News: Sierra Leone

According to a local story, a priest living in Serabu Village, ten miles from the Children of the Nations (COTN) ministry site in Sierra Leone, was in a meeting with some elders from the surrounding villages. He asked a question: “If you are walking along the bush path heading somewhere, what is it that will make you think you are approaching a village?” As reported, the elders turned to each other laughing, as the question was funny and simple. Answers were supplied, which were all correct.

Linsey Kluger was walking. Along a dusty, dirt road in the middle of Sierra Leone, she was walking the six miles that had led her to a village called Bumpeho. It’s the same walk that a young girl named Musu takes each day to get to and from Children of the Nations’ (COTN) school. Linsey wanted to sponsor this dedicated student—to ensure that Musu would continue her education despite the long trek. “I wanted to walk to her village. I wanted to experience her journey to school every day,” Linsey says.

Shaka Sandy had never heard of Jesus. But in 2007, when Children of the Nations (COTN) began ministry in the rural area of Banta Mokelleh, Sierra Leone, Shaka’s life became different. He started attending COTN’s school, Mallory Jansen Memorial School. He also began to learn about Jesus. “Before I came to COTN, according to my family background, I was a Muslim and didn’t know about Jesus,” Shaka says.

Susan Ibrahim calls herself and her fellow students “pioneers.” And they are. Last year the thirty-two eager teenagers were the first class at Children of the Nations’ (COTN’s) senior secondary school at Mallory Jansen Memorial School in Banta Mokelleh, Sierra Leone. “We are pioneers,” she says, “because we have to start something for others.”