/month which translates into less than $50 US.  As a comparison, a bag of rice which is one of the staple foods here, costs 150,000Leones and would feed a small family for a month.  How people survive, I’m not sure.
• The expected life span is now 47 years, already an increase from a few years ago.
• The average Sierra Leonean is young enough to be secondary school, although unfortunately most of them aren't. 
• As a result, the literacy rate remains low.  Too many children (pickins as they call them here) don't go to school, presumably because there is a greater need to earn enough to eat.  Out of all the construction crew that work for Living Water, only the foreman is literate, and that’s because he came from a relatively well-educated missionary family.

 Listening on Capital FM, the somewhat Western-ish radio station here, I’m told there are increasingly more news stories about the upcoming elections in November.  Based on recent history across the globe and especially on this continent, elections have been marred with violence and corruption (or at least accusations of the latter). And there is a sense of the high possibility that the same storyline could play out here in Sierra Leone less than two months from now.

Closer to what I’m here to work on, I pulled this from a report I was reading by UNICEF earlier today.

Sierra Leone is among several countries in the world where more than 50% of the population lacks access to safe water, attributable to poor infrastructure, exacerbated by a lack of investment in the water resources sector.

Population with access to drinking water sources - Source:  Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey MICS III (Statistics Sierra Leone/UNICEF, 2007)

And yet, there remains hope and optimism.  People like Robert and Ruth were called to serve here, to start a country office for Living Water International in Sierra Leone, an organization that has now completed over 400 well along with hygiene and sanitation sessions, as well as a growing number of toilet projects across this country.

Remember that village with the perfect beaches, save for the feces strung out along the beach? Well, we spent over an hour walking the village with the doctor yesterday.  He has one nurse and one volunteer who work with him in a two room building with two beds that they call a hospital. He’s basically it when it comes to any medical needs for the 6500+ residents of this coastal village, one that has seen over 200 cases of Cholera thus far.  I asked Robert what happens on weekends, “there isn’t really one for the doctor” he softly answered.  I won’t even ask about vacations or time off.  The doctor isn’t even from this part of the country originally, but he’s been here 13 years already and he wants to stay because he has hope.  He has started a church with his family in the local school, which he says is growing.  Institutions like these are the prime candidates to start with hygiene and sanitation training because it has a like-minded group of people that can be motivated to work together towards a goal. 

There are more stories like these, more people like this doctor, and it will take more of them to continue moving this country in the right direction.  It’s been a quick two weeks here, and I’ve only seen a glimpse, but I have hope for a better Sierra Leonean future.

 

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. – Jeremiah 29:11

   

(I didn’t bring my camera cord with me… almost as bad as not bringing my rain jacket with me during Sierra Leone’s wettest month, so these images are just pulled from google that seem to fit and help break up some of the heavy words that are this entry. Hopefully upload more actual photos once I get home.)