Dear Friends of WMF Sierra Leone –
I’m writing with a piece of very exciting news! We have found a property that WMF Sierra Leone would like to call “home” (picture is taken from the front of the house…notice the space for playground).
Word Made Flesh has had a presence in Sierra Leone for nearly 7 years, and since then we have made the best of our resources by using our homes and various other places for all of our meetings and activities. Most of you in this facebook group have spent some amount of time with WMF in Freetown, and you know: we are all over the place. I do most of my administrative work and servant team meetings in my home, staff meetings and morning prayer/worship are at Cami and Faye’s house (which also functions as an office for many of us), community dinners are at the Harrell home by Special Court, tutoring/lessons for Lighthouse youth and Kroo Bay kids is held at the Freetown Youth Center by Victoria Park, large group meetings for Lighthouse are at Scripture Union on Pademba Road, small group meetings are held at various other locations around town, Good News Club is at the church in Kroo Bay, and Erin travels to each of her physical therapy patients houses.
All in all, WMF Sierra Leone has not had a place to lay its head. I know, sometimes this is the best way to do things, and I would say that was true of our community until lately. But it seemed that many of us were thinking/feeling the same thing at the same time, and after much consideration about whether this was the right thing, we have all agreed that it is time to find a home for WMF Sierra Leone.
In our search for an appropriate property we had a variety of needs in mind. Those topping the list are as follows;
1. Office and meeting space for staff.
2. Space for the Lighthouse small groups to meet.
3. Space to develop a tutoring program and outreach program to the teens in Kroo Bay.
4. A place for Erin to do her physical therapy.
After more than a month of roaming the streets of Freetown and watching for locked windows (the only reliable sign that a place is empty) Chris Harrell found a house that some of us fell in love with instantly, and others fell in love with eventually. It is a 2-story house in a roomy compound on May Street in Kingtom, right on the edge of Kroo Bay. It has been sitting empty for some time, so it is currently under repair and the compound is a mess, but from the moment I saw it I couldn’t help but dream of what it could be for our community. There are trees and quiet and room to grow – all of which are rare in this city – and the back of the house looks out over the very neighborhood where we feel our efforts will be focused in the future. It is easy enough to reach for those who know us, but out of the way enough that we will have some privacy. The compound is large enough that we have room to grow, and we all have shared dreams of a garden or some play equipment for the neighborhood kids.
This property is a bit above our proposed budget for yearly rent. The truth is that this price is actually quite a steal, we just weren’t expecting to find the perfect place right now—we thought we’d settle for satisfying our most basic needs and re-evaluate in a few years. Well, we found far more than we were looking for, and the chances of a place like this one coming along again in a few years are quite slim. There are a number of other factors that have fallen into place for us, like the path just keeps opening before us. I really feel strongly that this is the place where we should be, and I’m not alone in that feeling. We are currently working through a contract with the landlord’s agent, and are moving forward in faith that our needs will be provided for.
All of us on staff have committed to asking our supporters for help in raising funds for this house, but we would love for this property to be funded largely through gifts of love and solidarity from people who have a heart for Freetown. Some of you may have lived here. You have seen the beauty of this country and its potential. You have hope of what this country could be. Others may have only read about this place and been shocked at the brutality of what the people in this country have gone through. So we invite you to join us in rebuilding the future of Freetown.
If you are able to give and enthusiastic about giving toward this project, please include a note with your check stating that it is for the “Sierra Leone Ministry Center” (we’ll think of a better name later) and mail to:
Word Made Flesh
PO Box 70
Omaha, NE 68101
With Love From Freetown,
Steph
P.S. Please feel free (and encouraged!) to share this appeal with friends and family who know your heart for your friends in Freetown.
P.P.S. One picture is the view from the back of the house. It is a view of Kroo Bay. The other picture is of the front of the house… notice the HUGE amount of space for playground equipment. Kid here have to pay money to use the swings (there is a time limit on how long you can be on the swing). I love the idea that kids can PLAY!!