Episcopal Press and News
Civil War in Sierra Leone Marked by Stories of Heroism and Heartbreak
Episcopal News Service. February 19, 1999 [99-011]
Margaret Larom, Director of World Mission Interpretation at the Episcopal Church Center
(ENS) Stories of horror and heroism, hope and heartbreak have emerged from Episcopalians since the terrifying weeks in January and February when sadistic rebels sought to gain control of Sierra Leone.
Families and friends in the United States, shocked by reports of new atrocities in the most recent flare-up of an ongoing civil war, began a desperate search for news of loved ones in the Diocese of Freetown, part of the Province of West Africa.
For two weeks they could not get through. The telephones were not working. Williamson Ade Ademu-John, a parishioner of Christ Church, Dayton (Diocese of Southern Ohio), heard from a relative in North Carolina that his nieces in Freetown had been killed. He prayed it wasn't true. He had seen them just a few months before, when he and three other Episcopalians participated in an ecumenical delegation.
Meanwhile, parishioners of St. John's, Gloucester, and St. Mary's, Rockport (Diocese of Massachusetts) were appealing to the Episcopal Church Center staff for news on behalf of Marjorie Fergusson. With her sons, Nathan and Arthur, she had been living in Gloucester since August 1997, when she fled Freetown after the coup that dislodged President Tejan Kabbah. But her 84-year-old mother, an aunt, and two brothers had remained behind. "Please do what you can," begged Maud Warren of St. John's. "These are very, very precious people to us."
Then, on January 25, Richard Parkins, director of Episcopal Migration Ministries, received a collect telephone call from the Rev. Canon Ajayi E. Nicol, vicar of St. Charles Parish Church, Regent (outside Freetown). Parkins had visited this historic parish (founded in 1816) as part of the ecumenical delegation. Nicol reported that, though stranded, he and his parishioners were safe. His church, bombed in February 1998 but repaired and rededicated in June, was unscathed.
Holy Trinity Church in Freetown had been burned to the ground but St. George's Cathedral was standing. Bishop Julius Lynch was forced to abandon his residence and keep moving for safety, but was managing to avoid serious danger. He would try to reach him, though it would mean walking nine miles. (The next day, we knew he had succeeded. A handwritten fax arrived at the Church Center in New York from Bishop Lynch: "Situation desperate. Thank God for safety.... Urgent assistance needed.")
Parkins and Nicol promised to keep in touch. The telephone became a precious conduit for news and encouragement. During the next call, we explained about Marjorie Fergusson and her family. "I know her," he said. "Tell Marjorie they are all safe. And their homes were spared."
But for Ademu-John, the telephone brought devastating confirmation of his worst fears. One brother, Daniel, was shot in the back but is recovering. The home of another brother, Joseph, was attacked by rebels. They made everyone lie down on the floor. They beat my brother severely, then shot his four daughters right in front of him. Two were killed, along with the husband of one, who was an American Methodist Episcopal pastor. Two were wounded.
"Because of the fighting, and the fear, the family, though members of St. George's Cathedral, had to bury the bodies in the back yard. Now, the Health Department has asked them to exhume the bodies and bury them properly." The girls who survived are in Netland Hospital, on the western edge of Freetown. The doctor caring for them is a good friend of the family. Ironically, he is using medical supplies sent by Ademu-John in a 40-foot container he had organized last year.
As people in Sierra Leone began to pick up their shattered lives, friends and family in the USA began to send money and try to mobilize other assistance. Canon Nicol has trekked into Freetown several times to meet with the bishop and assess the situation. Two vicarages in Waterloo were burned. Of 47 active clergy in the diocese, only one had not yet been located. On February 7, Nicol called to say, "We rang the church bells for the first time since January 6." But the situation in the country remained tense."
The Episcopal Church has joined with other denominations, relief agencies and refugee organizations in urging the United States to commit to "meaningful action for peace" in Sierra Leone. The February meeting of the Executive Council in Denver approved a resolution calling for a broad range of actions by the U.S. government and the United Nations. The council called upon our church community to pray for peace, and commended to God's care "the brave leaders of our church who have so valiantly stood with their people amidst this conflict, and have offered whatever moral and material support to relieve their suffering."
The Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief has committed $25,000 to assist the people of Sierra Leone. (Contributions may be mailed to the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, c/o Bankers Trust Company, Box 12043, Newark, NJ 07101.)