In 2016, during the Ebola epidemic, our CEO and Founder, Dr. Myron Glick, lead a team from Buffalo, NY to Sierra Leone to support our staff and clinic there. While there, he sent an email back to the team in Buffalo, bearing witness to what he was seeing.
This is a portion of that email:
Today we visited a village called Ngbori about one hour east of Koidu along the main road. This village of about 1500 people suffered much during the Ebola Crisis. Four households were quarantined, 20 people died and there are 10 Ebola survivors. Now there are 20 Ebola orphans who lost their mother and father during the crisis. Jericho Road in partnership with the western NY based Sierra Leone Alliance has been working in this village for almost two years. First, we provided food and water to each of the quarantined homes, sometimes for 40+ days in a row, at some risk to our workers and now we support these 20 orphans with food, school uniforms and school fees. The children and their caregivers clearly are very appreciative of the assistance they have received these past two years. They suffered much and are still struggling.
As we were getting ready to leave we were surrounded by children and a few people peddling peanuts. Joyce decided to buy two cups of peanuts from the peddlers. Once we had the peanuts, we realized that all of the children were clamoring for us to give them the peanuts, and so we decided to buy the whole lot and share them. However, in the process of doing this, the whole pan of peanuts spilled on the ground and suddenly a mad scramble for the peanuts ensued as hungry children literally fought for peanuts. For those of us from the well-fed west, who mostly can take our daily food for granted, the sight of these children fighting for a few peanuts was horrifying and, as I write this, I am still sick to my stomach. I have seen a lot of injustice in my lifetime but hungry children fighting for peanuts is almost too much to bear.
Later we decided to walk through the village before heading back to AMMCHC. This village is a farming village nestled into the scrubby jungles of this beautiful country. There are 1500 people living here. One Christian church and two mosques. Christians and Muslims live side by side in peace. In fact, our group today was greeted by both Christian and Muslim prayers. There is no medical clinic in this village but four traditional birth attendants deliver all the babies right on the floor of the mothers house. The village has two wells and a nearby stream as their sources of water. Everyone farms and the basic crops are rice, cassava and peanuts. But August is the hungriest month in rural Sierra Leone because it is too rainy to farm, the mango and pineapple seasons are over and the supplies from the harvest earlier in the year are depleted. In a place where there are no freezers or refrigerators to store food and where money is tight, parents have to make the gut wrenching decision to sell the few peanuts they have instead of feeding them to their hungry children.
Experiences like today force me to ask why this injustice continues to thrive and what should God’s people do about it. Surely a country, such as Sierra Leone, rich in natural resources, should not have hungry children fighting for peanuts in the shadow of the diamond and gold mines. More must be done to fight the exploitation externally and the corruption internally that is at the root cause of this inequity. Holistic development that is locally led, sustainable long-term, and includes agricultural projects, clean water, job production, and healthcare, are vital. This work demands partnership between Sierra Leone and those of us in the west who care and it is a much bigger job than any one of us can do. We must find new ways to work together.
May there come a day when all of the people, and especially the children, that God created live full healthy lives as God intended. Where there will be no hungry children fighting for peanuts.
-Myron Glick
Why do we do this work in Sierra Leone? We believe that healthcare is a human right. We also believe that the heart of God aches for those in need. Our work with refugees and asylum seekers in Buffalo, NY affords us proximity to people from all over the globe. This proximity has made us expand the definition of “who is our neighbor.”
Phebian Abdulai is our director in Sierra Leone. She came to Buffalo as a refugee, having fled extreme violence and war in Sierra Leone. She was our patient first and then worked for us as a nurse. One day, she told Dr. Glick that she felt the need to go back home to Sierra Leone and start a health clinic there. She felt God’s call to bring access to quality healthcare to some of the most vulnerable people on the planet. In 2015, together with Phebian, we opened the Adama Martha Memorial Community Health Center (AMMCHC). Now, we have worked with her and her growing team to start two more busy health centers, an agricultural program to address social needs, a high-risk pregnancy center, and more.
Who is our neighbor? Anyone in need. Luke 10:25-37
Why do we believe everyone should have access to quality healthcare? Because the Bible tells us so. Matthew 25: 36-40
