Bringing Transformational Development to Bombali Bana, Sierra Leone

In November Pastor Paul announced that Central Wesleyan would be taking on a special project, to help a village in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Why Sierra Leone? The United Nations ranks Sierra Leone as the poorest country in the world, with 86% of the people out of work. Life expectancy has dropped to just 34 years, and 28% of their children die before the age of five. But 60% of all illness could be solved with things as simple as fresh drinking water and mosquito nets.

We have chosen to work with the village of Bombali Bana in northern Sierra Leone. The majority of the 1,000 inhabitants are of the Limbas tribe. The people are mostly farmers growing rice, cassava and peanuts. They raise goats and sheep and process palm oil. They are also involved in carpentry and blacksmithing, small scale businesses. There is a Wesleyan Church in the village that has an average attendance of 90 each week. The primary school is for grades one through six with about 430 students enrolled. About half of the people are Christians, 30% are Muslim and 15% practice traditional religion. There is a health center about four miles away, and the common diseases in Bombali Bana are malaria, diarrhea, malnutrition, scabies, and hypertension.

Our project will work with the leadership council of the village and the church leaders in six core strategies: Agriculture and Livelihood (seed distribution and animal multiplication), Education, Community Health, Capacity Building (leadership mentoring), Anti-trafficking, and Spiritual Formation.

Most important of all we hope to change their worldview to one that they can not only identify their own problems in their village but come up with their own ideas to solve their problems with their own resources. Then they will be able to solve future problems that come their way and live stronger lives knowing they are blessed by God. We hope that they will also be able to inspire other villages to look for their own solutions to their issues.

We Envision Every Family Able
To eat,
To earn,
To be healthy,
To learn,
To not be exploited,
To worship,

so that they can experience all that God has for them on earth and in eternity, that the people would understand that they are blessed to be a blessing.

Join us in praying for Bombali Bana, raising awareness of this project at Central Wesleyan, and raising the financial support needed for this project and future short-term teams.