So… if you ever took the time to read my biography there is a small part that mentions my best friend going to Sierra Leone. Well, she went for about two weeks and is back now! If you don’t know a lot about Sierra Leone… it’s a country in West Africa that was mostly destroyed in the civil war that just recently ended. Molly is my best friend’s name is Molly and she had a “good experience,” on her trip. She learned sooooo much about a new culture and is really struggling with returning to reality in the wealthy part of the world. It was really cool to hear everything she had to say about her journey. There was happiness and there was heartbreak. She has been changed by this experience. The children she met changed her outlook on life, she appriciates so much more of what she has, and at the same time realizes how spoiled (really really spoiled) Americans are.
She told me one specific story that really shocked me, and broke my heart. The team she went with was driving home one day on a very bumpy road and they had to drive very slow (18mph to be exact!) and they passed a young boy on the side of the road. This boy was dead, he was in the middle of nowhere, was injured and left out in the middle of the countryside to die. The local hosts she was with had no intention of stopping to help, they have no ambulance to call, and they are used to seeing so much worse than that during the war. This country and so many other countries are in need of help, as Americans… and christians… we should be sending millions of people to help. But we’re not. Does anybody know why? Because we’re lazy, we’re selfish, we’re so happy in our own little side of the world, we don’t have the time to stop and think of these people, or it would just make us sad to think of it. The senior pastor of my church once said in her sermon that just because something makes you feel uncomfortable, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have to hear it.
“Africa is the proving ground for whether or not we really believe in equality.” -Bono, from this month’s issue of VANITY FAIR
(Take a little time to think about this qoute…)
I have friend Thomas who was in Sierra Leone during the war. It is so interesting to see his percpective. My Pastor always says that comfortable Christians are dangerous. Christianity isn’t about comfort. That is such a reminder to have written someplace. We have been taught by our culture to always move towards a more comfortable level. Well once again Chrsitianity is backwards. We arn’t to be comfortable one of those things like the first are last, the poor are rich, and the lowly are powerful. Crazy huh
~dD~
Have you read the book A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier? It’s about a boy that was forced to fight during the civil war in Sierra Leone, and it really impacted me.
So, my question is, Do you know any ways we can get involved with Sierra Leone and quite being comfortable American Christians? Oh course we should be praying but is there anything else you know of? If you do, I would love to jump right in.