On the way out, I attempted to reconfirm our flights on my mobile – I got this unlocked befor leaving so that I could by a local sim card. Last time here I didn’t have the luxury of Skype and worked up a frightening phone bill calling home using roaming charges… Bit nervous about the call as I’m still missing a fair amount of Krio! Got through and passed on my request, but had no confirmation before cut the woman on the other side put the phone down. Concerned, we called in, but all was fine.

The first stop was at the school/church at Foofoo (or Fufu) Water, named after its twinned church in Hailsham. In 1992, before I joned the SLM, I did a bicycle ride around the UK churches to raise money to build a school here. This was flattened during the War. It was eventually rebuilt, and a second three classroom block recently erected. The secondary school currently meet here, but are under pressure toget their own home. It was very touching to be presented with a wooden staff, carved by one of the boys – a symbol of honour or authority such as a chief or elder. Unfortunately we didn’t get to meet Magnus Bendu, the minister and well known from his visit to England two years ago. We were both affected by the plight of one of the teachers, a long serving man called Alex Turey, who was suffering with a hernia and had been unable to teach for qite a while. We determined to leave him with the money he needed for the operation.

The first time came to Fabina the school and church were meeting in a pitch black community building. It was so dark that you could bearly make them out. How they could possibly learn or celebrate with that, the dust and humidity I do not know. To come back and find a brand new three classroom building was fantastic. This was another project with Francis behind it. The green, white and blue stripes were a neat touch.

Songo Loko was another site full of memories. Six years ago, Gordon Hamilton and I attended the official opening of the school. It came across as being one of the biggest community events in this area ever with many speeches from signicant local people and much pomp, ceremony and dancing. As we left, enormous peakers were beng unloaded from the back of a van. I suspect the party lasted for hours. Returning, things hadn’t stood still. A new building stands alongside the last for teachers to use to sleep in as it is some way from where they live. This is bit of an experiment. It will be interesting to see if it helps. So far it hasn’t particularly as they haven’t managed to get any bedding there yet… We were also introduced to achurch member who was suffering from a really nasty eye wound. He clearly could not afford the required treatment and once more we determined to help.

Our last port of call was Christ Church, Hastings, whch is twinned with Shoreham in the UK. The minster here is our head agent himself, Rev. Sylvanus Alba Nicol. Sylvanus is a very perceptive man with a wry tinkle in his eye and a really dry sense of humour. He is also renown in the SL Connexion for his poetry – I’ve had for ome time a selection of them which I keep meaning to publish as a fundraiser. We saw much more of him than we expected. We discovered when we got here that he’d recently had a double hernia operation, and was still cleary quite tender. My last memories of Hastings were of a church devoid of roof and full of scaffolding. The roof is now back n and the inside decorated. It hasbeome a beautiful, restful place. It was quite noticible that unlike vitually everywhere else, the church didn’t present us with a list of ‘constraints’ for us to meet, just a tray full of fruit. Beautiful. We decided to risk offence and share them out, a gift turned into a spotaneous banquet, from being distinguished guests we became family members. A wonderful end to the day!

Written by Magnus Bendu (Youth Director)

The youth conference in Sierra Leone constitutionally comprises all youths registered in the various Youth Fellowships of the various Churches/Chapels in the Connexion. A youth for us is somebody between 13 & 35. Just as the width is in the age span so are the experiences in working with them – both tough and enjoyable, considering that both of us working with them are within the same age bracket – Rev. Daniel Koroma & I.

Currently, the number of actively participating youths within the Connexion is around 100. some other youths from other churches sometimes join us in our programmes. We have also had muslims join us in some of our activities. Since youths are active people, a number of activities are scheduled within the year. For the year 2009, the activities include the following:

1. Youth “Singer-Fest”: Done in February at St. John’s Church in Goderich, with 79 youths in attendace. This programme was part of the celebrations of the Connexional Conference and involves singing praise & worship songs in the African way.

2. Youth Outing: This took place in February at Masiaka, 47 miles from Freetown. For 80% of the youths, this was there first time of moving up to that point of the country. Sierra Leoneans don’t travel that much anyway. Young people are particularly not given the opportunity, that is mainly why we endeavored to give them one. 89 youths were present. Food was shared, games were played, Christian music was available, the gospel was shared, joy was evidenced, friendship was inevitable & God was there. It was a memorable ocassion. It was a day’s outing – we left at 7:30am and returned at 8:00pm.

3. Mid Year Seminar: This programme was designed to enhance youth development through Christian principles. The focal topics were self identity, career choice & development and focus& direction in life. We had teachings and group discussions. It was held in June at St. Marks Church, Waterloo. 53 youths defied the very heavy rainfall that day in order to discover what could help them pursue their destiny in Christ. Food and juice were served in a very pleasant atmosphere. We even had on-the-spot testimonies on how the teaching impacted their lives. I (Magnus) and Rev. Daniel Koroma, who is the Co- Youth Director facilitated the sessions, while the youth president, Sylvester Nicol lead a spirit filled devotion from 2 Timothy 1:6,7.. It was a real blessing.

4. Youth Convention: This programme is yet forthcoming. It will hopefully take place at Magburaka, Northern Sierra Leone, about 115 miles from Freetown . This venture is part of our aim to help young people in the Connexion Know their country. Magburaka is muslim dominated and our presence their in Christian love will mean a lot for evangelism. The convention is slated for the 19th to 22nd December 2009. This is always our biggest programme each year. It is more like a camp and in some ways like a retreat. It comprises programmes such as play, prayer, evangelism, teachings, Bible study, singing, Bible Quiz and plenary sessions. So many young people long for this programme. However, this programme poses the biggest challenge to us in terms of financing it. We are grateful to the SLM for their invaluable assistance over the years. Planning has already started for this year’s programme. We need your prayers.

Besides all of these major activities of the year, Youths in the Connexion are also encouraged and sometimes supported to attend other youth programmes outside of the Connexion; for instance Scripture Union and Campus Crusade programmes.

The planning and implementation aspects of the youth programmes are done by the Youth Directors and the Youth Executive with the blessing of the Chairman & General Superintendent. The Youth Directorship is not a paid job, but voluntary. We however enjoy it so much.