Nackawic Wesleyan Church in New Brunswick, Canada, has had a passion for drilling wells. In the last 12 years, the congregation has helped fund 40 wells, the first 12 wells in Sierra Leone through World Hope Canada (WHC). I travelled there to learn more about these wells and share God’s love with the children we were to encounter.
We travelled from Makeni to the village of Kamakwie, the work of WHC being done between the two cities. It was a thrill to see three of our wells, along with one drilled by the Woodstock Wesleyan Church in New Brunswick, Canada. We also saw a latrine under construction. It was a hole dug by hand, over which a thick cement slab with a hole would be placed. Then, cement walls and a roof would be erected. Without these, the people use only small elephant grass circle huts with no hole in the ground.
“The large majority of these homes have no running water and no electricity; thus, the wells, latrines, and other projects WHC is involved with have a high level of importance,” said Rev. Ryan Farrell, pastor of Nackawic Wesleyan Church. “The water the wells provide is life changing, while the latrines serve sanitation and hygienic purposes, which stave off unwarranted disease. These initiatives help to provide hope for a more healthy and positive future for the people of Sierra Leone.”
In Kamakwie, we visited the World Hope Alpha program at the Wesleyan hospital, which helps treat malnourished children while providing the adults health education. Since they have not had a doctor there since September, midwives and nurses are doing the surgeries. Even though the hospital was built in 1959, it is very fortunate to now have solar power, and if emergency surgeries were required at night, they have generators. While we visited, we gave follow-up care to sick children and attended an outpatient clinic at the hospital, where the nurses had singing, devotion, and teaching on nutrition and health for the mothers. The head nurse danced and sang for joy when we later gave her a 50-lb bag of rice to use for the Alpha program. That bag of rice was far more than they could afford on their own.
We also visited the Kakissee Wesleyan Primary School, built from funds raised by the high school in Stanley, New Brunswick, Canada. Students at other schools we had previously visited must pay $50 a year to attend, but at this school, many pay very little or nothing. The six teachers here receive no salary. I was touched when they prepared us a meal, and then by the sacrifice they made when they presented us with eggs, oranges, a hand of plantain, and a live goat. I couldn’t stop thinking how we had given out of our abundance while they had given out of their poverty.
Proverbs 29:18 states, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Sometimes, we limit God and restrict our potential for service, because we expect our talents to come completely developed. We must realize that we have to cultivate them so that they will mature and multiply. God is calling each of us to a life of adventure but we have to be willing to take risks in our walk with Jesus. If we are, God will bring us new opportunities for service.
