Sierra Leone 2025 - Reflections

What an unforgettable adventure it has been – a 10-day trip to Sierra Leone as part of a group of 7 people from EBC. Our journey out there, and the journey back, felt very long indeed (it’s about 16 hours door-to-door) but the days in-between seemed to whizz by!

There were numerous key people we wanted to meet, and places to visit, including the following…

Dr. Abs Dumbuya (Abs)
Abs is very much “our man in Sierra Leone” and in truth he is the reason we are involved in Sierra Leone. Left without the use of his legs due to contracting polio at the age of 5, Abs went on to achieve a doctorate in engineering at Loughborough University – thanks to a mystery benefactor, whom he later discovered to be a lady named Dorothy Springer. Abs was so moved to find out that it was Dorothy who had funded his education in the U.K. (he had been led to believe it had been funded by bursary grants) that he left his comfortable life in the U.K. to return to Sierra Leone and set up a charity that educates people with disabilities (PWD’s) in ITC skills, and helps them into employment. He named it “the Dorothy Springer Trust” (DST) in Dorothy’s memory.

Regent Road Baptist Church (RRBC)
Following his time at Loughborough, Abs found work in Bracknell at the Transport Research Laboratory, and began attending a nearby church: our own Easthampstead Baptist Church! When he returned to Sierra Leone, to set up DST in the capital, Freetown, he began attending RRBC – reputedly the oldest Baptist church in the whole of Africa! Abs forged links between EBC and RRBC, with our former Senior Minister (Rev. Chris Porter) striking up a lasting friendship with RRBC’s Senior Minister, Rev. Tannie Barbington-Johnson (Pastor Tannie), who has since retired.

Pastor Tannie
Pastor Tannie is a man of action! Under his leadership, RRBC planted several churches and schools, and EBC partnered in building a church and school in a village called Tombo, and another building (used for both church and school) in a village called Mokombi (“Morcombay”). The Tombo plant was named by RRBC as “Easthampstead Baptist Church, Tombo” and “Easthampstead Baptist School, Tombo” in recognition of our support.

The churches at Tombo and Morcombay are now independent from RRBC and our involvement has therefore come to an end – but our relationship with RRBC and Pastor Tannie continues! During our stay, Tannie hosted us for lunch at the retreat centre he now runs, aimed at ministers needing a break. The compound is located not far from the Morcombay church/school building and Tannie, even in his supposed retirement, hopes one day to build a second building to permanently house the church side of things.

Rev. Mansaray
RRBC is, for the next four years, under the leadership of Rev. Mohamed Mansaray, who graciously hosted us at church and allowed me to preach (for an hour!) when we visited on the first Sunday of our trip. Rev. Mansaray and his leadership team are looking to the future and seeking to train a younger generation of ministers to take over in the future.

Girls with Goals
Following Pastor Tannie’s retirement, RRBC was led for a short time by Rev. Linda Koroma, who sadly passed away during the Covid crisis. However, during her tenure, Rev. Koroma established a wonderful legacy project that captivated us at EBC – the “Girls with a Goal” or (as they now call themselves) “Girls with Goals”. We remain delighted to support this ongoing project, which equips and trains girls and young women to stay in education. It was wonderful to meet with them later in the week, to experience their group time together, join in a (really tough!) Bible quiz and hand over a variety of sanitary and other supplies. They are an inspiring success story!

RRBC Men’s Ministry
Inspired by the success of Girls with Goals, some of the mature men at RRBC are focusing on discipling boys and young men, setting up a programme called “Boys with Ambition”. Wonderfully, one of the men involved in the men’s ministry group is Joseph Koroma – son of the late Rev. Linda Koroma and a very bright young man. We were pleased to be invited to dinner with some of the men’s ministry guys and hope that a lasting link can be formed between the men of RRBC and EBC!
 

RRBC leadership with our team, including (L-R) Phil, Kat, Sallyann and Rob Lea, Rob Plant and Steve Walker.
I’m in the centre flanked by Pastor Tannie (in grey) and Rev. Mansaray. Joseph Koroma is at the back in blue and purple.
 

Opportunities House
Opportunities House is the home of DST, and it houses a boardroom space, offices for the training, employment and leadership teams, as well as the main classroom space, the Penfold Hall. This is named after the late, great “Paramount Chief Komrabi” Peter Penfold CMG, OBE– former British High Commissioner and a great friend to Abs and to EBC – someone remains an absolute hero in Sierra Leone thanks to his work there during the civil war.

One of the big highlights of our trip was to see and take part in the graduation ceremony for the latest 13 students to complete the DST training programme, Indeed, we were privileged to hand out some of the awards, alongside Mrs. Yvonne Aki-Sawyer, Mayor of Freetown and a great friend and supporter of Abs, together with various representatives of Government as well as leaders of charities helping PWDs.

Opportunities House is located within the compound of the Freetown Cheshire Home which was also central to our visit and provided perhaps our most joyful – and most challenging – experiences…

Freetown Cheshire Home (FCH)
This is where Abs grew up. After contracting polio, he was placed in what was at the time the Leonard Cheshire Home and it was here that Abs began the education that would see him become a Chartered Engineer – thanks to his own determination as well as that amazing support from Mrs. Dorothy Springer! Abs, in a strange “God-incidence” is now the Chairman of FCH, and of course EBC has been pleased to support the amazing work he has been doing there. As well as continuing to sponsor the education of three profoundly disabled children (Natalia, Abdulai and Jane), who were dumped at FCH during the ebola crisis, EBC has helped fund the construction of Opportunities House (owned by FCH and rented to DST in a win-win scenario!). On this trip, Abs had asked us to help renovate a medical centre aimed at helping FCH’s  disabled children specifically. Supported by FCH staff (under Abs’ direction!) we painted the whole building inside and out, and equipped it with office furniture and a treatment table that we had previously shipped over. In 30-degree heat and 100% humidity, this was warm work!

On the second Friday of our trip, we took part not only in the DST graduation ceremony, but then formally opened the FCH medical centre. Bizarrely to me, I found myself cutting the ribbon alongside none other than Mrs. Yvonne Aki-Sawyer – thinking to myself, “Who am I to be doing this with the Mayor of a city of 2 million people?!?” Thankfully, I have the pictures to prove I wasn’t hallucinating in the heat!

With “Professor Abs” and Mrs. Yvonne Aki-Sawyer
 

Best Bits?
I have three main highlights. Firstly, I made a new friend! Abs has a wonderful “right hand man” helping him with the development of DST and this is Samuel P.O.V. Macauley (“Big Samuel”, as opposed to Abs’ younger son “Little Samuel” as I named them!). Big Samuel, along with Abs, ferried us around all week, at all hours and did so with a smile and sense of humour as big as his imposing frame! What an absolute delight to meet this guy – truly “a brother from another mother” to me! We have vowed to stay in touch!

Samuel and I were both (very unexpectedly to us!) blessed with special awards for supporting PWDs in Sierra Leone. This is very well deserved by Samuel, and as for me… I felt honoured to accept on behalf of EBC, where there are many (Kat, Rob, Chris and others) who have done far more than I have!

With Samuel P.O.V. Macauley (aka “Big Samuel”) receiving our “Disability Inclusion Ambassador” awards!
 

The biggest highlight of all though, was to be absolutely mobbed (repeatedly!) by the wonderful children of FCH school. They were all over us and this was an unforgettable experience. To see such happy smiling faces amidst such poverty was deeply moving. I especially enjoyed helping to act out a storybook that Kat read to them (they laughed a great deal at my “animal dancing”) and handing out footballs to each class. I didn’t get to see Natalia, who now attends a specialist school for children with autism, but Jane and Abdulai had permanent smiles and are clearly very happy and have made incredible progress since their arrival at FCH and our subsequent sponsorship.

Being mobbed by the children at Freetown Cheshire Home!
 

Toughest Bits?
This was my first trip to Sierra Leone, and I was shocked at the conditions people lived in – the majority of housing seemed to be badly constructed shacks of corrugated iron and old timbers, usually on the brink of falling to bits. The roads were total chaos – thank goodness for the super calm Samuel and his unflappable driving! Worst of all, for me and I think all of us, were the conditions we found at FCH. The children were joyful, but the dormitories…

Of course, we see it all with British eyes – and FCH conditions were significantly better than most. Yet it was here that we felt compelled to step up our support, primarily in two areas:

• Classroom supervision for the children with disabilities
• General oversight and upkeep of the buildings, especially dormitories.

It’s no exaggeration to say that we were shocked and upset when we toured the dormitories and sadly we found that while some of the children with disabilities were well integrated in the classrooms (with the able-bodied children who now vastly outnumber them), others were not getting the attention they need and deserve.

Abs has long since felt these frustrations – the laudable idea of integrating children with and without disabilities has unfortunately resulted in too little attention going to the most needy – for whom FCH was originally intended. Whilst there are plans to adjust the ratio (by imposing a moratorium on the intake of able-bodied children) the reality is that FCH also needs investment in its key staff. As a team, we made clear to the FCH board (at Abs’ request) our observations and they received our feedback very graciously. We also made clear to Abs that we would go back to EBC and champion the idea of supporting FCH in finding and retaining the key people to raise the standards to a level the children deserve. This might mean a stronger overall headteacher (or equivalent), a facilities manager, and dedicated classroom TA’s for the children with disabilities.

In the longer term, Abs and Samuel would love to be able to bus in the children (thus saving them a long and difficult journey through the chaos) and perhaps in the future there might be new and better buildings – but we strongly believe that first there needs to be investment in those key roles to manage and run things well on the ground, in the same way that Abs and Samuel lead DST – that is, brilliantly!

A huge thanks to Abs, Samuel and everyone at RRBC for hosting us, looking after us so well, and allowing us to partner in the amazing work they are doing!

As part of the service at Regent Road, I presented certificates of EBC’s ongoing partnership to Rev.Mansaray (for RRBC) and “Big Samuel” (for DST)