Marta Storwick • Nicole Li

Sierra Leone: Missionaries journey to West Africa.

Photos by Marta Storwick/Mercer Island Reporter
Story by Patrick Parkinson 1-28-2001

FREETOWN -- At 6 p.m. the army finishes using the beach for bomb detonation, and people rushing to capture the last of the day's light dive into the warm Atlantic waves.

As the moon slowly rises over the Sierra Leonean sky, United Nations helicopters land within 200 yards of their towels.

Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, was overrun by civil war last May.

Today, although a walk through Freetown rarely presents someone who was not forced to flee their home, the West African city is again bustling peacefully.

Although Freetown's roughly 500,000 residents rarely have electricity during the daytime, and war still festers in provinces outside of the seaside capital, people here have faith that the parties responsible for the conflict will soon put down their weapons and establish peace for the first time in more than ten years.

The war in Sierra Leone first made international headlines with the fondness of rebel factions for chopping off the limbs of anyone they suspected of being the enemy. Orphans and abandoned children were often recruited from massacred villages and trained as soldiers. The military exploits of children as young as six or seven earned them names like ``Captain Cuthands.''

Lawrence Lahai, 26, who has lived most his life in Freetown, said amputating the hands and feet of other Sierra Leoneans was first practiced by rebels as a way of keeping citizens away from the voting booth.

``In Sierra Leone, to get a job where you can make as much money as you can with a gun is not easy. The rebels wanted it to stay that way,'' Lahai said.

Now Sierra Leone is overfilled with amputees, many with families and without the ability to survive on their own. While some amputees migrate to the streets of Freetown, thousands choose to live in one of the city's amputee camps.

On a visit he and seven others recently made to an amputee camp in Freetown, Christopher Clark, a Christian missionary from Silverdale, Washington, said he sees Sierra Leone as a world of contradictions.

Freetown is a place where people cement glass from broken bottles around the tops of the walls that surround their homes and businesses as a first line of defense against would-be burglars. Girls from the city's poorest areas will jump rope in front of a burned-out building dressed neatly in their school uniforms. Piles of garbage, destroyed cars and other debris often outline the city's most beautiful landscapes.

Clark said contradictions are what brought him to Sierra Leone over five years ago, and inspired him to start Children of the Nations, an organization that cares for destitute and orphaned children. Since 1995, the organization's work has spread to the Dominican Republic and Malawi.

``My overwhelming sense was that these people were in extreme need,'' he said about his visit to Sierra Leone in 1995. ``That's when I started talking about crumbs. I realized the crumbs from our tables in America could do so much.''

As well as being the birthplace of Children of the Nations, Clark said Sierra Leone is also the most difficult country in which he has practiced as a missionary.

``It's not the people that make it the toughest, it's toughest in a political sense. There are so many obstacles in a political war,'' Clark said, as he stood sweating in the sticky air of an amputee camp in Freetown, quickly becoming surrounded by children.

``You've got to think as a visionary,'' he said. ``A lot of what we want is held in the vision, not in our hands.''

The purpose of the group's trip to Sierra Leone last November was to open an orphanage in Freetown capable of housing 250 children. But Clark said problems with the contractor and the Sierra Leonean government prevented the opening.

However, progress in Africa takes time, he said. He said that he hopes the trips he leads to Sierra Leone will open peoples' eyes and wallets to how much they can help.

``I believe that God is constantly trying to show us,'' Clark said.

Clark, who was born and raised in Liberia, West Africa, which borders Sierra Leone, said he believes God is the reason for Sierra Leone's recent survival. And this he wants people made aware of.

``We try to empower cultures and not become their God,'' he said, referring to the organization's mission.

Religious or not, it takes just a short time in Sierra Leone to realize the importance of God in West African society. Christians and Muslims make up about two-thirds of Freetown with most of the rest of the people belonging to one of many traditional, tribal religions.

``The difference between Children of the Nations and a regular humanitarian organization is that were working with the spiritual aspect of things. Many of the children we work with in Sierra Leone have had their whole moral concept messed up. Christ is the one that heals those things, and regular humanitarian aid can't address those problems,'' said Arlene Raub, a Children of the Nations staff member who was evacuated from Sierra Leone when rebels attacked Freetown during a visit in 1997.

``There is really no hope unless people's hearts can be changed.''

But you do not have to be evacuated in a helicopter to get a taste of Sierra Leone's civil war. The remains of war are everywhere.

``Every family here has been traumatized by death. It's very common to go to the market and not come back,'' Clark said.

One November Sunday in Freetown, Clark and others from the group visited a church congregation on the outskirts of the city that Children of the Nations is assisting.

Right now the Christian congregation of between 50 and 100 people meet under a tarp in the dense tropical woods. Soon, however, with the help of Children of the Nations, the foundation which lies next to the tarpaulin cathedral will grow into a four-walled church.

Each Sunday when church services end, most of the congregation stays and helps work on the church to the extent the church's budget will allow.

Clark said he can easily compare the slow progress on the church to the hectic time Children of the Nations has had opening the orphanage. But he said he remains optimistic that the orphanage and a feeding center in downtown Freetown will soon become reality.

``To the African we're a major organization here, but to us we're just a baby,'' Clark said. ``All of our goals will be accomplished through relationships. We do everything through relationships. We want to go out and find the people who are already helping and empower them.''

For more information about Sierra Leone or the other countries Children of the Nations works in, contact the organization in Silverdale at 360-598-KIDS.

Lens on Sierra Leone
Land of contrasts seen from a photojournalist's point of view

Story and photos by Marta Storwick 1-25-2001
Mercer Island Reporter

As the presidential election of 2000 extended into its first late night, I packed summer clothing, a mosquito net, 60 rolls of film and camera gear into my smallest backpack. I was traveling the next morning with Children of the Nations (COTN), a humanitarian organization from Silverdale, Wash., to Sierra Leone in West Africa. The organization has spent five years constructing an orphanage there for children left without families due to the country's decade-long civil war. I was going along to document their journey.

For most Americans, Sierra Leone calls to mind images of suffering and war. Images of innocent civilians with limbs brutally amputated by rebels as a terrorist tactic, or images of young children, most under 13, who were inducted into rebel groups to commit atrocities. Since, like most Americans, a lot of what I knew about Sierra Leone came from the media, I prepared myself to encounter a damaged and depressed society.

That is not at all what I found.

For 10 days, I accompanied COTN volunteers while they worked on the orphanage, visited the orphans they care for, attended church services, visited amputee and refugee camps, and relaxed at the beach.

Because much of the country outside of the capital, Freetown, is controlled by rebels, it was not safe to travel far out of the city. So I explored Freetown and talked with business people, fellow journalists and other humanitarian groups working there.

All around me, I saw evidence of the war -- bullet holes in the U.S. embassy building, people missing limbs or suffering from polio, houses burned by rebels, people living in squalid conditions with not enough to eat.

But I also saw children in uniforms playing on their way to school and mothers shopping with babies tied to their backs. I saw the streets of Freetown crowded with people and cars hurrying places. I felt an overwhelming sense of hope for the future when I talked to Sierra Leoneans about the prospect of peace in their country.

Sierra Leone is a land of contrasts. Tropical beauty, such as pristine beaches and secluded islands, goes unnoticed due to the lack of tourists. Natural resources, such as diamonds and titanium, are sold to fund rebel armies rather than to feed people.

As I remember the kindness and resilience of the people I met, and the friends I made with whom I now correspond, I imagine how different their lives would be were it not for the brutality and suffering caused by the civil war.

Throughout the trip, we received updates on the continuing election battle being fought back in the U.S. The contrast between the two countries -- between two very different civil wars -- was hard to ignore.

The night before we left, Magnus Beah, the Sierra Leonean country director for COTN, told us something that I will never forget: One's part in helping Sierra Leone really begins when you leave there and return home.

	SIERRA LEONE • THE STORIES
	Sierra Leone: Missionaries journey to West Africa. Photos by Marta Storwick/Mercer Island Reporter Story by Patrick Parkinson 1-28-2001 FREETOWN -- At 6 p.m. the army finishes using the beach for bomb detonation, and people rushing to capture the last of the day's light dive into the warm Atlantic waves. As the moon slowly rises over the Sierra Leonean sky, United Nations helicopters land within 200 yards of their towels. Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, was overrun by civil war last May. Today, although a walk through Freetown rarely presents someone who was not forced to flee their home, the West African city is again bustling peacefully. Although Freetown's roughly 500,000 residents rarely have electricity during the daytime, and war still festers in provinces outside of the seaside capital, people here have faith that the parties responsible for the conflict will soon put down their weapons and establish peace for the first time in more than ten years. The war in Sierra Leone first made international headlines with the fondness of rebel factions for chopping off the limbs of anyone they suspected of being the enemy. Orphans and abandoned children were often recruited from massacred villages and trained as soldiers. The military exploits of children as young as six or seven earned them names like ``Captain Cuthands.'' Lawrence Lahai, 26, who has lived most his life in Freetown, said amputating the hands and feet of other Sierra Leoneans was first practiced by rebels as a way of keeping citizens away from the voting booth. ``In Sierra Leone, to get a job where you can make as much money as you can with a gun is not easy. The rebels wanted it to stay that way,'' Lahai said. Now Sierra Leone is overfilled with amputees, many with families and without the ability to survive on their own. While some amputees migrate to the streets of Freetown, thousands choose to live in one of the city's amputee camps. On a visit he and seven others recently made to an amputee camp in Freetown, Christopher Clark, a Christian missionary from Silverdale, Washington, said he sees Sierra Leone as a world of contradictions. Freetown is a place where people cement glass from broken bottles around the tops of the walls that surround their homes and businesses as a first line of defense against would-be burglars. Girls from the city's poorest areas will jump rope in front of a burned-out building dressed neatly in their school uniforms. Piles of garbage, destroyed cars and other debris often outline the city's most beautiful landscapes. Clark said contradictions are what brought him to Sierra Leone over five years ago, and inspired him to start Children of the Nations, an organization that cares for destitute and orphaned children. Since 1995, the organization's work has spread to the Dominican Republic and Malawi. ``My overwhelming sense was that these people were in extreme need,'' he said about his visit to Sierra Leone in 1995. ``That's when I started talking about crumbs. I realized the crumbs from our tables in America could do so much.'' As well as being the birthplace of Children of the Nations, Clark said Sierra Leone is also the most difficult country in which he has practiced as a missionary. ``It's not the people that make it the toughest, it's toughest in a political sense. There are so many obstacles in a political war,'' Clark said, as he stood sweating in the sticky air of an amputee camp in Freetown, quickly becoming surrounded by children. ``You've got to think as a visionary,'' he said. ``A lot of what we want is held in the vision, not in our hands.'' The purpose of the group's trip to Sierra Leone last November was to open an orphanage in Freetown capable of housing 250 children. But Clark said problems with the contractor and the Sierra Leonean government prevented the opening. However, progress in Africa takes time, he said. He said that he hopes the trips he leads to Sierra Leone will open peoples' eyes and wallets to how much they can help. ``I believe that God is constantly trying to show us,'' Clark said. Clark, who was born and raised in Liberia, West Africa, which borders Sierra Leone, said he believes God is the reason for Sierra Leone's recent survival. And this he wants people made aware of. ``We try to empower cultures and not become their God,'' he said, referring to the organization's mission. Religious or not, it takes just a short time in Sierra Leone to realize the importance of God in West African society. Christians and Muslims make up about two-thirds of Freetown with most of the rest of the people belonging to one of many traditional, tribal religions. ``The difference between Children of the Nations and a regular humanitarian organization is that were working with the spiritual aspect of things. Many of the children we work with in Sierra Leone have had their whole moral concept messed up. Christ is the one that heals those things, and regular humanitarian aid can't address those problems,'' said Arlene Raub, a Children of the Nations staff member who was evacuated from Sierra Leone when rebels attacked Freetown during a visit in 1997. ``There is really no hope unless people's hearts can be changed.'' But you do not have to be evacuated in a helicopter to get a taste of Sierra Leone's civil war. The remains of war are everywhere. ``Every family here has been traumatized by death. It's very common to go to the market and not come back,'' Clark said. One November Sunday in Freetown, Clark and others from the group visited a church congregation on the outskirts of the city that Children of the Nations is assisting. Right now the Christian congregation of between 50 and 100 people meet under a tarp in the dense tropical woods. Soon, however, with the help of Children of the Nations, the foundation which lies next to the tarpaulin cathedral will grow into a four-walled church. Each Sunday when church services end, most of the congregation stays and helps work on the church to the extent the church's budget will allow. Clark said he can easily compare the slow progress on the church to the hectic time Children of the Nations has had opening the orphanage. But he said he remains optimistic that the orphanage and a feeding center in downtown Freetown will soon become reality. ``To the African we're a major organization here, but to us we're just a baby,'' Clark said. ``All of our goals will be accomplished through relationships. We do everything through relationships. We want to go out and find the people who are already helping and empower them.'' For more information about Sierra Leone or the other countries Children of the Nations works in, contact the organization in Silverdale at 360-598-KIDS. Lens on Sierra Leone Land of contrasts seen from a photojournalist's point of view Story and photos by Marta Storwick 1-25-2001 Mercer Island Reporter As the presidential election of 2000 extended into its first late night, I packed summer clothing, a mosquito net, 60 rolls of film and camera gear into my smallest backpack. I was traveling the next morning with Children of the Nations (COTN), a humanitarian organization from Silverdale, Wash., to Sierra Leone in West Africa. The organization has spent five years constructing an orphanage there for children left without families due to the country's decade-long civil war. I was going along to document their journey. For most Americans, Sierra Leone calls to mind images of suffering and war. Images of innocent civilians with limbs brutally amputated by rebels as a terrorist tactic, or images of young children, most under 13, who were inducted into rebel groups to commit atrocities. Since, like most Americans, a lot of what I knew about Sierra Leone came from the media, I prepared myself to encounter a damaged and depressed society. That is not at all what I found. For 10 days, I accompanied COTN volunteers while they worked on the orphanage, visited the orphans they care for, attended church services, visited amputee and refugee camps, and relaxed at the beach. Because much of the country outside of the capital, Freetown, is controlled by rebels, it was not safe to travel far out of the city. So I explored Freetown and talked with business people, fellow journalists and other humanitarian groups working there. All around me, I saw evidence of the war -- bullet holes in the U.S. embassy building, people missing limbs or suffering from polio, houses burned by rebels, people living in squalid conditions with not enough to eat. But I also saw children in uniforms playing on their way to school and mothers shopping with babies tied to their backs. I saw the streets of Freetown crowded with people and cars hurrying places. I felt an overwhelming sense of hope for the future when I talked to Sierra Leoneans about the prospect of peace in their country. Sierra Leone is a land of contrasts. Tropical beauty, such as pristine beaches and secluded islands, goes unnoticed due to the lack of tourists. Natural resources, such as diamonds and titanium, are sold to fund rebel armies rather than to feed people. As I remember the kindness and resilience of the people I met, and the friends I made with whom I now correspond, I imagine how different their lives would be were it not for the brutality and suffering caused by the civil war. Throughout the trip, we received updates on the continuing election battle being fought back in the U.S. The contrast between the two countries -- between two very different civil wars -- was hard to ignore. The night before we left, Magnus Beah, the Sierra Leonean country director for COTN, told us something that I will never forget: One's part in helping Sierra Leone really begins when you leave there and return home.